Linacre WeBS and Ringing

 This week, I have been down to Linacre a couple of times to carry out this month's WeBS count and for a ringing session.

The WeBS count was as follows: Mallard (46), Tufted Duck (28 adults, no breeding again this year), Mandarin Duck (5), Coot (8; 5 adults and 3 juveniles), Moorhen (8; 5 adults and 3 juveniles),  Grey Wagtail (4), Cormorant (1), Grey Heron (1), Great-crested Grebe (4: 1 adult and 3 juveniles) and 1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Other birds seen were: Goldfinch, Bullfinch (heard), Robin, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, 1 Mistle Thrush, c.8 House Martins and c.20 Swallows.

The ringing session, held on 23rd, was the best one so far this year, with 80 birds ringed. Totals were (new/retrap): Chiffchaff (19/0 - all juveniles), Willow Warbler (5/0 - 4 juveniles), Blackcap (14/1 - the retrap being a juvenile first ringed here in July), Blackbird (1/0 - an adult), Blue Tit (20/1 - the retrap being a bird ringed in box c.26 on 18th May 2025), Great Tit (6/0 - all juveniles), Long-tailed Tit (1/1 - the retrap being a bird first ringed here in November 2024), Robin (2/0 - both juveniles), Wren (2/0 - 1 juvenile), Goldfinch (1/0 - 1 juvenile), Dunnock (1 juvenile) and Goldcrest (5/0 - 4 juveniles).

Other birds seen were: House Martin (c.17), Swallow (2 over) and Crossbill (10 over).

5 butterflies (3 Red Admirals, 1 Speckled Wood and 1 Painted Lady) were also seen.

Linacre Ringing - 13th July 2025

Yesterday, we had a fantastic ringing session down at Linacre, where we ringed 54 birds of 11 species, including 4 summer migrants.

Birds ringed were (new/retrap): Blackcap 15/0, 9 of which were juveniles, Chiffchaff 7/0, including 6 juveniles, Willow Warbler 1/0 (adult), Garden Warbler 1/1 ( 1 juvenile and a retrap adult, first caught at Linacre in May 2023), Blue Tit 12/1 (all juveniles, the retrap having been ringed in Box 1a on 18th May), Great Tit 9/2 ( 9 juveniles, including 1 from Box G2, ringed on 11th May), Treecreeper 1/0 (juvenile), Nuthatch 1/0 (adult), Bullfinch 1/0 (adult), Wren 1/0 (juvenile) and Robin 1/0 (juvenile).

Linacre 5th July 2025- A new Hoverfly!

 I had 2 hours down at Linacre yesterday morning. It was 18 degrees and overcast, but a few sunny spells enticed some butterflies out. I also had a new species of hoverfly and a bird species not recorded here since 2018!

The butterflies seen were: Ringlet (2), Meadow Brown (3), Gatekeeper (3, my first Linacre record of 2025), Comma (1) and, best of all, a single, pristine Painted Lady (my first of the year). 2 Common Blue Damselflies were also seen.

Painted Lady

The new hoverfly was a very distinctive one, called Chrysotoxum bicinctum. See here for details. There were at least 2 on the vegetation by the overflow of the top reservoir. This is the second species of Chrysotoxum hoverfly I've seen at Linacre, the first being Chrysotoxum festivum, seen back in August 2016.

Chrysotoxum bicinctum

Chrysotoxum festivum

Birds seen were: Mallard (58), Tufted Duck (13), Mandarin (21; 20 adults and 1 duckling), Coot (18; 5 adults and 13 juveniles), Moorhen (0!!), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (3; 2 juveniles), Great-crested Grebe (12; 6 adults and 6 juveniles), Herring Gull (1 adult) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (3; 2 adults and a sub adult). 1 of the Lesser Black-backs was actively hunting the Mandarin duckling. 3 Chiffchaffs and 1 Blackcap were heard singing.

The most exciting species of bird was Crossbill, which, as I said, were the first record since 2018. Initially 3 birds were heard, and then seen briefly, landing in the Larch trees by the top reservoir. A further 8 (or most likely the some birds, plus 5 more) were seen flying over the ringing site. A great record, and hopefully the first of an "irruption year".

Linacre - 19th April 2025

 I had a couple of hours at Linacre this afternoon. It was 15 degrees, but overcast and a few sunny spells. Despite this, I managed to record a few hoverflies (including a new species for Linacre!!) and a very late record of 4 breeding-plumaged Black-headed Gulls! 

The new hoverfly was a tiny thing (!) called Meliscaeva cinctella. It is a widespread species, throughout the UK, but, this is my first record for Linacre, so pretty chuffed to have found it. Here it is. to other hoverflies were also photographed, both identified to Syrphus sp.

Meliscaeva cinctella

Birdwise, it was quite quiet, but I did record singing Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Wren and Robin. On the water there were: 6 Mandarins (5males and 1 female), Mallard (c.20), Tufted Duck (c.15), Coot (first 2 nests of the year), Moorhen (2), Lesser Black-backed Gull (15; 9 over and 6 on the water), Herring Gull (3 adults) and 3 Cormorants (1 adult and 2 immatures).

Cormorant (adult)

Cormorant (1st summer?)

Linacre 5th April 2025

 We've had a couple of weeks of warm, sunny weather, so, having a free afternoon, I popped down to Linacre to see if I could see the first butterflies of 2025. In three hours, and temperatures of 12 degrees, I spotted 16 butterflies of 5 species.

The first butterflies seen were Peacocks, and, in total, I recorded a minimum of 9 around the site. The next commonest species was Orange Tip, with 5 males and 2 females seen. Also seen were: Comma (1), Large White (1) and Green-veined White (1).

Peacock

Other insects seen were: Tawny Mining Bee (1 male), another Mining Bee sp (possibly Clarkson's), Broad-bordered Beefly (20+), Eristalis sp (hoverfly) and 4 species of Bumblebee; Common Carder, White-tailed, Buff-tailed and Red-tailed.

Flowers were also out in good numbers: Lesser Celandine, Bluebell, Wood Anenome, Coltsfoot, Dandelion, Daisies, Cowslip and Stitchwort. 

Last, but not least, the birds! I had 2 "Year ticks", with Swallow (134) (3 birds over the middle reservoir) and Blackcap (135) ( a minimum of 4 birds singing). Other birds were: Chiffchaff (9 singing), Buzzard (2 over), Sparrowhawk (1 displaying over the middle reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (5 birds; a pair each on the bottom and middle reservoirs, and 1 single bird on the top reservoir), Cormorant (1), Mallard (c.20), Mandarin (6), Tufted Duck (17), Lesser Black-backed Gull (c.30 flew over!) and Greylag Goose (4 birds on the middle reservoir).

Another "year tick" was Dipper (133) that was seen flying over the main road in Dronfield on 4/4!

Cornwall Ringing

 Yesterday morning (31st), Luke and I were up early visiting a private ringing site in the Nanjizal Valley in West Cornwall (West Cornwall Ringing Group). Thanks for arranging Luke, and thanks to Kester and Jon for allowing me onto your site.

We arrived at 7am, and got straight on with the ringing. The first bird I ringed was a Chiffchaff (the first of 26 ringed by me that morning!). Other birds ringed were: Blackcap (12), Robin (6), Song Thrush (5), Redwing (3), Blackbird (3), Great-spotted Woodpecker (2;1 new and 1 retrap), Goldcrest (1), Firecrest (3), Cetti's Warbler (3; 1 retrap and 2 new) and, best of all, Yellow-browed Warbler (3 new birds) 67 birds from a total of 80!

The obvious stand out birds were, of course, the Yellow-browed Warblers, the Firecrests and the Cetti's Warblers - 3 new species for me. The Yellow-Browed Warblers were also colour-ringed, as part of a national scheme (see here), to try and find out a little more about their distribution and wintering sites. This site has colour-ringed just over 40, this winter alone!

Yellow-browed Warbler

Firecrest

Cetti's Warbler (10 tail feathers)

The morning was very busy, but we did manage to keep an eye on birds flying over, the best of which was a Merlin (year tick 197).

Linacre Birds and Ringing - 2 new species!

 Last week, 9th and 11th, I had my first walk and ringing session at Linacre since returning from holiday (more of that in future posts). 

On the 9th, I had a walk around the bottom and middle reservoirs. The top reservoir is still closed off, due to ongoing work on the boardwalk. The following birds were seen/heard, numbers are quite low, due to having no access to the top reservoir: Stock Dove (2), Great Crested Grebe (7; 2 adults and 2 broods of 2 and 3 juveniles), Mallard (106), Tufted Duck (8 adults, no juveniles yet this year), Mandarin Duck (17 adults), Moorhen (7 birds; 6 adults and 1 chick), Coot (2 adults), Cormorant (1), Grey Wagtail (2 juveniles), Grey Heron (3), Lesser Black-backed Gull (9; 3 adults and 6 juveniles)  and House Martin (heard). Because there are works ongoing on the top reservoir, the water levels are lower than normal. As a result, there is more mud exposed, and this has lead to a first record of a Redshank.

The ringing session took place on Sunday 11th. 5 members of Sorby Breck Group ringed 43 birds of 12 species, including a brand new species: Linnet! The Linnet, 11 in total, were part of a much larger flock of between 50 -100, that have been feeding in the neighbouring fields to the ringing site. Hopefully, they'll hang around for the winter!

Totals for the morning were: Linnet 11/0 (all juveniles), Blackcap 3/0 (all juveniles), Willow Warbler 3/0 (1 adult and 2 juveniles), Chiffchaff 3/0 (all juveniles), Garden Warbler 1/0 (juvenile), Great Tit 4/0 (1 adult and 3 juveniles), Blue Tit 3/2 (2 adults and 3 juveniles), Robin 2/1 (all juveniles), Wren 2/0 (1 adult and 1 juvenile), Dunnock 2/0 (1 adult and 1 juvenile), Chaffinch 5/0 (all juveniles, feeding with the Linnet flock) and Great-spotted Woodpecker 1/0 (1 juvenile).

Linacre - 30th June 2024

 It hasn't been a great summer for butterflies so far, but a walk around Linacre this morning got me two new species for the year, along with a new moth and a record count of Common Sandpipers.

The two new butterflies were: Meadow Brown and Ringlet, with 2 of each species seen, on the dam banks and the ringing site respectively.

Meadow Brown

Ringlet

Two moth species were identified: Latticed Heath (2nd record of the year) and a Shaded Broad-bar (1st record of the year).

Shaded Broad-bar

Birdwise, it was a decent morning too, with some very good post breeding counts, a new (for the year) breeding record and, as already mentioned, a new high record of Common Sandpipers. Birds seen were: Mallard (114 adults and 4 broods of 1, 3, 5 and 1;124 birds in total), Mandarin Duck (62 adults and 3 broods of 5,1 and 1; 69 birds in total), Tufted Duck (26 adults), Grey Wagtail ( 7 birds; 2 adults and 5 juveniles), Grey Heron (1),  Moorhen (3 adults - no young!), Coot (1 adult and 3 juveniles), Common Sandpiper (3 flew from the wall on the middle reservoir - my first ever record of more than 1 bird - possible breeding?), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1), Kingfisher (1), Swift ( a nice record of 7 birds over the middle reservoir), Swallow (1 bird!), Common Buzzard (1), Skylark (1 singing), Chiffchaff ( 5 singing), Blackcap (6 singing), Garden Warbler (1 singing),  Great-crested Grebe ( 12 birds; 6 adults and 2 broods of 2 and 4) and Little Grebe (1 juvenile on the middle reservoir - first young of the year).

Little Grebe

Linacre Update - 11th May 2024

 Yesterday morning I went down to Linacre to carry out this month's WeBS count, and to catch up with the nestboxes.

The WeBS count was, as usual for May, quite quiet, with the following birds recorded: Mallard (46 birds; 32 adults and 14 ducklings - 4 broods of 5, 5, 3 and 1), Tufted Duck (4!), Grey Wagtail (2; 1 male and 1 female), Grey Heron (1), Coot (5 adults), Moorhen (4 adults) and Mandarin Duck (10).

The nestboxes, on the other hand, were much more exciting! I found our first full clutches Pied Flycatcher eggs of the year (2 nests, each containing 5 eggs). Another 2 singing males were also heard away from these boxes, so I'm keeping everything crossed for further nests. The Coal Tit and Wren nests were still going strong, and the first Blue Tit chicks of the year had hatched. In total, we now have 43 active nests on site - a very good year! Other birds recorded around the site were 3 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaffs and 1 singing Garden Warbler.

On Thursday, I was also on site, with Chloe, to ring the adult Mandarin Duck that is nesting on site. This year, we also added a colour ring, so hopefully, we'll get some more sightings of her.

Mandarin Duck "HA"

Last, but by no means least, I also managed to spot a few insects: 2 female Orange Tips, 1 Green-veined White, 1 Helophilus pendulus, 1 Common Carder Bumblebee, 1 Red-tailed Bumblebee and 1 Hairy Shieldbug.

Linacre Nestboxes - 4th and 6th May 2024

 Over the weekend, I was down at Linacre with other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group, to carry out another check of the nestboxes. We had a couple of visits, and recorded some new species, and a very nice surprise....!

The first visit, on Saturday, saw the first check of the boxes around the Ranger's Base, and we found 13 new occupied nests. After that we checked on the owl boxes. The first contained Grey Squirrels (!), the second had a female Mandarin Duck on 11 eggs, and the third box contained..... a single Tawny Owl chick! This was a great find, as it was the first chick in the boxes since 2018.  

Tawny Owl

On the second visit, on Monday, we checked the remaining boxes, and found a grand total of 30 nests, including our first Pied Flycatcher (1 egg) and Wren (1 clutch of 6) of the year. There was 1 singing Pied Flycatcher (year tick 168) in another area of the woods and 1 other nest without eggs in it, so I'm hoping we may yet get more than 1 nest this year. The last piece of good news was that the eggs on the Coal Tit nest we found last week had hatched - the first time this has happened in a box.

Walking around the reservoirs, I managed to spot a couple of Mallard broods (2 and 1), my first of the year, 21 Tufted Ducks, 1 Canada Goose, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Great-crested Grebes, 1 Little Grebe, 6 Mandarin Ducks (5 males and 1 female), 6 Blackcaps, 4 Chiffchaffs and 1 singing Garden Warbler ( year tick 164).

A few insects were seen on Sunday: 1 male Orange Tip, 1 Peacock, my first Red and Black Froghopper and 2 Dark-edged Bee-flies.

Year List Update - 7th April 2024

 It's been a few weeks since I updated the "Year List", and, since then, I've added a few new species.

First was the Ring-necked Parakeet (132). This was first seen in Didsbury Park, Manchester, when 2 were spotted. The next species, Blackcap (133), was added last Sunday, when 1 was ringed at The Avenue in Chesterfield. Bird number 134, Willow Warbler, was heard at Linacre, while 135 was a Barnacle Goose, a feral bird seen in London on Thursday. The final three species seen at Linacre this week, were: Swallow (136 - first seen on 6th, and then c.10 seen today), House Martin (137 - c.20 feeding over the middle reservoir, in rain, today) and Sand Martin (138 - c.5/6 feeding with the Swallows and House Martins today).

Linacre WeBS - 6th April 2024

 The second visit to Linacre this week was this morning, when I carried out this month's WeBS count. It was 13 degrees when I arrived at 7am, and this had risen to 17 degrees (!) by the time I left at 9am.

In the two hours that I was there the following waterbirds were seen: Mallard (47), Tufted Duck (17), Mandarin (12), Canada Geese (2), Mute Swan (1 - 6Y24), Moorhen (10), Coot (4), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (6; 3 pairs, 1 on each reservoir) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (4).

Mandarin Duck

Lots of birds were singing in the sunshine, including 8 Chiffchaffs, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Blackcap 1 Skylark and 3 Song Thrushes. Other birds seen were: Sparrowhawk (1 high over the woodlands), 3 Stock Doves and my first Swallow of the year (hurrah!).

Linacre 2nd April 2024

 This week, I've managed a couple of trips to Linacre, recording my first butterflies of 2024 and a few more summer migrants.

Tuesday's visit (2nd) was warm and sunny (13 degrees), so I managed to see a couple of Peacock butterflies and 2 Dark-edged Bee Flies.

Peacock

Bee Fly

Other insects seen were: Common Carder and Buff-tailed Bumblebees and several  Eristalis hoverflies.

Birds seen were: 6 singing Chiffchaffs, 1 Willow Warbler (1st of the year), 1 Blackcap (first of the year), 1 Mute Swan (6Y24), 2 Greylag Geese (1st record of 2024), 6 Canada Geese (3 pairs), singing Skylark, Green Woodpecker (heard), Goosander (1 redhead),  1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Buzzard and a singing Grey Wagtail (wearing a ring).

Grey Wagtail

Linacre Ringing - 8th October 2024

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.

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Song Thrush

Linacre Ringing - 2nd September 2023

 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.

Tawny Owl

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.

Linacre WeBS - 28th August 2023

 I carried out the monthly WeBS count this morning. It was warm and sunny and a really enjoyable walk around all three reservoirs.

Birds seen were: Mallard (97 adults and 3 ducklings), Tufted Duck (17 adults), Mandarin Duck (49 adults and 2 ducklings), Moorhen ( 8 adults and 6 juveniles), Coot (6 adults and 3 juveniles), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Canada Goose ( 1 heard) and Great-crested Grebe (2 adults and 4 juveniles).

Other birds seen were: Raven (1 over the top reservoir), Magpie (2), Chiffchaff (3 singing and lots of "wheeting"), Blackcap (1 singing in the ringing site), Jay (heard) and Stock Dove (heard singing).

The Gulls are Back!!

 Late this morning, I had a drive across to Rufford for the first visit since March, looking for the returning Black-headed Gulls.

I was in luck, with 20 birds (all adults) seen on the main lake, including the first darvic-ringed bird of the autumn, 293A! This bird was ringed at Center Parcs, as an adult, in December 2021, and was last seen in February 2022. No breeding season sightings have been reported, yet.

293A

Whilst there, Jayne and I had a walk around and spotted some good insects as well: Common Dater (1, my first of the year), Blue-tailed Damselfly, Emerald Damselfly (1, also my first of the year), a Hawker sp, Comma (4), Small White (10+), Red Admiral (1), Peacock (1) and Gatekeeper (1 being eaten by a female Blackcap!). We also had Swallows and House Martins over the lake.

Common Dater

Linacre - 6th April 2023

 After a short drive to a site in Nottinghamshire to see breeding plumaged Black-necked Grebes (124) (7 birds seen) and a single Little Ringed Plover (125), I popped into Linacre for my first visit in a few weeks.

I arrived at Linacre at 10.30am, and spent until 1.00pm on site, walking around all three reservoirs. The highlight of the visit was the 12 Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap and 1 Willow Warbler, that were singing. I also found my first Great-crested Grebe nest of the year (1 bird sitting, along with 2 other birds), a pair of Little Grebes, 1 Greylag Goose (my first Linacre record of 2023), 41 Mallards, 44 Tufted Ducks, 12 Coots, 8 Moorhens, 5 Mandarin Ducks, 1 Grey Wagtail, a female Goosander (late record) and 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (all feeding in the field by the main entrance - my highest ever count!).

Whilst on site, the sun came out and I managed to spot a few insects - 7 Dark-edged Bee-flies, Tree Bumblebees, Common Carder Bees, Buff-tailed Bumblebees and a Mining Bee sp.

Dark-edged Bee-fly

The sun also brought out the flowers, with Wood Anenome, Lesser Celandine, Coltsfoot, Dandelion and daisies all in bloom.

Summer Migrants Arrive

 The sun was out at Linacre this morning and so were the birds!

Between 8am and 10.30am I walked around all three Reservoirs and recorded 12 Chiffchaffs, 4 Blackcaps, 2 Willow Warblers, 1 Swallow and 1 Common Sandpiper.

Common Sandpiper (heavily cropped!)

I also had  my first April record of Herring Gull ( 1 adult - most likely from the increasing breeding population in Chesterfield), 3 Grey Wagtails, 1 Pied Wagtail, the first Mallard ducklings of the year (5 on the bottom reservoir), 1 Common Buzzard, 10 Canada Geese (highest count of the year), 6 Great-crested Grebes, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 30 Tufted Duck, 17 Coot, 13 Mandarin Duck and 7 Moorhens, including the first nest of the year. 

Linacre Nestboxes and Ringing - 15th and 16th May 2021

Two visits to Linacre this weekend, once to check on the nestboxes, and once to do some ringing.

The nestbox check took place on Saturday, but was cut short by heavy rain. I did, however, make sure I'd ringed the first brood of tits for 2021, a brood of 7 healthy Great Tits, and had checked on the progress of the Pied Flycatcher nest. Great new here, as the nest contained 2 eggs! Hopefully, this will increase to 6, 7 or even 8 over the next few days. I'm keeping everything crossed.

Pied Flycatcher nest

The ringing took place on Sunday between 6am and 9.30am. In total we caught and ringed 13 birds  of 6 species. The most impressive bird has to be the adult male Kestrel. This was only the second Kestrel ringed at Linacre, following a female back in February 2018.

Kestrel

Other birds ringed were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 0/1, Great Tit 4/1, Coal Tit 1/1, Goldcrest 2/0 and  Blackcap 1/1, including a female originally ringed in 2018 as a 5, i.e. born in 2017.

Other species seen around the site included a male Pied Wagtail by the main entrance on Saturday, and a new moth species, Green Carpet. Unfortunately, it flew off before I could get a photo.

The first damselfly of the year, a Large Red Damselfly, was noted today (17th) emerging from the pond by the workshop.