I spent 2 hours at Linacre this morning with Luke walking around all three reservoirs. Whilst there, we saw 6 species of water birds with young, some for the first time this year. We also spotted a couple of
Brown Hares, the first
Meadow Brown butterfly of the year, and had a singing
Yellowhammer on the hedge on the main drive (the first Linacre record since 2013).
Meadow Brown
Brown Hares
The water birds with young were:
Mallard (73 birds; 43 adults and four broods of 6, 14, 5 and 10),
Mandarin Duck (16 birds; 6 adults and 3 broods of 1,6 and 3),
Moorhen (3 adults and 1 large, well-grown chick),
Tufted Duck (14 adults and 1 brood of 9- first record of 2016), Coot (7 adults, 1 nest and 1 brood of 5) and
Great-crested Grebe (2 pairs, both with young, minimum of 3 chicks seen).
Mallard
Tufted Duck
Mandarin ducklings
Great-crested Grebe and chick
Other birds seen were: Grey Heron (2), Swallow (1),Wren (singing), Chiffchaff (2 singing), Grey Wagtail (2) and the juvenile/2nd year Shag.
We checked the
Pied Flycatcher nest, and were very pleased to find it empty and undisturbed, suggesting a successful fledging of the 4 chicks.
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