Linacre Gadwall - 3rd November 2024

 Jayne and I had a quick walk around Linacre this morning. It was pretty quiet, until we arrived at the middle reservoir, where we disturbed a pair of Gadwalls.

This sighting is my first at Linacre since 2022, and only the fifth record since I started watching the site on a regular basis!. The other sightings were: 2 in February 2012, 2 in October 2013, 2 in December 2022 and 2 in March 2023. I managed to grab a quick photograph, before the battery on my camera ran out of juice!!

Gadwall 

Northumberland - Days 4 and 5

 During our last few days in Northumberland, we managed to add a few more birds to the "Year List", with trips to Alnmouth and Queen Elizabeth II Country Park.

The first new addition, heard by our accommodation in Shilbottle, was Skylark (87). Whilst in Alnmouth, we added Little Egret (88) and Bar-tailed Godwit (89), on the estuary, along with 10 Ringed Plover, Curlew, Lapwing, Dunlin, Grey Heron, Shag and Herring and Black-headed Gulls.

Bar-tailed Godwit

On our final day, today, we drove down to Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, adding Tawny Owl (90-heard), Grey Partridge (6 seen in a field outside Warkworth; 91), Golden Plover (92) and Little Grebe (93). At the country Park, we had our final additions of the trip; Gadwall (94) and a single Whooper Swan (95).

Whooper (and Mute) Swan

Rufford Gulls - 23rd December 2022

 It was raining very hard this afternoon, so today's visit to Rufford lasted just 1 hour. There were only 45 Black-headed Gulls present, but I did manage to see 5 colour-ringed birds: P519, 271B, 276B, V77K and a new one, 207C.

207C

207C was ringed just yesterday (22nd December), at Center Parcs, and, unsurprisingly, is the first re-sighting.

Other birds seen were: Mute Swan (2), Gadwall (1m and 1fm), 1 Herring Gull and 4 Goosander (3m and 1fm).

Linacre WeBS December 18th 2022

 After a week of ice and snowy conditions (maximum temperature of  3 degrees) I went down to Linacre yesterday morning (17th) to carry out this month's WeBS count. I had expected the reservoirs to be frozen, but, apart from a little ice ( c.10 %) on the bottom reservoir, the other two reservoirs were completely ice-free.

I walked around all three reservoirs and recorded the following numbers: 231 Mallard (highest count of the year), 114 Mandarin Duck, 72 Tufted Duck, 16 Moorhen, 8 Coot, c.50 Black-headed Gull, 5 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 Little Grebe.

Black-headed Gulls

Other birds seen around the site included: 1 Tawny Owl, Siskin (3, the first of the winter), Magpie, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Wren, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Fieldfare (heard) and Redwing (10 over).

UPDATE: A report on Derbyshire Facebook Page from 18th recorded 119 Teal (!!!), 2 Gadwall, 1 male Shoveler, 104 Tufted Duck, 8 Goosander, 3 Cormorants and  19 Lapwing!!!

Red-necked Grebe - Carsington 2nd April 2021

Jayne and I went to Carsington on Friday and had a few hours walking around the dam wall, Stones Island and Hide area.

The highlight of the trip was a breeding plumaged Red-necked Grebe that we saw by the dam wall. No photo unfortunately, as the blog won't let me upload any!

Other  species new for the year were: Gadwall, Redshank, Willow Tit and Barnacle Goose ( 2 feral birds.

Year List update:

72 - Red-necked Grebe

73 - Gadwall

74 - Redshank

75 - Willow Tit

76 - Barnacle Goose

Rother Valley Smew

On Thursday 3rd I popped across to Rother Valley CP to see if I could catch up with a female Smew that had been reported on the Nature Reserve Lake. I got lucky and managed to see it straight away. As you can see from the "year list" below, there were several other species present in the area.

The Pheasant and Treecreeper were recorded layer in the day on the Monsal Trail.

Year List update:
47 – Smew
48 – Pochard
49 – Gadwall
50 – Goldeneye
51 – Little Egret
52 – Mute Swan
53 – Canada Goose
54 – Wigeon
55 – Grey Heron
56 – Pheasant
57 - Treecreeper

Black-winged Stilts

I haven't seen a Black-winged Stilt in the UK for many years, not since "Sammy", the resident, and possibly escaped, bird that used to live in and around RSPB Titchwell in Norfolk (see article here). When I spotted on Birdguides that 3 birds had turned up in WWT Slimbridge, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to catch up with this species again.

I drove down on Sunday (with family), and got excellent views of 3 different birds feeding about 10m away in front of one of the hides. Here's a couple of photos and a link to a bit of video (here).

Black-winged Stilt

Other birds seen around the site included: Common Crane (4 birds), Ruff (6 birds, including 2 males in breeding plumage), Avocet, Oystercatcher, Black-headed, Lesser Black-backed and Mediterranean Gull (1 2cy bird), Wigeon, Teal, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, (with 5 goslings), Little Egret, Shoveler, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and Gadwall.

Gadwall (male)

Year List update:
142 – Common Crane
143 – Black-winged Stilt
144 - Ruff

Mute Swan - 089

I don't often blog about other people's sightings, but when I got news from my nephew, Luke, about a Mute Swan he'd seen on Tuesday at Holmebrook Valley Country Park in Chesterfield, I thought the news was worth a post.

The bird in question was wearing a yellow darvic ring, number 089.

Mute Swan 089

I did a quick internet search, and guess what? It turns out the bird was ringed our very own Sorby Breck Ringing Group, at Treeton Dyke, South Yorkshire, on 10th September 2013, as a 3, i.e. a bird born in that year. I contacted David, our data manager who provided me with the following details. Since it was ringed, it has only been reported on 2 other occasions, both at Rother Valley Country Park, South Yorkshire, on 12th April 2015 and on 25th August 2015. Luke's sighting was the first since then. Who knows where it's been in the meantime? Luke thought that it was setting up a territory with another Mute Swan, so hopefully, if it does, we'll be able to keep tabs on it throughout the summer.

Whilst there, he also recorded a pair of Gadwall (his first record at this site), 2 Kingfishers, 2 Pied Wagtails, a single Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black-headed Gulls, and, best of all, a Water Rail!!!!

Water Rail

Update on 17th Feb: Luke and I've just been down to Holmebrook Valley CP again, and the swan is still there, with the female bird.

Common and Jack Snipe

I spent a few hours at RSPB Old Moor in Barnsley today. Whilst there I spent the majority of the time watching Common and Jack Snipe from the Family Hide.

There were at least 7 Common Snipe on show, including 1 that fed in the grass in front of the hide. I managed to get some nice shots and a little video (see here).

Snipe

The Jack Snipe was also present in front of the hide for a short while, before flying off to island number 7, where it spent the next few hours. I didn't get any photos whilst it was near the hide unfortunately, but I did manage to get a few "digiscoped" efforts thanks to Amanda from the Chesterfield RSPB Group, who was at Old Moor volunteering. Thanks Amanda! Here's a shot of both species side by side for comparison.

Jack Snipe (back bird) and Common Snipe

Jack Snipe (left hand bird) and Common Snipe

Other birds seen from the hide included Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Pochard, Coot, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Shelduck, Pied Wagtail , Kingfisher, Black-headed, Lesser Black-backed  and Common Gulls.

RSPB Old Moor- 26th June 2016

It was quite warm and sunny on Sunday afternoon, so Jayne and I spent a few hours at RSPB Old Moor. We walked around the wildlife ponds and the hides, enjoying the nice weather, the damselflies and dragonflies and even managed to spot a "year tick".

Wildlife ponds

We started our walk on the wildlife ponds spotting dozens of blue damselflies. Looking at the photographs, these turned out to be Azure Damselflies.

Azure pair "in tandem"

Azure Damselfly (male)

We also saw a couple of Four-spotted Chasers and a male Banded Demoiselle. Butterflies were far and few between, with just 1 Ringlet, a Small Skipper and a female Common Blue seen.

After the insects, we also spent some time looking around the hides. Black-headed Gull chicks were everywhere, with many now fledged.

Black-headed Gull chicks

Whilst looking through the hundreds, possibly thousands of Black-headed Gulls, we were lucky enough to spot the single adult Mediterranean Gull that has spent the summer here. Can you spot the bird in this photo?

Black-headed and Mediterranean Gull

Here's a cropped picture of the bird when it had moved a few minutes later.

Mediterranean Gull

We also spotted, amongst others, Gadwall, a single adult Avocet and 4 Shelduck chicks.

Year List update:

154 - Mediterranean Gull

Clumber Park

It was quite warm and sunny on Sunday, so Jayne and I had a drive out to Clumber Park. We walked around the main lake, and saw our first damselflies of 2016 and a new bird for the "year list"; Cuckoo.

The first damselfly we saw was a male Large Red Damselfly. He was sitting on a reed by the lake, and I managed a decent photo.

Large Red Damselfly

Close by we found the second species; Blue-tailed Damselfly. We had 1 male fly past and land on a reed, unfortunately, out of reach of the camera. More details about these species, and more, can be found on the British Dragonfly Society's website.

We carried on walking around the lake, finding young Coots, Canada and Greylag Geese along with 40+ Mute Swans, Great-crested Grebe, Swift, House Martins, Swallows, Moorhens and Gadwall.

Gadwall (male and female)

The best bird, however, was a Cuckoo that was heard calling a couple of times as we walked around the south side of the lake, near the weir.

Year List update:
150 - Cuckoo

6 Year Ticks

I was out and about again this morning, trying hard to "tick" a Black Redstart that has been present on an industrial site in Sheffield since 13th January. I was there for two hours, but unfortunately drew a blank. As you can guess, it was recorded later on, about 2 hours after I'd left! See the BirdGuides Website here for details and some great pictures. The good news, however, is that whilst there, I did manage to get a couple of "year ticks", with about half a dozen Skylarks present and singing over the site, and  a flock of about 15 Linnets also seen.

In the afternoon, Jayne and I decided to drive over to the National Trust's Clumber Park to enjoy the 15 degree temperatures! We walked all around the lake, and added another 4 species to the "year list". The first species, Marsh Tit, was very good to see, as I didn't manage to get it at all last year at all. I'm not sure why, as there were everywhere today, especially at feeding stations. It's not the easiest species to identify, so here's a link to the BTO's i.d. guide. Well worth a look. Here's a terrible, out of focus picture I took today. They really are fast!

Marsh Tit

The next species seen was Stock Dove, which was seen in the trees by the car park. The last two species, Shoveler and Pochard, were seen on the main lake. There was a pair of Shoveler, and 7 Pochard (4 males and 3 females).

Shoveler (male)

Other species seen on the lakes included Mallard, Gadwall, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Great-crested Grebe, Mute Swan, Black-headed and this single Lesser Black-backed Gull. 

Mute Swan

Year List update:

93 – Skylark

94 – Linnet

95 – Marsh Tit

96 – Stock Dove

97 – Shoveler

98 - Pochard

More Year Ticks

After yesterday's visits to Linacre, I went for a walk around Rufford Country Park in the afternoon with Jayne. Whilst there I managed to add another 4 species to the "year list", namely Hawfinch (1 in the Lime trees by the car park), Greylag Goose (dozens on the main lake), Gadwall (1 pair on the lake) and Treecreeper (1 in the trees by the main lake). Unfortunately, no photos of these new species.

We also noted Mallards, Canada Geese, Tufted Ducks, Coot, Moorhen, Goosander (c.10), Black-headed and Common Gulls (c.10). I got a few photos of the Common Gulls.

Common Gulls (2 different 1st winters/2nd calendar year birds)

One last "year tick" was a Barn Owl that I saw hunting in fields in Apperknowle on Wednesday. It was in the fields by "the triangle" at 7.30am. Great sight!

Year List update:
84 - Hawfinch
85 - Greylag Goose
86 - Gadwall
87 - Treecreeper
88 - Barn Owl

RSPB Leighton Moss

I've just been away with Jayne to the Lake District for a few days (more about that in a later post), and, on the way, we decided to pop into the RSPB's Leighton Moss reserve in Lancashire.

Leighton Moss

The main reason for our visit was to hopefully see some Bearded Tits that feed on the "grit trays" at this time of the year. The grit trays are provided to help the birds digest the fibrous reed seeds that they eat during the winter months. See details of a color ringing scheme carried out by North Lancashire Ringing Group here. Here's a picture of the grit trays, minus the birds!

Grit Trays

After failing to see the Beardies, we walked on down to the Lower Hide, where we had a little more luck, seeing our first ever English Otter (no photos though, as it was too far out), and one of at least 2 Great White Egrets, that were present on the reserve. As you can see from the photo, the bird was also quite a way out, but least it flew up onto a dead tree for us.

Great White Egret

Other birds seen during our visit were: Gadwall, Shoveler, Mallard, Grey Heron and Pintail.

Iceland Gull

Hot on the heels of last week's Glaucous Gull, comes the other "white winger" with an adult Iceland Gull at Poolsbrook Country Park. Here's a photo of the preening bird.

Iceland Gull

This bird has been seen on and off for the last few days, and I managed to catch up with it this afternoon. As you can see from the picture, the bird spent most of the time preening or asleep!

The gull, along with Canada and Greylag Goose that were also seen at Poolsbrook. have now been added to the "year list", along with Mute Swan, Gadwall and Grey Heron, that were seen on an afternoon trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Year List update:

 

65 – Canada Goose

66 – Greylag Goose
67 – Iceland Gull
68 – Mute Swan
69 – Gadwall
70 – Grey Heron

WWT Welney

I was out and about with the Chesterfield RSPB Group at the weekend, visiting the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust's Welney reserve.

At this time of the year the highlight of a visit is the wintering Whooper and Bewick Swans. During our visit we saw lots of Whoopers, both in the fields and on the reserve itself. Many of the birds are colour ringed including the female bird of this family party(far right). The female bird, U5D, was originally ringed at Martin Mere, another WWT reserve in Lancashire, 9 years ago, and is paired up with an unringed male bird. As you can see, the pair have managed to raise 3 young this year.

Family of Whooper Swans

Unfortunately, the Bewick Swans weren't playing during our visit, and we didn't see any on the reserve. We did, however, see several hundred swans flying onto the reserve to roost as we were driving home. Some of these were most likely Bewicks!!

As well as the swans, we also saw very good numbers of other waterbirds, including Pochard, Shoveler, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Tufted Ducks, Canada and Greylag Goose, and several species of wader; Black-tailed Godwit (c.600), Dunlin, Redshank, Lapwing, Golden Plover and Snipe.

Birds of Prey were represented by a couple of Marsh Harriers that kept flushing all the birds, and a stunning Barn Owl that was hunting along the ditches of the reserve.

Nightjars and Woodcocks

Friday evening saw me and 5 others spending  a few hours in Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire on the Chesterfield RSPB's annual visit to see Nightjars and Woodcocks.

We'd had alot of rain this week, so we weren't expecting too much, but as we arrived, the rain stopped and the sun came out! The first part of the walk took place around the main lake, We saw a good number of waterbirds including Gadwall, Mallard, Mute Swan, Great-crested Grebe and a single male Mandarin Duck.

After an hour or so we headed over to the grassland area where we found a singing Yellowhammer, two Stock Doves and a single Tree Pipit.

Tree Pipit

The final part of the evening started at about 9.30pm, when we moved over to the Nightjar area. Within minutes of our arrival we'd seen a"roding" Woodcock and over the next hour we saw several more. A Cuckoo was heard calling and at about 9.45pm the Nightjars began to "churr" and we managed to see two birds flying around.

The Year List has moved on 4 species:

139 -Tree Pipit
140 - Woodcock
141 - Nightjar
142 - Cuckoo

Farm Survey Walk - 28th April 2012

Yesterday saw me out and about for  the first survey of the year as part of the RSPB's Volunteer and Farmer Alliance scheme. Each year I'm given a different farm and asked to survey the birdlife three times over the breeding season. These results are then sent to the farmer along with advice about how to encourage any that are missing or how to improve the number of those present. Especially important are those classed as being of conservation concern e.g. Yellowhammer, Grey Partridge and Skylark.

This year's farm is in North Notttinghamshire and consists of mainly arable land (oil seed rape and peas), as well as a couple of fields with cows and horses and an area of newly planted woodland.

One of the inhabitants.

This being the first visit and quite early on in the season meant that a total of 26 species was quite respectable. Included in this list were a few "red listed" birds, i.e. those of highest conservation concern, including singing Reed Bunting, a pair of Grey Partridge, Yellowhammer, Skylark, 3 Lapwing and about a dozen Linnet.

Male Reed Bunting

A few summer migrants were around and singing (Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and a single Swallow), but hopefully when I visit again in about a month's times there should be a few more in. Other, more unusual species, were a pair of Gadwall on the fields with the cows and 4 Greylag Geese.

Snowy Linacre, a Year tick and a Patch tick!

Today's visit to Linacre was slightly later than usual thanks to last night's snow and, after some help from a very kind 4x4 driver and a length of rope, Jayne and I arrived in the top car park at 12 noon. The bottom reservoir was 100% frozen over, the middle was approximately 90% frozen over and the top reservoir was just 5% frozen over. We spent a lovely 2 hours walking around all three reservoirs in the sun and managed to add a new species to the Linacre list, Gadwall,(1 pair on the top reservoir), as well as our first Mute Swan since December 2010. I didn't manage to get any photos of the Gadwall, but the swan was very confiding and swam over to me for some tasty sunflower hearts. I presume it's one of the birds from nearby Holmebrook Valley Park.

Mute Swan

As well as the above two species there were three male Pochard on the top reservoir, my highest count ever, 2 Goldeneyes, 65 Mallard, 14 Black-headed Gulls, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 12 Coot, 3 Moorhen,  and 13 Mandarin Ducks. The usual woodland birds were around with Coal, Blue and Great Tit all singing in the sunshine.

Here are a few snowy shots:

Bottom reservoir

Middle Reservoir

Top reservoir

The Year List moved on one more species today:

81 - Pochard

Blacktoft Sands - 22nd January 2012

I spent today at the RSPB's Blacktoft Sands reserve  near Goole with my wife and 10 members of the Chesterfield RSPB Group. We went especially to see the Harrier Roost and were very lucky to see both Marsh and Hen Harrier, as well as 29 other species of birds.

We arrived at 12.00pm  and spent the first three hours looking around the hides, where, despite the very strong winds, we saw several duck species (Teal, Wigeon, Goldeneye, Mallard, Shelduck and Gadwall), along with 5 wader species (Lapwing, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Snipe and Curlew) and our first bird of prey, a Kestrel.

Snipe

From 3 o'clock onwards we sat in the Singleton Hide, the best place to see the harriers. Shortly after our arrival we saw a Marsh Harrier, the first of at least half a dozen, followed a little while later by a "ringtail" Hen Harrier. A male Hen Harrier also put on a show, before, we left at 4pm.

The Year List moved on well today with these new additions:

63 – Pheasant

64 – Tree Sparrow
65 – Teal
66 – Wigeon
67 – Shelduck
68 – Golden Plover
69– Lapwing
70 – Great Black-backed Gull
71 – Marsh Harrier
72 – Hen Harrier
73 – Cormorant
74 – Gadwall
75 – Curlew
76 – Snipe
77 - Dunlin