Derbyshire Ticks - 3rd September 2026

 Yesterday, I went for a family walk to the Upper Derwent Valley. Whilst there, we managed to get a couple of very nice Derbyshire ticks: Crossbill and Osprey (192). I managed a couple of poor "record shots".

Crossbill

Osprey

Linacre WeBS - 24th January 2026

 I hadn't been able to get down to Linacre until today (!), so this month's WeBS count took place today. The highlight was, undoubtable, the 12 Goosanders (6 male and 6 female) that were on the middle reservoir. Other good sightings included, 2 Little Grebes ( on the bottom reservoir), an adult Herring Gull, (first January record, I think), 1 Great-crested Grebe and 5 Cormorants.

Cormorant

The other main species were: Mallard (56), Tufted Duck (58), Mandarin Duck (29), Coot (5), Moorhen (4) and Grey Wagtail (1). 1 Raven flying over was also good to see.

Two new species were added to this year's Year List: Crossbill (81) and Jay (82).

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.

Year List Update - 20th July 2025

As always, at this time of the year, the Year List slows down, as most of the easier-to-find species have been recorded. I have, however, managed to add a few new species.

The first is Long-eared Owl (179), that was seen in NE Derbyshire in June. Next up was Crossbill (180), that was recorded at Linacre on 5th July. Spotted Flycatcher (181) was seen on a walk in Tideswell Dale, also on 5th July. Green Woodpecker (182) was heard, but not seen, at Hardwick Hall last week, and the final bird, Yellow-legged Gull (183), was seen today, at Ogston Reservoir.

Yellow-legged Gull 

Update: Common Sandpiper (184) was seen at Ogston, on 28th July.

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".

Scotland Trip - October 2023

 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!

Crested Tit

Whilst there, we also heard Crossbills (192), a flock of 15 Whooper Swans and a skein of c50 Pink-footed Geese.

We saw Red Squirrels on several occasions, including this photographic individual at Killiekrankie.

Red Squirrel

Our final sightings of the week was a flock of 9 Waxwings (193), that were seen on 3rd at The House of Bruar retail park, and a single Hooded Crow, that was feeling by the A9!

Waxwings

Scotland - The Last Few Days

My last post about my recent Scotland trip is one covering a few days, and several different places.

The first place is a forest called Allean, near Queen's View in the Tay Forest Park. Jayne and I had a walk around this site for a couple of hours and recorded the usual suspects (tits, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeons), and a "year tick", Crossbill. Unfortunately, the only bird we saw was very distant, and silhouetted against the sky, so I wasn't able to see if it was a Common Crossbill or another, more exciting, species!! Afterwards, we went to Dunkeld for some delicious vegan food at The Atholl Arms Hotel, where we also saw our first Sand Martins of the trip, and a fly-over Jay.

Next stop was St Andrews on 25th April. We had a walk around the town and the old cathedral, and spotted about half a dozen nesting Fulmars, and 100+ Eider Ducks.

Fulmar

Our last trips of the week were to Cairn Gorm and the RSPB Loch Garten reserve. We visited Cairn Gorm yesterday morning. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great (windy, raining on and off, and a low mist!), but we did get great views of at least 4 Ring Ouzels, including this male in the car park, a Mountain Hare and a male Wheatear in the small garden area.

Ring Ouzel

Wheatear

We then visited RSPB Loch Garten. There are no breeding Ospreys there this year, but we did see a pair of Goldeneye, a couple of Red Squirrels, many (!) Siskins, but no Crested Tits!!

The last bird, and the latest "year tick", a Cuckoo,  was heard, by Jayne, at 5am this morning, from our accommodation in Killikrankie. Thankfully, she woke me up so I could hear it too!

Year List update:
157 - Crossbill
158 - Cuckoo

Year List update

Back in June I took part in Chesterfield RSPB's annual evening walk around Clumber Park. We had a few hours walking around the park, before heading to the area were we saw Nightjar and Woodcock last year. We got lucky again, seeing about 4 Woodcocks and 3 Nightjars.

The Crossbills (9 in total) were seen and heard flying around the woodlands at Linacre.

Year list update:
154 – Crossbill
155 – Woodcock
156 – Nightjar

Parrot Crossbills - Lifer!!

I was up at the top end of the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire this morning to catch up with some Parrot Crossbills that had been reported on Birdguides.

The birds (c.12) were located just above Howden Reservoir  a couple of weeks ago, and I managed to catch up with them feeding in trees. The beaks were much larger than the accompanying Common Crossbills.  I managed some reasonable views through the scope and got a photo of one of the males.

Parrot Crossbill

Year List update:
198: Common Crossbill
199: Parrot Crossbill

Derbyshire Bird Report 2014

Every November I look forward to receiving my copy of the latest Derbyshire Bird Report (free to members of the Derbyshire Ornithological Society).

My copy arrived last night, and I had my first read through today, looking to see how many mentions of Linacre Reservoirs there were! I'm glad to say, there were quite a few. Thanks to everyone who sent records in. I also have a look through to see if there are any records I missed. The only one I've spotted so far, was a record of 22 Crossbills on 25th November 2014. This was the only record in the second winter period, and also included birds that were "courtship feeding", which is something I've never seen, or heard of at Linacre before.

As well as this record, the report also shows that Linacre is still the county "hotspot" for Mandarin Ducks. Long may it continue!

Whinlatter Forest Park - Cumbria

Jayne and I have just had a couple of days in Keswick in the Lake District. During our time, we visited the Forestry Commission's Whinlatter Forest Park, hoping to see some Red Squirrels. Unfortunately, we drew a blank with the squirrels, but we did enjoy a lovely walk, and managed to spot some Crossbills (male and female), in the woodlands.

Crossbills (males)

Crossbill (female)

Here's a picture of one of the many waterfalls in the park, and a Common Gull that we saw feeding with dozens of Black-headed Gulls, Mallards, Canada and Greylag Geese on Derwentwater.

Waterfall at Whinlatter

Common Gull on Derwentwater

Year List Update:
172: Crossbill

More Linacre nests

Hot on the heels of the Tawny Owl nesting record on Saturday, I decided to go back down to Linacre yesterday morning for a couple of hours to see what, if anything, else was breeding.

As I walked around all 3 reservoirs I counted a total of 9 singing Chiffchaffs, but unfortunately, no further summer migrants. The Great-crested Grebes on the middle reservoir were still sitting on their nest, and a second pair was nest building on the top reservoir. My final nest of the morning was a Coot that was "sitting" in willows on the top reservoir. I had a quick check of a few of the tit boxes, but they were all empty. I'll check them again next week.

Other interesting sightings included a singing Curlew in fields above the top reservoir (first Linacre record of 2014), a single Hare in the woods by the picnic benches, a brief fly-over Crossbill, and a calling Toad from the boardwalk. 2 Grey Herons also flew over the site, and a breeding plumaged Cormorant was sat in the trees.

Linacre WeBS - March 2014

This month's WeBS count took place over the weekend, with 2 walks by Mandy of the Chesterfield RSPB Group on Saturday morning and me on Sunday morning. Both walks were quiet, as is to be expected at this time of the year. My walk only lasted just over an hour, as the wind was so strong and cold, and the water looked more like the North Sea! Unfortunately no summer migrants were recorded, due to high winds, which made singing and hearing almost impossible!

The results show the highest counts from both walks: Mallard (34 on 16th),  Black-headed Gull (1 on 15th), Coot (10 on 16th), Moorhen (5 on 15th,), Tufted Duck (13 on 15th), Mandarin Duck (8 on 15th), Great Crested Grebe (2 on 15th), Grey Wagtail (1 on 15th), Cormorant (1 on 15th), Canada Goose (2 on 15th).

Mandy also recorded 1 or maybe 2 Stock Doves , which is the first Linacre record for 2014. Other small birds seen were Crossbill (1 male on 16th), Bullfinch on 15th and a large flock of mixed finches (mainly Siskin), in the Larches by the middle reservoir.

Two Brown Hares were seen in the field by the main entrance on 16th.

Linacre in the sunshine - 9th March 2014

Sunday morning started sunny, so I decided to pop down to Linacre for a few hours. The temperature at 7am was already 7 degrees and the sun was shining. By 9am the temperature had risen to 12 degrees! My hope was to find the first summer migrants, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Instead, I enjoyed a great walk with a lovely mixture of birds, and the first frogspawn of the year.

As I walked down from the car park I was surrounded by singing birds (Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Goldfinch, Goldcrest, Woodpigeon and Wren!). A couple of Great-spotted Woodpeckers were drumming, and a Green Woodpecker was heard "yaffling". 

Waterbirds were becoming scarcer with Tufted Duck and Mallard numbers down to 13 and 38. There were just 8 Black-headed Gulls, but a big surprise was 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls that were feeding along with them!! 3 Cormorants were also present on the bottom reservoir, including an adult with a BTO ring on its right leg. This time last year a ringed Cormorant was also present- the same bird returning? If only I could read the number!!!1 Little Grebe was swimming around, while 2 Grey Wagtails were fighting each other around last year's nest site and another 2 were on the top reservoir. Coots and Moorhens were present in good numbers, 11 and 9, and 7 Mandarin Ducks, were together on Linacre Brook, east of the lower reservoir. 1 Grey Heron was spotted flying around the middle reservoir. Finally, two pairs of Great-crested Grebes were present and a couple of Canada Geese, including the hybrid bird returning for at least its 8th year, were found on the top reservoir (see here for details of last year's return).

Canada Goose and hybrid

The final birds of note were calling Crossbills, a singing Skylark above the top reservoir, and a female Kestrel in the same area.

New nestboxes for Linacre

It was very windy yesterday morning, so, instead of getting out ringing, I went down to Linacre to put up 10 tit boxes that will replace some old ones and some of the open fronted boxes that have, unfortunately, never been used since being installed in 2006!

Nestboxes ready to go up!

On Thursday I was up at Linacre with a couple of guys from the Ringing Group, and Alan from Chesterfield RSPB Group, to put up another "owl box". It's most likely too late to be used by an owl this year, but it could still get used by the Mandarin Ducks. Whilst there, we also checked the other owl boxes. A Tawny Owl was roosting in a Holly tree near to one of the boxes, but the box itself was empty- again!!

Alan up a ladder.

I recently applied for a "restricted C permit" from the BTO, which means I will be able to monitor the boxes by myself this year, and also ring any chicks that I find. I'll also be filling in Nest Record Cards for all the nesting attempts and sending them off to the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. More updates will appear on the blog later in the year.

After putting up the boxes I had a walk around the site. Waterfowl numbers were much lower than last week, especially Mallards and Tufted Duck, with just 48 and 38 respectively. Mandarin were down to just 3(!) and Coot and Moorhen were also lower at 9 and 7.

On a more positive note, there were 3 Cormorants, 6 Goosander (4 males and 2 females), 2 summer plumaged Little Grebes and the year's highest count of Black-headed Gulls (83). The single summer plumaged Great-crested Grebe was still present on the middle reservoir, and I had  first record of Grey Wagtail since the start of January with 3 present around the reservoirs. There was also a Canada Goose on the top reservoir, which was only my second February record, the last being 3 in 2010.

Away from the water there were 5 Mistle Thrushes feeding in the fields by the main entrance, a pair of Kestrels displaying over the woods, a Common Buzzard being hassled by Crows, singing Goldcrests and the flock of Crossbills.

Linacre WeBS - February 2014

Last month's WeBS walk was a very wet and windy affair (see here). Unfortunately, this month's walk also turned out much the same!   Despite the horrible weather, me and my nephew, Luke still managed to record 10 species of birds and reasonable numbers for the time of year.

This month's counts were: Mallard (55), Tufted Duck (59), Moorhen (8), Coot (16- my highest ever February count), Black-headed Gull (9), Mandarin Duck (14), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1 summer plumaged bird), Goosander (1 male) and Cormorant (3).

Woodland birds were quiet, due to the weather, but we did manage to record a couple of Mistle Thrushes (including 1 that was singing), 1 Song Thrush, a lovely Goldcrest , a flock of 20 Starlings by the entrance, a single Common Buzzard being mobbed by some Crows and a flock of c.20 Crossbills, that were feeding by the middle and top reservoirs.

First Kingfisher Sighting of the Year

The wind was blowing quite hard again this morning, so unfortunately no ringing today. Instead I popped down to Linacre to pick up some new nestboxes that I'll be putting up in a few weeks time, and had a couple of hours walking around all 3 reservoirs.

Despite the windy conditions I did manage to record a few woodland birds, including a few singing Blue, Coal and Great Tits, along with the Crossbills (heard, but not seen), a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a Jay.

Out on the water the Tufted Duck numbers were up to 70, which is the highest ever count. Also present were 73 Mallards, 6 Goosanders (4 redheads and 2 males), 1 Grey Heron, 12 Black-headed Gulls, 7 Moorhens, 12 Coots, 2 Little Grebes and a Kingfisher (year tick). The Kingfisher was first seen perched in the trees on the south side of the middle reservoir at around 9.30am, and then when I was walking by the bottom reservoir at about 11,15am I saw it or another fly the length of the water and disappear into the woods to the East of the site. A lovely site and a very nice addition to the "Year List". Interestingly there wasn't a single Mandarin Duck  on site at all today. Where were they??

As well as being my 83rd species of the year it was also the 40th species for Linacre this year.

Year List update:

83 - Kingfisher

Linacre WeBS - Januray 2014

The first WeBS walk of 2014 turned out to be a wet one with heavy rain throughout. Thankfully, however, the 2 members of the Chesterfield RSPB Group  who came along (many thanks!), soldiered on and managed some reasonable numbers, given the conditions.

 

Birds seen were: Mallard (76), Coot (12), Moorhen (6), Mandarin Duck (13), Black-headed Gull (5), Cormorant (2), Tufted Duck (60) Goosander (1 male). Unfortunately, due to the awful weather, there weren't any records of the Crossbills this week, but a report on the Sheffield Bird Study Group website of 38 from earlier in the week was very good. A Woodcock was also reported on 19th January on this website, the first record of the year.

 

I didn't walk around this month, but instead, put together 7 new tit boxes with Gillian, the DCC ranger and Noel from the RSPB Group. I'm going to get them up in the half term holidays to replace the open-fronted boxes that have never been used in the 7 years they've been in place! Come April time, hopefully these boxes will be used by the resident Blue and Great Tits, or, if we're very lucky, by Pied Flycatcher. Whatever happens, I'll record the details for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme ring any pulli and keep the blog updated.

First Linacre ringing session- 11th January 2014

I arrived at Linacre at 7am this morning to meet up with my ringing trainer and 2 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group to carry out our first Linacre ringing session of the year. On arrival we heard Tawny Owls calling in the surrounding woodlands.

Our aim was to set the nets while it was dark, and ring some Crossbills as they left their roost site. Unfortunately, the plan didn't come together and we didn't see any Crossbills at all, never mind ring any!! We did, however, manage to hear a Green Woodpecker (year tick), and catch a couple of new Goldfinches, a few Blue and Great Tits, a female Bullfinch and 1 Robin, but within an hour it began to rain, the wind picked up and so we decided to call it a day.

My nephew had come down as well, so when the rain cleared up, we decided to have a quick walk around the middle and top reservoirs. I'm glad we did, because, we managed to see a lovely flock of about 20 Crossbills(!), a couple of "red-head" Goosanders, 135 Mallards, 56 Tufted Ducks, 35 Mandarin Ducks, 1 Little Grebe, 56 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Grey Wagtail, 6 Moorhens and  9 Coots.

Year List update:

76 – Crossbill

77 – Green Woodpecker
78 – Grey Wagtail
79 – Goosander

Linacre- 22nd December 2013

I picked my nephew, Luke, up for this morning's walk around Linacre and we spent a couple of hours walking around all three reservoirs. Luke brought along his camcorder, and we managed to get some footage of some of the special birds that make Linacre such a lovely place.

First up was a very nice looking male Kingfisher, that we found on the middle reservoir. We watched it perched up in the trees by the water for about 15 minutes- very nice! Whilst watching this, we heard the Crossbills, and a small flock of at least 14 fed in the Larches above us. Luke managed to get some video footage of both species, which can be seen on You Tube here. Redwings were also feeding in the Holly bushes around the site.

Waterbirds were still present in good numbers again, with the following recorded: Goosander (11; 6 males and 5 females), Mallard (145), Mandarin Duck (27), Tufted Duck (53), Little Grebe (3), Coot (9), Moorhen (8), Cormorant (3) and Black-headed Gull (10).