Linacre WeBS - 11th October 2026

 Last weekend was this month's WeBS count, so I went down to Linacre for a couple of hours on Sunday morning. Numbers were quite low again, as  the top and bottom reservoirs are still very low, due to the ongoing works.

Top reservoir

Birds seen were: Mallard (42), Tufted Duck (40), Mandarin Duck (20), Teal (5: 4 females and 1 male), Coot (2), Moorhen (5), Pied Wagtail (3), Grey Wagtail (1), Great-crested Grebe (1), Cormorant (2), Canada Goose (1 flew over) and Grey Heron (1). Pink-footed Geese were also heard, but not seen, flying over.

Teal (male and female)

Other birds seen/heard were: Skylark (overhead), Sparrowhawk (1 male flew over the top reservoir), Jay, Crow, Robin, Wren, Nuthatch, Blue, Long-tailed, Great Tit and Chaffinch.

Linacre WeBS - 13th September 2026

 Today was this month's scheduled WeBS count, so I had a couple of hours (7am - 9am) down at Linacre. Unfortunately, all of last week's "goodies" had gone, but this did mean I could concentrate on the count, and not get distracted!

Numbers were: Mallard (54), Tufted Duck (21), Mandarin (13), Grey Wagtail (3), Pied Wagtail (1), Grey Heron (1), Moorhen (8; 6 adults and 2 juveniles), Coot (2), Cormorant (7) and Great-crested Grebe (1). 

Mandarin Duck

Cormorant

As you can see, numbers were quite low, due mainly to the very low water levels on the top and bottom reservoir (approximately one third full).

Bottom Reservoir

Other birds seen were: House Martin (5 overhead), Chiffchaff (at least 5 singing and 2 seen, in the willows, by the top reservoir), Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Buzzard, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Skylark (heard) and Woodpigeon.

Woodpigeon

Grey Squirrels were everywhere, as always, but this one, a tail-less individual, caught my eye.

Grey Squirrel 

Linacre - 5th September 2026

 As well as the excitement of the Greenshank and Green Sandpiper at Linacre yesterday, I also had quite a few other good sightings to share.

First up was a Buzzard that was perching in a tree, by the bottom car park. I'm sure its a juvenile bird, due to the pale fringing on the feathers.

Buzzard

Next up was a pair of Teal, that were found, feeding on the top reservoir. It may be a good winter for this species, if the water levels remain lower.

Teal (female/eclipse male)

Whilst watching the Teal, a Raven flew overhead, along with half a dozen Swallows - possibly the last of the year? Mallard, Tufted Duck and Mandarin Duck numbers were average, but I didn't do a full count, as I was too busy with the waders! 7 Cormorants were present, along with Coots (2 adults), Moorhens (2 adults), a Kingfisher, at least 2 singing Chiffchaffs , a lovely flock of c20 House Martins (the highest count of the year, by far and 1 Great-crested Grebe.

Cormorants (6 of the 7 present)

The last species that I want to mention id the Grey Wagtail. I haven't seen too many this summer, so I was very pleased to spot an adult and 2 juveniles, feeding around the overflow from the middle reservoir.

Grey Wagtail (adult and juvenile?)

Linacre Nestboxes 2026 - The results are in!

Since the end of April, several members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group have been monitoring the nestboxes at Linacre, for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme We have been doing this since 2012, and this weekend was the last visit of the season.

The first birds of the season were ringed on 16th May, and the last were ringed on 30th May. This year's totals were: Blue Tit (161 birds from 20 broods), Great Tit (56 birds from 11 broods), Pied Flycatcher (8 chicks from1 brood), Robin (1 brood of 5 birds) and  Mandarin Duck (2 adult birds; 1 new female and a female first ringed in 2024). A female Garden Warbler, with a brood patch, was also caught at the start of May. Now that the nestboxes are all completed, our attention will turn to the breeding warblers on site. Hopefully, the season will be good and we'll get lots of youngest to monitor and ring.

Whilst walking around the site, we often see other birds, including this fabulous Great-crested Grebe that was seen, resting in amongst the Amphibious Bistort, yesterday morning.

Great Crested Grebe

Linacre WeBS - 27th December 2025

 I wasn't able to get down to Linacre earlier this month for the WeBS walk, so Jayne and I popped down on 27th to do it.

It was a grey, overcast morning and just 7 degrees, but we recorded the following birds: Mallard (73), Tufted Duck (68), Mandarin Duck (36), Coot (7), Moorhen (3), Grey Wagtail (1), Cormorant (2), Goosander (4; 2 males and 2 females), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (2) and Black-headed Gull (92 - the highest count of the year).

Linacre - 2nd March 2024

 Yesterday saw me down at Linacre for my first visit of March. It was a chilly 3 degrees, with a mixture of rain and sleet, but the sight of the Mute Swan 6Y24, first found last week, warmed me up!!

The Mute Swan had moved from the middle reservoir, down on to the bottom reservoir, and, when I arrived, was having a lovely preen, showing off her darvic ring beautifully.

Mute Swan

A little later on, with the help of some more seed, she came up to the dam wall, where I grabbed a photo of her metal ring,W52824. Checking on the BTO website showed me that she was a second year bird, as thought,, having been ringed, as a juvenile, on 14th August 2023. Hopefully, she'll find Linacre to her liking, and hang around for a while.

Other birds seen were: Tufted Duck (21), Mallard (83), Mandarin Duck (20), Coot (7), Moorhen (11), Great-crested Grebe (2 - a pair on the middle reservoir), Little Grebe (1), Black-headed Gull (27), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 - the first record of 2024), Canada Goose (2 flew along the valley calling), Kingfisher (1 on the middle reservoir), c.50 Jackdaws, 1 Magpie, 2 singing Song Thrushes and singing Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Blue, Coal and Great Tits.

Linacre Mega!!

 Yesterday (27th), I received a message from the volunteer rangers letting me know that there was a swan species on the middle reservoirs. Unfortunately, the bird was too distant to identify accurately, other than to say that it was a young bird, with grey feathers and a grey beak.

I managed to get down after work, and, luckily for me, the bird had moved much closer to the dam wall, allowing me to see that it was a juvenile (born last year) Mute Swan. This record is the first of this species since 2013!!!

Mute Swan 

The bird came closer still, with the help of some seed, and I noticed that it was ringed, with a yellow darvic ring, used by Sorby Breck Ringing Group! After many shots, I got a photo of the ring, 6Y24.

6Y24

After a little investigation, I found out that the bird, had been ringed at Frecheville, Sheffield, in August 2023. Hopefully, she'll continue to spend some time at Linacre.

Whilst on site, I also spotted 3 Goosander (1 male and 2 females), 6 Teal (4 males and 2 females), a pair of displaying Great-crested Grebe and 13 Mandarin Ducks.

Linacre - 2nd December 2023

 Last Saturday, I had a few hours down at Linacre. It was a relatively quiet walk, until the end, when I spotted 80 Teal on the middle reservoir! This is the highest count since January 2023, when 49 were seen.

Other birds seen were: 137 Mallard, 39 Mandarin Duck,  5 Tufted Duck, 18 Moorhen, 9 Coot, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 33 Black-headed Gull, 1 Little Grebe and 2 Grey Wagtail.

Woodland birds seen were: Blue, Great and Coal Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Jackdaw, Crow, Chaffinch, Nuthatch and Treecreeper. 

Linacre WeBS - 19th November 2023

 Today was the day for this month's WeBS walk around Linacre. I had a couple of hours, walking around all three reservoirs, recording just shy of 400 waterbirds of  9 species.

Counts were: Mallard (154), Mandarin Duck (153), Coot (10), Moorhen (19), Tufted Duck (47), Kingfisher (1), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (3) and Black-headed Gull (13).

Mandarin Ducks

Other birds seen/heard were: Raven (2), Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Nuthatch, Wren, Robin, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit and Redwing.

Welcome Back P519!

 It's been a couple of weeks since my last visit to Rufford, and I'm very pleased to say that this time there were Black-headed Gulls, and rings to be seen!! In total, I saw 7 of "our" green-ringed gulls, P519, a Lithuanian bird ringed in April 2010, as an adult, and first seen here in January 2018, and a new Finnish metal-ringed bird ST340.623.

The green-ringed birds were: 258A, 273A (the first sighting since October 2022), 293A, 272B (the first sighting this winter), 280B (ringed by me in November 2022, as a 4, and the first sighting this winter), 202C (last seen on 12th March 2023) and 207C (third sighting this winter).

280B

The two other ringed birds were P519 - the first sighting since 5th February 2023, and the new Finnish-ringed bird, an adult.

P519

ST340.623

Other birds present today were: 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 1 Cormorant, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 2 Goosander (1 male and 1 female), c.50 Canada Geese,(no rings) 6 Greylag Geese (no rigs) and 2 unringed Mute Swans (Broken Beak and a female bird).

"Broken Beak"

Linacre WeBS - September 2023

 I was down at Linacre yesterday morning for this month's WeBS count. I had a good walk around all three reservoirs, and recorded some good numbers of returning waterbirds.

Birds seen were: Mallard (124 - my highest September count), Mandarin Duck (157 - also my highest ever September count), Tufted Duck (13 - still quite low numbers), Moorhen (23; 17 adults and 6 juveniles), Coot (9; 6 adults and 3 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult on the bottom reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (3; 2 adults and 1 juvenile on the middle reservoir), Kingfisher (2 on the bottom reservoir), Grey Heron (10) and Grey Wagtail (2).

Walking around, I also had 5 species of corvid (Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Jay, Magpie and Raven), along with 2 singing Chiffchaffs, 1 Mistle Thrush, Blue/Great and Long-tailed Tits, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Woodpigeon.

Linacre Insects - 4th September 2022

 It was 21 degrees on Sunday, so I had a couple of hours around Linacre to see which insects were still flying.

It started well, with a Red Admiral, followed by 3 Speckled Woods, 1 Large White and 1 Small Copper, of the form caeruleo-punctata (blue spots of the wings).

Small Copper

Dragonflies were far and few between, but 3 Brown Hawkers were seen, including 1 that posed nicely by the bottom reservoir.

Brown Hawker

There were a few hoverflies, mainly Eristalis species, but I did manage to spot one Helophilus pendulus and  this one, which I believe is a Sericomyia silentis (my first record since 2017).

Sericomyia silentis

Birds seen on site included: Tawny Owl (1 in the ringing site), Buzzard (1), Grey Wagtail (4, including at least one juvenile), Great-crested Grebe (2 adults and one juvenile), 1 Chiffchaff (still singing in the sun) and this juvenile Tufted Duck.

Tufted Duck

Linacre Reservoir - 27th February 2021

 It was a bright, sunny and calm morning this morning, with a temperature of just 1 degree at 7am, as I arrived at Linacre. I spent 2 hours walking around all three reservoirs, by which time the temperature had risen to 5 degrees.

The first birds seen were a flock of at least 30 Redwing (first Linacre record of 2021) feeding in the fields by the main entrance. The woods were alive with bird song, including 2 Mistle Thrushes, 1 Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Green Woodpecker and 2 drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker. No Lesser-spotted Woodpecker or Chiffchaff, despite much searching and listening!

Out on the water, waterfowl numbers were still pretty good, with 111 Tufted Duck, 106 Mallard, 79 Mandarin Duck, 4 Canada Geese, 4 Great-crested Grebe, 4 Little Grebe, 3 Goosander (1m and 2fm), 32 Black-headed Gull, 14 Coots (excellent count!) and 5 Moorhens.

I did a nestbox check on 17th February. I only checked the tit boxes, as I didn't have the ladders for the owl boxes. Most were okay, after the winter, and 1 contained a Shrew species, most likely a Common Shrew.

Common Shrew?

Linacre WeBS - 11th July 2020

On Saturday, I walked around all three reservoirs for this moth's WeBS count. Highlights for me were a pair of Great-crested Grebes with 4 well grown youngsters (and another pair on a nest), and my first Linacre Oystercatcher record since 2018, when 2 flew over the top reservoir calling.

Great-crested Grebe and chicks

Totals for all waterfowl were: Mallard (72), Moorhen (11; 8 adults and 3 juveniles), Coot (5; 3 adults and 2 juveniles), Tufted Duck (17; all adults), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 adult), Grey Wagtail (4), Cormorant (1) and Mandarin (19; 15 adults and 1 brood of 4 ducklings).

Other birds seen and heard were: Swallow (12), House Martin (2), Stock Dove (heard), Chiffchaff (4 singing) and Blackcap (1 singing).

After the WeBS walk, I had an hour in the ringing site, where I saw 1 Ringlet, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Tree Wasp, a Marmalade Hoverfly, a Sphaerophoria scripta (Hoverfly) and 1 Meadow Brown. The first Cinnabar Moth caterpillars of the year were on Ragwort by the top reservoir.

Cinnabar Moth caterpillar

Linacre WeBS - 15th December 2019

Linacre's December WeBS walk was quite a quiet affair with the following birds seen: Mallard (80), Tufted Duck (just 4!), Mandarin Duck (21), Moorhen (16), Coot (2), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1), Grey Wagtail (1) and Black-headed Gull (58).

Linacre WeBS - 23rd November 2019

For the first time this month here's a blog that actually involves Linacre Reservoirs, and not too many Black-headed Gulls!!

I spent an hour and a half down at Linacre this morning (in the rain), carrying out this month's WeBS walk. It was very quiet with the following birds recorded: Mallard (65), Mandarin Duck (5), Tufted Duck ( just 4!), Coot (2), Moorhen (10), Great-crested Grebe (1), Cormorant (2) and Black-headed Gull (40).

The woods were pretty quiet too, with a few Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits about. The highlight, however, was a single "wheeting" Chiffchaff seen in the willows by the middle reservoir.

Linacre WeBS - 27th October 2019

Ringing at Linacre was cancelled this morning dur to strong winds, so instead, Sarah, Robin and I walked around all three reservoirs and carried out this month's WeBS count.

No real surprises this month, but the Mandarin Ducks (48) looked very smart in their newly moulted breeding finery. Also, it was nice to see my first Linacre Black-headed Gulls of the winter, with 24 seen (no rings though).

Other birds seen were: Mallard (87), Tufted Duck (22), Coot (5), Moorhen (13), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (1) and Little Grebe (1).

Linacre WeBS - 28th September 2019

I was down at Linacre birdwatching for the first time this month (!) and carried out the monthly WeBS count. It was quite quiet, but, as always, at this time of the year, the Mandarins were in good form, looking very smart, and giving me my highest count of the year... so far.

Birds seen were: Mallard (104), Mandarin Duck (72), Tufted Duck (21), Coot (5), Moorhen (17), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Cormorant (1) Great-crested Grebe (2) and Little Grebe (1). At least 2 Chiffchaffs were also heard singing around the top and middle reservoirs.

Tufted Duck

Linacre Birds and Insects - 2nd June 2019

Last Sunday I got up early and had a couple of hours walking around all 3 reservoirs of Linacre. It was a lovely morning, and I managed to record a new species for June, along with lots of great breeding records.

I started by the middle reservoir where I saw 3 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a 2nd or 3rd calendar year Herring Gull ( my first June record, and only my 5th ever Linacre record, following records in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2017). Also present was a pair of Great-crested Grebes with 3 chicks and 2 Grey Wagtails (1 adult and 1 juvenile).

Great-crested Grebe

Other signs of successful breeding seen were: Mallard (43 adults and 7 broods of chicks totalling 47 ducklings), Coot (11 adults and 6 broods of chicks, totally 15 chicks), Moorhen (9 adults and 10 chicks; 2 broods of 6 and 4, and Mandarin Duck (6 adults and 20 ducklings; 12 and 8). There were 19 adult Tufted Ducks , but no ducklings yet.

Away from the water the brood of 7 Pied Flycatchers were old enough to ring and a few insects were also seen, namely Red Admiral (1), Chimney Sweeper (a day flying moth) and a hoverfly that I think is a Scaeva pyrasti. 

Scaeva pyrasti?

Linacre Bird News - 7th April 2019

Luke and I were at Linacre this morning for a walk around all 3 reservoirs. We recorded the following waterbirds: Mallard (37), Tufted Duck (46), Mandarin (14), Great-crested Grebe (5 - including 1 pair displaying), Cormorant (2), Grey Wagtail (1 heard), Black-headed Gull (3 - unusual in April), Coot (9), Moorhen (7, including 1 sat tightly on a nest).

Moorhen

Whilst walking around the reservoirs we also recorded at least 9 singing Chiffchaffs, 2 Blackcaps and the first Willow Warbler of the year. Other signs of breeding included both Mistle Thrush and Chaffinch seen carrying nesting material.

Blackcap

Interestingly, Luke managed to spot 4 Bramblings by the top reservoir, an excellent record!