American Wigeon and Iceland Gull

Whilst in Northumberland, enjoying the White-billed Diver, we also took the opportunity to see some other beautiful birds.

Our first stop was the Northumberland Wildlife Trust's Big Waters Reserve on the outskirts of Newcastle. We visited last year too, but didn't manage to catch up with the species we were after. Luckily, this year, we had much more luck, and had fantastic views of both a male American Wigeon (102) and an adult Iceland Gull (106). 

American Wigeon

Iceland Gull (asleep!)

Other species seen were: Tree Sparrow (103), Yellowhammer (104), Great Tit (105), Pintail (1 male), Wigeon (100+), Teal (10s), Common Gull, Black-headed Gull and  Herring Gull.

Our last species of the day was a Long-tailed Duck (107), that was seen on the River Tyne, whilst looking (unsuccessfully!) for a Ross's Gull.

Linacre Nestboxes -2024 Season

 Last Thursday, Jayne and I popped down to Linacre to ring the last chicks (pulli) of the 2024 season. As it turns out, contrary to many areas, the nestboxes have been very good this year, with a total of 192 pulli, 1 adult Mandarin and 1 adult Pied Flycatcher ringed.

By far the most numerous bird ringed this year was, as always, Blue Tit. In total, I ringed 20 broods, ranging from 3 - 10 birds, making a total of 132 birds (the highest number since 2018). All these nests have now fledged, and only 6 birds didn't fledge - a fledging rate of 95%, which is pretty good. The second most numerous species was Great Tit, with 6 broods of between 5-8 birds, totalling 43 birds. This time all birds fledged, so 100% success rate! The third tit species, was Coal Tit, with just 1 brood of 6 ringed. Again, all the brood fledged, so another 100% success rate! This was particularly nice, as this is only the third time this species has used the boxes, since they were put up in 2006! Last year's clutch were predated, so the previous successful nest was back in 2011. 1 Tawny Owl was also ringed. This box hasn't yet been checked, so I don't know if it has fledged yet. Likewise, the adult Mandarin Duck, and her clutch still need to be checked. The last species, Pied Flycatcher, has also had its most successful year to date. In total, 3 nests were discovered this year, 2 of which had chicks that could be ringed (2 broods of 5). The first young ringed have now fledged, and the second box will be checked again next week. The other brood was predated.

As always, all nests were monitored for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme, and all birds ringed, were done so, under BTO licence.

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 Nestboxes Update

 On Monday I had a few hours down at Linacre ringing the first Blue and Great Tit chicks of 2023. In total, I ringed 11 broods; 6 Blue Tits (12, 5, 7, 6, 9, 7 and 11) and 3 Great Tits (4, 6, 5 and 11). I also had an hour there today, when I ringed another 5 broods; 3 Great Tits (6, 7 and 7) and 2 Blue Tits (6 and 6). 

There are still a few more boxes to ring, including a brood of 5 Pied Flycatchers.

Walking around, I also spotted this beautiful male Mandarin Duck and a brood of 13 Mallard ducklings.

Mandarin Duck

Mallard and ducklings

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 Update - 22nd May 2021

 May is a busy month for  ringing, especially the nestboxes, at Linacre, so a visit on Saturday with 2 other members of  Sorby Breck Ringing Group saw a total of 50 pulli (young birds) ringed. All birds were Blue or Great Tits. Unfortunately, the Coal Tit nest I found in one of the boxes had been predated. Better news was the Pied Flycatcher nest. When checked, the female bird was sitting tight, hopefully on a nice, full clutch of eggs.

After checking the main nest boxes, I went down to 23 new boxes that have been put up by the bottom reservoir - The Glade. 3 broods of Blue and Great Tits were ringed. Whilst checking the boxes, a female Leucozona lucorum hoverfly landed on my arm. This was the first record of this species at Linacre!!

Leucozona lucorum (female)

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.

Linacre Ringing - 12th September 2020

 Ringing at Linacre this year has been, as you can understand, pretty much non existent. Thankfully, however, we were able to a small team together on 12th September to have our second mist net ringing session of 2020. It was a quiet return, but we did manage to catch and ring 23 birds, including our first, and most likely last, summer migrant of the year, along with a Great Tit that we had originally ringed here in 2018.

As we'd expected, we'd missed most of the warblers this year, but, we did manage to catch one Chiffchaff (a juvenile bird). The other species caught were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 11/0, Great Tit 4/1, Coal Tit 1/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Dunnock 1/0 and Robin 2/0.

Other birds seen whilst on site were: Raven (1 over), Swallow (5), House Martin (13), Chiffchaff (3 feeding on buddleia, including 1 singing) and Tawny Owl (heard).

It was quite sunny whilst we were there and we also recorded several insect species: Red Admiral (1), Small Tortoiseshell (2), Small White (1), Speckled Wood (1), Meadow Brown (1) and Brown Hawker (1).

Linacre Nestboxes - This Year's Totals

With the easing of the lockdown restrictions, I've been able to get down to Linacre to monitor the nestboxes again this year for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme.  As it turns out, it's been a pretty good season, with a total of 156 pulli of 4 species ringed.

As always, the two most numerous species using the boxes were Blue and Great Tit, with 109 and 35 pulli ringed. One pair of Nuthatches used a box and raised 4 young, whilst Pied Flycatchers had 2 broods, one of which fledged 8 young. Unfortunately, the second brood of Flycatchers were predated. One other species also built a nest in the boxes this year, a Wren. The pair laid eggs, but they didn't hatch.

8 Pied Flycatcher pulli

Blue Tits ready to fledge

Linacre Nestboxes, Birds and Insects

I was able to get down to Linacre on Saturday to check the nestboxes for the first time this season. I walked around all three reservoirs and checked 87 boxes. In total, I found 37 boxes with active nests in them; 33 were either Blue or Great Tits, but there were also 2 Pied Flycatcher nests, 1 Wren nest and 1 Nuthatch nest. There were also 3 singing Pied Flycatchers, which is the highest count I've had, since the first ones were recorded in 2008. All nests are being monitored for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme.

Whilst on site, I also had a look for any insects that were active. I didn't see any butterflies, but I did spot this adult Cinnabar Moth that was emerging on a fence and a Scorpion Fly.

Cinnabar Moth

I also managed to see the first ducklings of the year. There were two broods of Mandarin Duck, 7 and 4, and one brood of Mallard with 3 ducklings.

The best sighting, however, was my first ever sighting of a Grass Snake. I spotted one basking on a stone wall by the bottom reservoir. Unfortunately, I only managed a quick photo before it slid off, into the wall. I did, however, manage to spot a "sloughed" skin in the same spot.

Spot the snake!!

Linacre Nestboxes - 4th May 2019

Luke and I had 2 hours at Linacre checking the nestboxes for the BTO Nest Record Scheme yesterday. Things had moved on very nicely since last week with 26 active nests (up from 25 last week), including 5 with chicks, one of which (8 Great Tit chicks), I was able to ring for the BTO Ringing Scheme.

Chicks!

The new nest was a very nice find, as it contained a bright blue egg in a grass cup, indicating a Pied Flycatcher nest. There were 3 singing Pied Flycatchers present as well, so hopefully, we'll end up with a few more nests as well.

Pied Flycatcher nest

Whilst walking around we also spotted 3 broods of Mallards (8, 9 and 1), 1 brood of Moorhens (3), 20 House Martins, 10 Swallows, and..... a Common Sandpiper (the first Linacre record of 2019).

I popped back down to  Linacre again this morning for an hour, and managed to find a singing Reed Bunting (first ever record of a singing bird, and my first Linacre record since 2013, when 1 was trapped and ringed (see here), and a singing Whitethroat. I managed to get an awful record shot of the latter bird, showing a ring. We haven't ringed that many Whitethroats at Linacre, so it would be great to retrap it this year to see if it is a returning bird or not.

Year List update:
159 - Whitethroat

Coal Aston Nestboxes - 2nd May 2019

It is just over 2 weeks since my last visit to the nestboxes in Coal Aston (see here), so I went up this afternoon to see how they had progressed.

Last visit there were 6 active nests, and today there were still 6 active nests! This time, however, 5 of the 6 nests were being actively incubated by Great Tits (4) and a Nuthatch (1). The 6th nest contained 8 warm eggs, but there was no sign of the sitting bird. Details of today's visit will be recorded for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme.

Incubating Nuthatch

8 eggs - great arrangement!

Linacre Nestboxes - Update 28th April 2019

It's now been 2 weeks since my last check of the nestboxes at Linacre, so I went down this morning with 2 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group (thanks Sarah and Robin), to see how things had progressed. We found a total of 25 active nests (24 with eggs, and 1 with the first chicks of 2019; 8 Great Tits). Unfortunately, they weren't quite big enough to ring. The other nests were a mixture of Blue and Great Tits and contained between 5 and an impressive 14 eggs. A minimum of 2, possibly 3 Pied Flycatchers were also present and singing. The Mallard nest I found on a wall at the start of the month had, unfortunately, but not surprisingly, been predated. A Nuthatch was seen taking food into a natural cavity, possibly feeding a sitting bird? The results of today's visit will be entered into the BTO's Nest Record Scheme.

Nest with 14 eggs

Whilst on site, we also recorded a couple of Canada Geese (still quite uncommon for Linacre), a pair of Raven flying over, Siskin (heard in the conifer woodlands by the top reservoir), 2 Buzzards and a new micro moth species Adela reaumurella.

Adela reaumurella

Coal Aston Nests - 13th April 2019

I was out ringing this morning with 3 other members of Sorby Breck Ring Group at a local farm in Coal Aston. We had a steady morning, with 12 birds of 6 species, including our first ever Chiffchaff record from this site. Birds ringed were (new/retrap): Nuthatch 0/2, Dunnock 1/2, Blue Tit 1/1, Great Tit 3/0, Robin 1/0 and Chiffchaff 1/0. All the retraps were birds that we had ringed at this site previously.

Whilst there, we had our first check of the nestboxes for 2019, and were very pleasantly surprised to find 6 out of the 7 boxes were occupied (up from 2 last year). 1 box contained a Nuthatch nest, whilst the other 5 nests were all tit nests (1 with a 1/2 built nest, 1 with 5 eggs, 1 with 10 eggs, 1 with 8 eggs and 1 with 2 eggs). All eggs were cold, so incubation hasn't yet started.

Nuthatch nest

Tit nest, with 10 eggs and lots of horse hair

Details of all the nests recorded, will be sent to the BTO's Nest Record Scheme.

Linacre Ringing - 26th January 2018

Saturday saw 6 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group back down at Linacre for the second ringing session of the year. We had a relatively quiet session with just 18 birds ringed, as follows (new/retrap): Coal Tit 0/1, Blue Tit 7/7 and Great Tit 3/0.

Whilst on site we also had the first records of 2019 for Song Thrush (1 bird singing) and Common Buzzard (1 over). Also seen were, Sparrowhawk (2 birds together over the ringing site),  Bullfinch, Siskin and Mistle Thrush (2 seen, and heard singing).

Coal Aston Ringing - 20th January 2019

I was out with 2 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group this morning for our first ringing session of the year at our farm site in Coal Aston. The owners of the site had reported that the feeders had been very busy since our last visit, so hopes were high for a good number of birds.

We weren't disappointed with a very respectable 33 birds caught (new/retraps): Blue Tit 15/4, Coal Tit 1/0, Great Tit 9/0, Robin 2/0, Wren 1/0 and Great-spotted Woodpecker 1/0. 

All the retrapped Blue Tits had been ringed at the same site; 2 on 30/09/17 (1 year 4 months ago), and 2 on 07/10/18 ( 3 months ago). They were ringed as 3s, so we know, more or less, how old they are. It'll be interesting to see how long they survive, and whether they breed on site this year.

Linacre Ringing - an update

I've been out ringing with Sorby Breck Ringing Group a couple of times recently. Both sessions were quite quiet with the following birds ringed:

18th November 2018 13 birds: Wren 1/0, Robin 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 3/1, Coal Tit 1/0, Blue Tit 1/1, Great Tit 4/0.

16th December 2018 25 birds: Dunnock 1/0, Robin 0/1, Blue Tit 1/8, Great Tit 8/5, Jay 1/0.

The highlight was, obviously, today's Jay, a first year bird, and the first ringed at Linacre this year.

Linacre Ringing - 11th November 2018

Yesterday morning we (Sorby Breck Ringing Group) were down at Linacre to carry out a ringing session. Unfortunately, just one hour after we arrived, if started to rain, and we had to pack up. As a result we ringed just 11 birds, as follows (new/retrap): Robin 1/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Blue Tit 1/0, Great Tit 4/1 and Chaffinch 1/0.

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 Ringing - 22nd September 2018

This morning I was down at Linacre with 4 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. We had 4 hours on site and caught 38 birds (new/retrap): Robin 2/0, Chiffchaff 7/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 8/0, Blue Tit 11/1, Great Tit 6/0 and Treecreeper 1/0.

Treecreeper

Whilst there, we set a net for Meadow Pipits, and, although they came down, none found their way into the nets.

Also seen during the ringing session were: House Martin (c.30 overhead), Green Woodpecker (1 heard), Kestrel (1), Sparrowhawk (1), Bullfinch (1) and Great-spotted Woodpecker (1).