Linacre WeBS - 21st October 2018

Yesterday morning Luke and I were down at Linacre to carry out this month's WeBS count. We had a very successful few hours recording our first Teal (2 female types) and Wigeon (1 female type) of 2018.

Teal

Wigeon

In addition, we also had the highest count of Mandarin (113) since October 2016, when 117 were counted, 20 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Cormorants, 4 Great-crested Grebes, 2 Little Grebes, 76 Mallards, 35 Tufted Ducks, 11 Moorhens, 6 Coots and a Kingfisher.

Other birds seen on site included a single Goldcrest, Siskin (heard), Robin, Chaffinch, Wren, Blackbird, Redwing (4 over) and 2 Ravens.

There were lots of fungi all around the site, including this lovely collection of Fly Agaric.

Fly Agaric

Linacre WeBS - 8th October 2017

I was out ringing this am, so this month's WeBS count took place in the afternoon (1pm to 3pm). Like last week's walk, it was quite quiet, but I did see my first Black-headed Gulls on the winter, with 17 present on the bottom reservoir. Another good record was an adult Little Grebe (my first Linacre record since 18th February 2017), that was fishing on the middle reservoir. Other birds recorded this month were: Mallard (52), Tufted Duck (27), Moorhen (12; 6 juveniles and 6 adults), Coot ( 2 adults) and Mandarin Duck (18).

Tufted Duck

Birds heard in the woodlands were: Jay, Robin, Long-tailed Tit and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

The sun was out when I arrived, and it was 15 degrees, so I checked the ivy bushes where I found a tatty looking Red Admiral butterfly feeding along with dozens of Common Wasps. 2 Fly Agaric fungi were also seen.

Red Admiral and Common Wasp

Fly Agaric

First Frosts

Luke and I managed a couple of visits to Linacre this weekend, and spent just under four hours on site. We walked around all 3 reservoirs, but failed to see the immature Shag on either visit. Hopefully it hasn't gone, but was just keeping a low profile. Only time will tell...

The weather on both visits were dry and bright, but, especially on Sunday, the temperature had dropped (to just 2 degrees celsius), and a strong, cold wind had picked up.

Top reservoir

Despite the no-show from the Shag we did still see good numbers of waterbirds, especially Mallard (96), Mandarin (85), Tufted Duck (62) and Moorhen (16; 13 adults and 3 juveniles). Other birds seen were: Black-headed Gull (59), Coot (4), Cormorant (3 adults), Grey Wagtail (2) and Little Grebe (1).

Black-headed Gull

Jays were very vocal in the woods and Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Goldcrest, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit were also seen. Siskin were also heard overhead as were Redwing, and 5 Mistle Thrush were seen, including 4 together in the Rowan tree by the top reservoir.

Mistle Thrush

Whilst walking around the top reservoir  we also spotted these Fly Agaric toadstools.

Fly Agaric

Linacre - 12th November 2011

Another hour long visit this morning was, on the whole, pretty quiet. There were however, 4 Teal on the middle reservoir, which could have been some of those seen earlier in the autumn, or possibly new birds. Whichever way, they seemed quite settled and will hopefully remain for some time yet. 2 Linnets were also spotted feeding on vegetation on the wall of the top reservoir, but didn't want to be photographed! Common Buzzard was heard, but not seen.

Other water birds seen today were; Mallard (81), Moorhen (5), Coot (8), Tufted Duck (17), Pied Wagtail (1), Grey Wagtail (1 heard), Black-headed Gull (5), Great-crested Grebe (1 adult), Little Grebe (1) and Mandarin (11).

Away from the birds, I managed to find a patch of Fly Agaric fungi and some other small fungi which I believe are Waxcaps.

Fly Agaric

Waxcap species