Linacre WeBS - 17th October 2020

Yesterday I had a couple of hours at Linacre to carry out this month's WeBS walk. There had been a notable increase in duck numbers, and I recorded the highest count for Mandarin Duck for the year.

Numbers were: 140 Mallard, 105 Mandarin Duck, 43 Tufted Duck, 12 Moorhen, 4 Coot, 4 Grey Wagtail, 1 Grey Heron, 16 Black-headed Gull and 5 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Grey Heron

Other birds reported around the reservoirs were: Blackbird, Wren, Starling (c.25 over), Treecreeper (2), Jay, Crow, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Great-spotted and Green Woodpecker and  Tawny Owl (heard).

Later in the day, I saw a report of c140 Pink-footed Geese that had been reported flying over Linacre later in the morning. This was the first report of the year.