Linacre and Barbrook Reservoir - 21st March 2026

 This morning, I was out with 3 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for a session at Linacre. I'd heard Chiffchaffs singing for a couple of weeks, so was very keen to see if we could catch the first birds of the new season.

After 3 and half hours we had caught 13 birds (new/retrap): Chiffchaff 2/0, Coal Tit 0/2, Great Tit 0/1, Blue Tit 1/1, Dunnock 1/1, Robin 2/0, Blackbird 0/1 and Goldcrest 1/0. Whilst there, we also had 10 Greylag Geese fly over (highest ever count?), a flock of c15 Fieldfare over, a single Sparrowhawk, drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Treecreeper, 2 Stock Doves (singing) and  2 Nuthatches.

Afterwards, Jayne and I went for a walk up on Barbrook Reservoir. The hoped-for Wheatear didn't put in an appearance, but, in the 12 degrees warmth and sunshine, we did record: Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Kestrel, Raven, Lapwing ( 2 birds), Mallard, Tufted Duck (pair), Canada Geese (2) and a Year Tick, Reed Bunting (117).

Reed Bunting

In addition, we also saw a small group of 6 Red Deer and at least 6 pairs of Common Toads breeding in the pools.

Red Deer

Common Toad

Linacre - 5th November 2023

 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).

Pied Wagtail

Other species of note were: Redwing (2 over) Fieldfare (4 over), Siskin (heard), 1 juvenile Woodpigeon and Treecreeper (1 seen).

Linacre Ringing - 5th November 2022

 Just two of us managed to get to Linacre for this week's ringing session with Sorby Breck Ringing Group, but we had a fantastic few hours with 46 birds, of 8 species, ringed.

As always, the majority of the birds were Blue and Great Tits, with 18 (15 new and 3 re-traps) of the former and 9 (8 new birds and 1 re-trap) of the latter caught. 2 Coal Tits (both new) were also caught, along with 11 Long-tailed Tits (all new), 1 Blackbird (new), 1 Chaffinch (new), 3 Goldcrests (2 new and 1 re-trap) and, best of all, a young Sparrowhawk - the first to be ringed at Linacre!!

Sparrowhawk!!

As well as the ringing, we also managed to see a flock of c.30 Redwings, c.20 Fieldfares and we also heard Tawny Owls calling.

Linacre WeBS - 12th December 2020

 I was down at Linacre yesterday morning to carry out this month's WeBS walk. It was one of the best walks I've done all year, with record counts for both Mallard and Mandarin Duck. 

Totals seen were: 181 Mallard, 179 Mandarin Duck, 69 Tufted Duck, 10 Moorhen, 5 Coot, 48 Black-headed Gull, 9 Goosander (5 males and 4 females, including birds displaying), 2 Grey Wagtail and 2 Little Grebes.

The woodlands were quite quiet, but I was quite surprised to hear a singing Song Thrush on arrival! The final bird of note was Fieldfare, which was heard flying over.

Scarborough 11th January 2020

On Saturday, I spent a few hours in Scarborough, with my wife and daughter. As always, I started off the birding in the Holbeck Car Park, where I caught up with my first Mediterranean Gulls of 2020. In total, I saw 3 adult birds and 1 2nd winter bird, including this darvic-ringed bird (PNN5). This bird is a regular winter visitor to the Scarborough area, having been recorded annually since 2013, when it was ringed, as an adult, 1290km away in Poland . I also had a fly-by Peregrine Falcon, whilst watching the gulls.

Mediterranean Gull PNN5

Afterwards, we had a walk around the harbour and South Bay area, where we added Feral Pigeons, Great Black-backed Gull, Turnstone and Red-throated Diver to the list. Four of the Turnstones were colour ringed, and I'll write another post about them later. The Fieldfare (c.100) were seen feeding in fields on the drive home.

Year List update:

73 – Feral Pigeon
74 – Mediterranean Gull
75 – Peregrine Falcon
76 – Great Black-backed Gull
77 – Turnstone
78 – Red-throated Diver
79 - Fieldfare

Scarborough Birding - 22nd February 2019

I spent yesterday in Scarborough with Jayne and Lydia. Whilst there, I had my annual visit to Holbeck Car Park to see the over-wintering Mediterranean Gulls. As always, they put on a great show, with at least  4 different birds being seen, including this adult bird whose black hood was developing very nicely.

Mediterranean Gull

Black-headed Gulls also came down, as did a darvic ringed Herring Gull (more about that in another post).

Our next stop was Marine Drive and the harbour, where we saw our first Fulmars of the year (approx.20 birds back on the cliffs),  1 Rock Pipit, 1 Shag, 15+ Turnstones, including 5 colour-ringed individuals (another post coming), another darviced Herring Gull, and 4 Purple Sandpipers.

Year List update:
112 – Fieldfare (seen on 3rd Feb)
113 – Willow Tit (seen ringing 17th Feb)
114 – Mediterranean Gull
115 – Shag
116 – Fulmar
117 – Rock Pipit

118 – Purple Sandpiper

Linacre Ringing - 20th October 2018

This month's ringing session at Linacre started at 6:45am, just before it got light, so that we could set the nets up and ready to try and catch the first Redwings of the autumn/winter period. We were lucky and managed to catch 2 new birds (both adults).

Redwing

We also managed to catch a Brambling (the first to be ringed at Linacre). The bird was a very smart male bird, born this year.

Brambling

The other, slightly different bird was a Coal Tit that was noticeable greyer than our usual birds. We identified this a "continental type" bird, i.e. most likely from mainland Europe! Here's a picture showing the "continental type" (right hand bird) along side a regular bird.

Coal Tits

Finally, we also caught and ringed 2 Greenfinch, another new species for Linacre.

Birds ringed (new/retrap): Wren 3/0, Dunnock 1/0, Redwing 2/0, Goldcrest 4/0, Coal Tit 7/0, Blue Tit 14/6, Great Tit 12/0, Nuthatch 1/0, Chaffinch 1/0, Brambling 1/0, Greenfinch 2/0 and Goldfinch 1/0.

Whilst on site we also noted 3 flocks of Fieldfare (10, 20 and 20) flying over, a lovely skein of approximately 100 Pink-footed Geese flying east and some very vocal (possibly 4) Tawny Owls.

Linacre - 4th March 2018

Last Sunday, when the worst of the snowy weather from the "Beast from The East" was over I popped down to Linacre for a couple of hours. It was still only 1 degree and there was snow on the ground and ice covering about a quarter of the bottom reservoir.

Snow on the top reservoir

Robin

It was quite quiet on the water, but the following birds were seen: Mallard (36), Tufted Duck (23), Moorhen (9), Coot (10), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (1), Black-headed Gull (1), Grey Wagtail (1) and Mandarin Duck (25). 1 Fieldfare (my first Linacre record of 2018), 1 Buzzard and several Siskin were also heard.

Moorhen

Linacre Ringing - 25th November 2017

Last Saturday saw 5 members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group down at Linacre for a ringing session. The weather was a bit blustery, with a few rain/sleet showers and a temperature of just 4 degrees, so, as you can guess, the ringing was slow. After 3 hours we'd caught just 9 birds of 5 species, namely (new/retrap): Blue Tit (3/1), Great Tit (1/0), Coal Tit (1/0), Goldcrest (2/0) and Dunnock (0/1).

Other birds recorded on the ringing site were: Redwing (20+ over), Fieldfare (12, the first of the winter), Long-tailed Tit, Bullfinch (heard), Chaffinch, Jay (2 seen), Magpie (1), Blackbird, Song Thrush (1 seen) and Kestrel ( 1 hunting over the site).

Whilst there, my nephew, Luke had a quick walk around the bottom and middle reservoirs were he recorded: c.20 Black-headed Gulls, 12 Mandarin Ducks, Mallard, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 2 Cormorants.

Linacre WeBS - January 2016

We had the first snow of the winter here in Derbyshire yesterday, so I was looking forward to see a white Linacre this morning when I popped down for this month's WeBS walk. Unfortunately, most of the snow had gone, but there were a few patches left here and there.

Snow by the top reservoir

Birds were present in reasonable numbers for the time of year with the following recorded: Mallard (108), Mandarin Duck (26), Tufted Duck (26), Moorhen (15), Coot (4), Little Grebe (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Black-headed Gull (17) and Teal (3; 1 male and 2 females).

Mallard enjoying some sunflower hearts!

The woods were quite lively this morning too with Song Thrush, Wren, Robin, Woodpigeon, Blue and Great Tit all singing. Great-spotted Woodpeckers were drumming, and Mistle Thrush, Siskin and Fieldfare were also seen.

Year List update:
53 – Tawny Owl (heard calling in Chesterfield on 13th January)
54 – Song Thrush
55 – Fieldfare
56 – Mistle Thrush
57 - Treecreeper (seen at Fairholmes, Ladybower this afternoon)

Linacre 3rd December 2016

After a break of 2 weeks, Luke and I were down at Linacre again this morning. It was quite mild ( 4 - 6 degrees celsius), grey, overcast and completely still. Waterbirds were present in good numbers, and we had a very nice close encounter with a very confiding Robin.

Robin

Waterbirds present were: Mallard (112 - the highest count of the year so far), Tufted Duck (57), Mandarin Duck (29), Coot (7), Moorhen (19 - again, the highest count of the year), Grey Wagtail (5 - a very good count for December), Grey Heron (1), Black-headed Gull (c.50), Little Grebe (1) and Cormorant (1). Unfortunately, we couldn't locate the immature Shag today,  but it was reported yesterday on the Sheffield Bird Study Group website, the first record for December.

Fieldfares and Redwings were present in the surrounding fields, with 18 and c.20 respectively reported. The Fieldfares flew over, while the Redwings were feeding in the Hawthorn bushes by the top reservoir. A Mistle Thrush was also heard in this area, and a couple of Blackbirds were also feeding on the berries. Siskin were heard, along with a couple of Goldcrests, Jay, Wren and a Magpie.

Crest Fest - Part 2

Back in October 2014 I wrote a post entitled Crest Fest (see here), after a session where we'd ringed 5 Goldcrests in 1 session. Well, this Autumn we've had an excellent run with this species, so I thought I'd return to the title for a second time. So far, at Linacre, we've caught the following numbers: 12 in September (11 new and a retrap), 13 at the start of October (12 new and  a retrap) and another 20 (!) yesterday (18 new birds and 2 retraps). As always, these birds could be locally born or they could be birds that have migrated into the country and are now filtering inland. Only time, and a few retraps will tell.

Along with the Goldcrests, we also caught the following birds (new/retrap): Robin 3/0, Blue Tit 5/4, Great Tit 7/1, Coal Tit 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 0/1, Nuthatch 0/2 and Goldfinch 4/0.

Apart from the ringing, we also saw a hunting Kestrel, 2 flocks of Fieldfares (20 and 9), calling Tawny Owls and a few Redwings flying over.

1 last sighting of note was a Bank Vole, seen by David. This is the first sighting of this species at Linacre, although I'm sure it, and many other species are regularly found here. More surveying required!

Linacre WeBS - 16th October 2016

Luke and I were down at Linacre at first light this morning to carry out this month's BTO WeBS walk. We were on site by 7.30am, and managed an hour in the dry, before the heavens opened and it poured down! Luckily, we were going around the top reservoir by then, so we didn't get too wet.

The good news is that the immature Shag was still present. I'd last seen it on the 1st, and it hadn't been seen since, but today it was back on its favourite perch on the bottom reservoir, before flying up to the middle reservoir for a spot of fishing. 2 Cormorants, an adult and a juvenile, were also seen.

October is usually the best month for ducks at Linacre, and the Mandarins in particular, put on a good show today, with an impressive 75 seen. This is the highest count of the year. 62 Mallards were also counted, along with 42 Tufted Ducks, 4 Coots, 15 Moorhens, including 6 birds in juvenile plumage, 3 Grey Wagtails, 1 Grey Heron (heard), 9 Black-headed Gulls, 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (flew over), 1 Great-crested Grebe and 3 Little Grebes.

Birds seen or heard in the surrounding woods included: Redwing (100+ flying over), Fieldfare (2 - the first of the winter), Great-spotted Woodpecker, Woodpigeon, Wren (singing), Robin (singing), and a nice flock of mixed tits including Long-tailed  and Blue Tits, along with Goldcrest.

Linacre Visits- 6th and 7th February 2016

I've managed two visits to Linacre this weekend, the first yesterday morning with my nephew, and the second a brief one on my own this afternoon. Yesterday's visit was wet, to say the least, and this afternoon was dry, but windy.

Firstly, yesterday's visit. We arrived on site at 7.45am and spent about an hour and a half walking around all three reservoirs, despite constant rain! As can be expected, bird numbers were low, except for Coots, which have increased recently. Numbers seen were: Mallard (15!!), Tufted Duck (19), Mandarin Duck (18), Coot (13), Moorhen (10), Black-headed Gull (26), Kingfisher (1 seen on bottom reservoir, but possibly 2 heard), Grey Heron (1), Great-crested Grebe (2, including 1 in breeding plumage), Cormorant (2, including 1 breeding plumaged bird) and Shag (1 juvenile on the bottom reservoir). Whilst looking at/for the Shag, we were lucky enough to catch sight of a Stoat, the first Linacre record for 2016. We also had Song Thrush singing on arrival, and the first blooms of Marsh Marigold on the river feeding into the top reservoir (last year's first record was on 29th March!!).

This afternoon's visit was, thankfully, much drier, with just 1 short shower whilst I was there. This time, I was only on site for about 1 hour and only walked around the bottom reservoir, but I was lucky enough to spot 2 juvenile Shags. Both birds were on the bottom reservoir, along with 3 Cormorants, including 2 in breeding plumage. At one point I managed to get a photo of 1 of the Cormorants and the 2 juvenile/2nd calendar year Shags perching on the trees.

Cormorant and Shags

Cormorant and Shag

1 Grey Wagtail was also heard during this visit, and whilst driving out, I spotted a mixed flock of Starlings (c.20), Redwing (c.40), Fieldfare (2) and Mistle Thrush (2), feeding in the fields.

Linacre Reservoirs - 8th November 2015

The weather this weekend has been pretty grim, with regular rain showers and wind, but I managed to get down to Linacre for  a couple of hours with Jayne late morning. We had a walk around the middle and top reservoirs and recorded excellent numbers of Mandarin Duck (a minimum of 77, the highest count of the year), Mallard (125, again, the highest count of 2015),  and Tufted Duck (56).

In addition, we also recorded a couple of Cormorants, sitting in the trees by the bottom reservoir, 1 "redhead" Goosander, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 5 Coots, 8 Moorhens, 50 Black-headed Gulls and this interesting looking duck.

Wigeon

My initial reaction was a juvenile Wigeon, which is what I recorded it as. It was dabbling and feeding on seeds under the trees on the middle reservoir, and it was only when I got back and looked at  the pictures of the computer, that I noticed it had an all black beak, something that is not shown on images of juvenile Wigeon. I'll leave it as that unless anyone else knows better?

The final birds of note were a small flock of Redwings (c.6) and Fieldfares (c.10) that flew up from Rowans by the top reservoir.

Linacre Ringing - 31st October 2015

Just 3 weeks after our last session, we (Sorby Breck Ringing Group) were back down at Linacre Reservoirs for another ringing session on Saturday morning. We had 4 hours on site and managed to catch 51 birds of 11 species, including 2 Lesser Redpolls (the first ringed at Linacre since last November) and 11 Goldcrests, including one bird with a wing length of 57mm, and a distinctive grey shawl around the neck, which made us think that it could be a "continental" bird, and not a locally born one). See details about these birds on the superb "Birding Frontiers" website here.

Birds caught were (new/retrap): Lesser Redpoll 2/0, Blackbird 3/0, Goldcrest 11/0, Chaffinch 4/0, Bullfinch 1/0, Blue Tit 9/0, Great Tit 5/2, Coal Tit 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 8/0, Dunnock 1/2 and Robin 1/0.

Lesser Redpoll

The highlight was the "continental type" Goldcrest. This year has been an excellent year, for this latter species, with 1000s being seen migrating onto the country from Europe, and many foreign-ringed birds being re caught here (see here for details of some of these birds on the BTO's Demog. Blog). Who knows, perhaps the bird we ringed will turn up in Sweden or Norway, or even further east next year?!

In between net rounds we kept our eyes and ears open for over-flying birds. There was an excellent passage of Redwing, Fieldfare and Woodpigeon, with approximately 200 of the first two species, and 300 of the latter species, all flying south west (thanks David for the counts), as well as a group of 5 Goosander (the first record since the 28th February, and my first October record since 2012- just!),  a small flock of Siskins, 12 Starlings and a hunting Kestrel,

After the session, we put up a new "owl box" in the ringing site. Hopefully, I'll be able to report good things about this box in 2016.

New box!

Linacre -11th January 2015

The weather this weekend was pretty useless for ringing, so I had a couple of hours down at Linacre this afternoon to see what was about. It was quiet, except for three Grey Herons that were down on the bottom reservoir, my highest count since December 2013. This species is a former breeder at Linacre, 2010 being the last successful year that breeding was confirmed, so hopefully, they might hang around and breed again this year.

Grey Herons

Apart from the herons, I also spotted 115 Mallards, 130+ Black-headed Gulls, 2 male Goosanders, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (flying over),  8 Moorhen, 6 Coot, 7 Mandarin Ducks, 13 Tufted Ducks, 2 Grey Wagtails (Year Tick), 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Fieldfare, Redwings (heard flying over) and a Common Buzzard that was perched up in the woodlands by the bottom reservoir.

On the drive out I spotted a Brown Hare in the field, my first record of 2015.

Year List update:

54 – Song Thrush (on 5th)

55 – Grey Wagtail

56 – Pied Wagtail

Linacre Reservoirs- First visit of 2015

It was mild (5 degrees), grey, overcast and very windy first thing this morning, but I decided to get up and get down to Linacre for my first visit of 2015. I'm very glad I did, as I added 16 species to my "Year List", and, more importantly, got some nice records to start off another year of recording at Linacre Reservoirs.

There were a good number of birds out on the water this morning, with the first counts of the year as follows: Mallard (106), Tufted Duck (21), Mandarin Duck (2; 1 male and 1 female), Goosander (7; 6 males and 1 redhead), Moorhen (14), Coot (6), Black-headed Gull (68), Grey Heron (1 on the bottom reservoir) and Cormorant (3, including 1 in full breeding plumage).

Walking back to the car I spotted a couple of Mistle Thrushes feeding in the field along with 6 Redwings and two Fieldfares, while a female Kestrel also flew over the field. All good records to start the year with.

Year List update:

30 – Pheasant

31 - Great Tit
32 – Coal Tit
33 – Long-tailed Tit
34 – Goldcrest
35 – Nuthatch
36 – Treecreeper
37 – Moorhen
38 – Coot
39 – Wren
40 – Mandarin Duck
41 – Tufted Duck
42 – Goosander
43 – Bullfinch
44 -  Great-spotted Woodpecker
45 – Mistle Thrush

Linacre WeBS - December 2014

This morning saw me down at Linacre for this month's WeBS walk. The temperature when I arrived was minus 3, only the second time we've had a frost so far this winter, but the sun was out and it was gorgeous!!

Waterbird numbers were pretty good too for the last WeBS walk of 2014. Mallard topped 100 for the first time this winter (101 to be precise), 26 Mandarin Ducks were on the middle reservoir, 29 Tufted Ducks were also present, along with 71 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Moorhens, 3 Coots, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail and 1 Kingfisher.

Away from the water, there were good numbers of Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, as well as a couple of Jays, a female Sparrowhawk (that flew the entire length of the top reservoir carrying a prey item), Robins, Dunnocks, Blackbirds and Crows. The highlight for me, however, was this Fieldfare that was feeding in a Holly bush by the top reservoir. Not only is it only my second sighting at Linacre this winter, but it also posed very nicely for a picture.

Fieldfare

 

As the sun was shining this morning I decided to take the camera with me, and, on the way out, I found the ringed Little Owl again, and managed to get a photo with a bit of blue sky behind her!

 

Little Owl

 

Chiffchaffs are back

Last Wednesday (19th), there was a report of a singing Chiffchaff at Linacre on the Sheffield Bird Study Group website, the first of the year. Unfortunately I couldn't get down there until today, but during a 2 hour walk around the site with Jayne, we managed to hear 4 birds and see one of these low down in a willow on the ringing site. This is always the first summer migrant back at Linacre, so it was really nice to hear it's song. What next? Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Swallow?

As well as the Chiffchaffs, most of the usual suspects were also in good voice this morning, including Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Nuthatch, Goldcrest, Blue and Coal Tit, Great-spotted Woodpecker (drumming), Blackbird, Song and Mistle Thrush.

Out on the water we spotted 2 pairs of Great-crested Grebe; 1 each on the middle and top reservoirs, 6 Mandarin Ducks (3 pairs. 1 each for the owl boxes?), 28 Mallards, 12 Tufted Ducks, 2 Cormorants (including the ringed bird), 3 Grey Wagtails, 12 Coots, 4 Moorhens and 1 Little Grebe.

Out in the fields was a small flock of winter thrushes comprising 9 Fieldfares and 2 Redwings. Later on we also  spotted a large flock of about 50/60 Starlings flying over the top reservoir, a large female Sparrowhawk, a small group of about 20 Siskins and 4 Lesser Redpolls, so winter's not over yet.