Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
On Thursday, I had my last visit of the year to Rufford CP to check the wintering Black-headed Gulls. There were about 200 present, and I managed to spot 13 ringed birds.
The ringed birds were: 273A, 293A, 295A, 272B, 280B, 202C, 207C, 215C, 245C, 262C, 264C, P519 and EL87245. All these birds are regulars at Rufford, but were good to see.
Luke and I had a drive across to East Yorkshire on Friday. Our main target bird was the Black-throated Thrush (a lifer for Luke and a very good Year Tick (194) for me), which we managed to see after about half an hour.
Whilst at Tophill Low, we also managed to add Red-crested Pochard (2 pairs on D reservoir, 195) to the list. The final bird, Bewick's Swan (196), was seen within a flock of c120 Whooper Swans at nearby Branton.
My latest visit to Rufford, was my best of the winter so far, with 12 of "our" green-ringed birds seen, along with Lithuanian-ringed P519 (ringed in April 2010, as an adult) and a well known EL87245 (ringed at Center Parcs in January 2013.
Most of the ringed birds had been seen before, but three; 245C ( aged 3, born this year), 262C (also born in 2023) and 264C (an adult bird), were my first sightings since being ringed, at Center Parcs, earlier this winter.
In addition, 215C (ringed, as an adult in January 2023), was my first sighting since March 12th 2023. Welcome back for another winter.
I've just realised that I didn't post details of last week's visit to Linacre , so today's post is going to cover that and today's WeBS count.
Last week's details are: 122 Mallards, 39 Mandarins, 32 Black-headed Gulls, 9 Tufted Ducks, 1 Cormorant, 8 Coots, 15 Moorhens, 2 Great-crested Grebes, 1 Little Grebe, c.20 Teal and 4 Goosanders (3 males and 1 female). Other birds seen/heard included Tawny Owl, Buzzard, Siskin, 4 Raven (my highest ever count) and, best of all, a flock of c.4-500 Jackdaws coming out of the roost on the middle reservoir - an amazing sight and sound!
Today's count also started with the Jackdaw roost (about 300ish birds). Water birds seen were: 117 Mallards, 62 Mandarins, 8 Black-headed Gulls, 15 Tufted Ducks, 7 Coots, 16 Moorhens, 2 Little Grebes and 6 Teal (4 males and 2 females).
After my walk around Linacre last week, I had a quick (1 hour) visit to Rufford to see which gulls I could pick up. I only lasted one hour as it was 2 degrees, and half the lake was frozen over.
As I arrived I could see there were approximately 200 Black-headed Gulls present, along with 5 Common Gulls, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull and 1 Herring Gull. Other birds seen were 2 Mute Swans (Broken Beak and a female), Tufted Duck, Mallards, and, most amazingly a fly-over Great White Egret - a new species for me at this site!
The ringed gulls seen were: 258A (3rd sighting this winter), 293A (8th sighting this winter), 295A (1st sighting since 12th March 2023), 297A (2nd sighting this winter), 280B (2nd sighting this winter) and 258C (my first sighting, since it was ringed, as a 1st winter bird - born this year - at Center Parcs on 1st December 2023).
Last Saturday, I had a few hours down at Linacre. It was a relatively quiet walk, until the end, when I spotted 80 Teal on the middle reservoir! This is the highest count since January 2023, when 49 were seen.
Other birds seen were: 137 Mallard, 39 Mandarin Duck, 5 Tufted Duck, 18 Moorhen, 9 Coot, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 33 Black-headed Gull, 1 Little Grebe and 2 Grey Wagtail.
Woodland birds seen were: Blue, Great and Coal Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Jackdaw, Crow, Chaffinch, Nuthatch and Treecreeper.
Today was the day for this month's WeBS walk around Linacre. I had a couple of hours, walking around all three reservoirs, recording just shy of 400 waterbirds of 9 species.
Counts were: Mallard (154), Mandarin Duck (153), Coot (10), Moorhen (19), Tufted Duck (47), Kingfisher (1), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (3) and Black-headed Gull (13).
Other birds seen/heard were: Raven (2), Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Nuthatch, Wren, Robin, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit and Redwing.
It's been a couple of weeks since my last visit to Rufford, and I'm very pleased to say that this time there were Black-headed Gulls, and rings to be seen!! In total, I saw 7 of "our" green-ringed gulls, P519, a Lithuanian bird ringed in April 2010, as an adult, and first seen here in January 2018, and a new Finnish metal-ringed bird ST340.623.
The green-ringed birds were: 258A, 273A (the first sighting since October 2022), 293A, 272B (the first sighting this winter), 280B (ringed by me in November 2022, as a 4, and the first sighting this winter), 202C (last seen on 12th March 2023) and 207C (third sighting this winter).
The two other ringed birds were P519 - the first sighting since 5th February 2023, and the new Finnish-ringed bird, an adult.
Well not quite!! I popped across to Rufford yesterday, and found just 28 Black-headed Gulls there. Unfortunately, none were ringed. It seems like the warm, wet winter weather may mean that the gulls are staying out in the wider countryside to feed and not needing to come into the park for food. Obviously, this is great for them, but very frustrating for me!!
The only other birds at Rufford were: 1 Canada Goose, c.20 Mallards, 15 Tufted Ducks and 5 Goosander (3 males and 2 females).
After Rufford, I popped across to Clumber, but it was similar picture there. Just 20ish Black-headed Gulls, no Common Gulls and no rings! Roll on the colder weather.
The only saving grace was a darvic-ringed Mute Swan, Y358 at Clumber.
I had my first visit of the new month to Linacre this morning. I spent a couple of hours walking around all three reservoirs, and recorded some good numbers of waterfowl.
Birds seen were: Mandarin Duck (170 - my highest count of the year so far, and my third highest ever), Mallard (119), Tufted Duck (67 - the highest count of the year), Moorhen (11), Coot (10), Black-headed Gull (22), Lesser Black-backed Gull (6 over), Goosander (3 females- the first of the winter), Grey Wagtail (1) and Pied Wagtail (1).
Other species of note were: Redwing (2 over) Fieldfare (4 over), Siskin (heard), 1 juvenile Woodpigeon and Treecreeper (1 seen).
Jayne and I have just returned from a family break in Pitlochry. Whilst there, we saw a few new birds and some lovely Red Squirrels.
We visited RSPB Loch Garten, and, after a short while (10 minutes), spotted my first ever British Crested Tit (191). It was feeding on peanuts, by the footpath to the centre. It flew in, fed for about 30 seconds and then flew off!
Every year, we try to catch some of the Redwings, that spend the winter months in Britain. This morning, we (Sorby Breck Ringing Group), were at Linacre before light to set up the nets and see if we could get lucky. By the end of the morning, we had ringed 8 birds (of about 30 in the area), including our first ever foreign-ringed bird, a juvenile ringed in Holland. Further details of exactly where and when, to follow when I hear back. UPDATE: the Redwing had been ringed 510km away, in The Netherlands, 8 days before it was caught at Linacre. Fantastic!!
There was a real autumnal, if not wintery, feel to the air at Linacre this morning, as I arrived just before 7am, for the monthly WeBS count. It was just 2 degrees, and sheltered spots had a covering of frost. As always, October's WeBS count sees the highest waterbird counts for some months, and today's count did not disappoint.
Birds seen were: Mandarin Duck (166 - highest count of the year), Mallard (139 - highest count since January, when 141 were counted), Tufted Duck (47 - highest count since February, when 53 were seen), Teal (1fm), Coot (7), Moorhen (14),Great-crested Grebe (4; 2 adults and 2 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult), Grey Wagtail (1), Pied Wagtail (1), Grey Heron (1) and the first returning Black-headed Gulls (38).
Other birds heard or seen: Raven (1 heard), Magpie (1), Skylark (1 heard), Long-tailed Tit (flock of c.15), Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Robin and Tawny Owl (1 heard).
Despite the cold weather, it was also very sunny, and I spotted 2 butterflies on the wing, 1 Red Admiral and 1 Small Tortoiseshell - my latest ever sightings.
This weekend, Jayne and I went across to RSPB Frampton Marsh to try and see a couple of North American waders, that have been present for a couple of weeks. We dipped one (Semipalmated Sandpiper), but we did manage to get fantastic views of the other species, Lesser Yellowlegs (189 and lifer number 4 of the year) as it fed about 10m away, in front of East Hide. What a fantastic bird to catch up with!
Last weekend, we had a ringing session down at Linacre. We arrived at 6.45am, and, by 11am, we had ringed 47 new birds of 8 species.
Birds ringed were (new/retrap): Blackbird 2/0 (1 juvenile), Song Thrush 2/0 (both juveniles), Blue Tit 12/2, Great Tit 22/1, Coal Tit 1/0 (juvenile), Wren 3/0 (all juveniles), Blackcap 1/0 (juvenile male - weighing in at just over 20g!!) and Chiffchaff 1/0 (adult).
This was, by far, our best session at Linacre this year, with the best birds obviously being our latest ever ringed Blackcap and Chiffchaff. The two Song Thrushes were also great records, and presumably, relate to locally bred birds.
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In a couple of hours at Rufford this afternoon ( in 21 degree heat!!) I had my highest number of Black-headed Gulls this season - with 62 present.
2 ringed birds were present: 293A and 254B. Today's sighting of 293A was my 22nd at Rufford, and it looks like it's settled in for another winter.
Despite being on "grandad duty" this weekend, I did manage to get a very quick (half an hour) trip to Rufford in. It was my first since the end of August, and it was very quiet, with just 26 Black-headed Gulls, 4 Canada Geese and 6 Mallards present! Despite this, I managed to spot a couple of green-ringed gulls.
The two gulls seen were 293A and 207C. Both birds are well known, and regular winter visitors to the area.
293A was ringed, as an adult, in December 2021, and has been recorded 22 times at Rufford.
207C was ringed, also as an adult, in December 2022, and has been reported 8 times since then.
I was down at Linacre yesterday morning for this month's WeBS count. I had a good walk around all three reservoirs, and recorded some good numbers of returning waterbirds.
Birds seen were: Mallard (124 - my highest September count), Mandarin Duck (157 - also my highest ever September count), Tufted Duck (13 - still quite low numbers), Moorhen (23; 17 adults and 6 juveniles), Coot (9; 6 adults and 3 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult on the bottom reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (3; 2 adults and 1 juvenile on the middle reservoir), Kingfisher (2 on the bottom reservoir), Grey Heron (10) and Grey Wagtail (2).
Walking around, I also had 5 species of corvid (Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Jay, Magpie and Raven), along with 2 singing Chiffchaffs, 1 Mistle Thrush, Blue/Great and Long-tailed Tits, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Woodpigeon.
An adult female Brown Booby (species 187) has been present in and around South Gare, near Redcar for just over a week. This morning, I have a drive up there and added it to my "Life List".
At the weekend, I decided to go down to Ogston Reservoir to see a juvenile Spotted Crake (species number 184) that had been present for a few days. The bird was showing from the Members' Hide, so, after re-joining the club, I settled down to see this bird (my first since 2013!!).
Thankfully, before I'd even sat down, it appeared out of the reedbed, and began to feed about 10m away. As I sat, it got closer and closer, until it was about 2m away, and then stayed out for about 1 1/4 hours! My best ever views of this fantastic little bird, and well worth the annual membership fee.
After a week of high temperatures well into the high 20s, it was really nice to walk around Linacre this morning in a still-quite-warm 19 degrees. It was still quite quiet, but one sign of the coming autumn and winter was a lovely flock of 12 Mistle Thrushes feeding on the Rowan berries, and the first Teal (3) since February.
Other waterbirds seen were: Mallard (106), Mandarin (42), Tufted Duck (9), Coot (8; 7 adults and 1 juvenile), Moorhen (18; 11 adults and 7 juveniles), Grey Heron (2), Cormorant (2), Great Crested Grebe (6; 2 adults and 4 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult on the top reservoir) and Grey Wagtail (2).
Other birds noted around the site were: Magpie (7, my highest ever count), Jay, Nuthatch, Stock Dove (heard), Woodpigeon, Great, Blue, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Wren, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff (2 singing and "wheeting" heard), Swallow (7 over the top reservoir), and House Martin (1 heard).
Just one butterfly, a Red Admiral, was seen, sunning itself on the dam wall.
Yesterday we went to Clumber Park to enjoy the 23 degree sunshine. Whilst there, we had a quick look at the 50+ Mute Swans that were on the lake. The vast majority stayed on the water, but we did manage to read four rings: Y204, Y857, 0Y22 and W47173.
All the birds had been ringed by members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. W47173 was ringed 1836 days ago, on 24th August 2018 at Harold Park, West Yorkshire, as a 3 (born that year), and had moved 73km.
I'll update the details of the other birds, when I receive them.
Yesterday morning I was down at Linacre, from 05.45 - 10.00, for a ringing session, with 2 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. It was our first session there since February, and we were treated to a great session, with 26 birds, of 6 species, including our first ever adult Tawny Owl and 2 of this year's pulli, that had been ringed in the boxes in May and June.
Birds ringed were (new/retrap): Tawny Owl 1/0, Blackcap 3/0 (all juveniles), Chiffchaff 1/0 ( 1 juvenile), Robin 1/0, Blue Tit 10/1, Great Tit 5/3, Coal Tit 1/0.
All the retraps had originally been ringed at Linacre. 2 as juveniles in October and November 2022. The other 2, one Blue Tit and one Great Tit, had been ringed in the boxes in May and June this year.
It was the last day of meteorological summer yesterday, and I had 3 hours down at Linacre. There were several species of butterfly and dragonfly around, a new record count of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and amazing views of a Common Lizard.
Butterflies seen were: Speckled Wood (7), Large White (1), Green-veined White (2), Red Admiral (1), and Small Copper (1). There were dozens of hoverflies, including a sing Myathropa florea ("Batman" hoverfly), Eristalis sp and Syrphus sp. Other insects seen were: Bronze Shieldbug (1, my first Linacre record), 3 Hornets (my highest ever count), a single male Common Blue Damselfly, Migrant Hawker (5; including a pair in tandem) and Brown Hawker (2).
The final sighting of the visit was a super Common Lizard that was basking on the wall by the boardwalk around the top reservoir. This is a species that is recorded annually at Linacre, and is my second record of 2023. The views that this individual, however, are my best ever! One of the defence mechanisms of this species, is to drop its tail if a predator attacks. As you can see from the picture, this individual has regrown its tail after such an encounter.
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RSPB Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire is a fantastic reserve that I love to visit several times a year. This time of year is great for waders (and lots more besides!), so Jayne and I had a trip there today.
As I said, there are loads of waders at Frampton at this time of the year, and together we spotted: Ruff (50+), Black-tailed Godwit (100+), Dunlin (c40), Green Sandpiper (1), Spotted Redshank (1, in winter plumage), Wood Sandpiper (1, and my 182nd bird of the year), Avocet (c.100), Lapwing (c50), Ringed Plover (1), and Curlew Sandpiper (1, and my 183rd species of the year). Unfortunately, there was some maintenance work going on whilst we were there, causing some disturbance to the birds, and we didn't manage to connect with Little Stint, Greenshank or the Pectoral Sandpiper, that was reported half an hour after we left!!!
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Other birds seen were: Spoonbill (33!), Little Egret (20), Buzzard (2), Marsh Harrier (1), Kestrel (1), Swallow (3), Long-tailed Tit, Blackbird, Pintail (3), Mallard, Wigeon (1m), Teal, Pochard (1m), Mute Swan, Whooper Swan (1- presumably an injured bird that hasn't migrated?), Greylag and Canada Geese.
Whilst there, we also spotted several insects: Speckled Wood (6), Common Darter (1m), Migrant Hawker (1fm) and, best of all, a single, male Willow Emerald Damselfly- very nice!
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