Last weekend, I was down at Linacre for a few hours. The boardwalk around the top reservoir was still out of bounds for repairs, and the water level there had also been dropped. Unfortunately, no waders....yet! As is expected in June, it was very quiet, with just a few ducklings around and about. The highlight (perhaps "lowlight") of the walk was my first sighting of Swift (at Linacre) for the year. This is very late, and only involved one bird that was seen for about 30 seconds! No hirundines were seen. I checked the last few boxes, and was very pleased to see that the second brood of Pied Flycatchers had fledged successfully, making that 10 chicks in total - the highest ever count.
Out on the water the following bids were counted: Mallard (77 adults and 6 ducklings), Tufted Duck (15 adults), Lesser Black-backed Gull (4 adults), Mandarin (15 adults and 6 ducklings), Moorhen (just 6 adults - no young yet!), Coot (2 adults and 3 chicks - the only ones seen so far this year), Grey Wagtail (1 adult) and Great-crested Grebe (7 adults and 6 juveniles).
I also had a quick check, and fill, of the feeders. Whilst walking down, I flushed a Tawny Owl and also saw my first Straw Dot (moth) and Volucella bombylans (hoverfly, bumblebee mimic) of the year. A Chimney Sweeper moth, reported by Antony, in the fields beyond the top reservoir on 26th, was the first record since 2019.
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