RSPB Minsmere - 22nd August 2026

 Yesterday, Jayne and I had an early morning visit to RSPB Minsmere. We had three hours on site (6.30am - 9.30am), and added a new butterfly species for the year - Grayling.

We started off at the Visitors' Centre, before walking around the Coastal Trail. Our first bird of the visit was a Green Woodpecker, that flew off as we drove onto the site. Carrying on, we saw a good number of warblers, including a very bright, showy Lesser Whitethroat, along with a family party of Whitethroats. Chiffchaffs and Cettis Warblers, were also heard.

Arriving at the famous Scrape, we soon added a fly-over Hobby and a number of wader species: Lapwing, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Snipe, Green Sandpiper and Avocet, including a couple of well grown juveniles. It was here that we spotted our first Grayling of the day.

Grayling

Other birds seen around the Scrape were: Common Tern (adults and juveniles), Great Egret, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, a single Barnacle Goose, Canada, Egyptian and Greylag Goose, Moorhen, Coot, 2 Little Gulls and Pied Wagtail.

Great Egret

Little Gull

Island Mere Hide was quite quiet (we missed the Bittern by a few minutes!), but we added Cormorant and Great-crested Grebe to the morning's list.

Arriving back at the Visitors' Centre, we finished off the morning with a vegan sausage cob, which we shared with a local Pheasant, a Robin and some Chaffinches.

Woodlark

Jayne and I had a walk around Sherwood Forest and Budby South Common at the weekend. Although the weather wasn't great (grey and overcast), we did manage to see and hear a few birds, including two new species for the Year List: Green Woodpecker (113) and Woodlark (114).

We first walked through Sherwood Forest, spotting Blue and Great Tits, Woodpigeons, Great Spotted Woodpecker (drumming), Green Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Chaffinch.

Once out on Budby South Forest/Common, we saw Buzzards, Jay, Woodpigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Yellowhammer, Linnet and Stonechat.

Stonechat (pair)

We'd all but given up on finding the Woodlark, and were setting off back to the Visitors' Centre, when suddenly one bird flew over and landed on the Common, about 20m away! Looking at it, we noticed there was another bird, feeding, giving us a total of 2! I managed a few distant shots. Here are a couple of heavily cropped photos.

Woodark

Year List Update - 20th July 2025

As always, at this time of the year, the Year List slows down, as most of the easier-to-find species have been recorded. I have, however, managed to add a few new species.

The first is Long-eared Owl (179), that was seen in NE Derbyshire in June. Next up was Crossbill (180), that was recorded at Linacre on 5th July. Spotted Flycatcher (181) was seen on a walk in Tideswell Dale, also on 5th July. Green Woodpecker (182) was heard, but not seen, at Hardwick Hall last week, and the final bird, Yellow-legged Gull (183), was seen today, at Ogston Reservoir.

Yellow-legged Gull 

Update: Common Sandpiper (184) was seen at Ogston, on 28th July.

Hardwick Hall - 12th July 2025

 It's been in the high 20s, low 30s this week, so Jayne and I made an early(ish) start for our walk around Hardwick Park and Hall. We walked around the ponds, and then up through the park to the hall and gardens.

Walking around the ponds, we soon spotted the first damsels and dragons of the day, with Common Blue and Red-eyed Damselflies seen. Several Emperors were also seen (minimum of 3) and a couple of Black-tailed Skimmers. 

Black-tailed Skimmer

Butterflies were numerous (which was a nice change!) with Gatekeepers being the most numerous (30+), along with Small Copper (1), Meadow Brown (20+), Large Whites, Small Whites and Red Admiral.

There were also lots of hoverflies, including a single Volucella inanis. A single Hummingbird Hawkmoth was also seen in the gardens.

Volucella inanis

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Linacre - 7th January 2023

 After our week away, I was back down at Linacre on Sunday for my second walk of 2024. It was a cool 3 degrees, grey and overcast.

Birds seen were: Mallard (104), Goosander (5; 2 males and 3 females), Great-crested Grebe (2 on the middle reservoir, including 1 in near full breeding plumage), Little Grebe (1), Moorhen (17), Coot (7), Tufted Duck (32), Black-headed Gull (70), Mandarin (37) and Cormorant (1).

I also managed a couple of "Year Ticks"; 1 Grey Wagtail (96) and 1 Green Woodpecker (heard - 97).

RSPB Winterbourne Downs - 2nd April 2023

 Jayne and I have had a few days down in Wiltshire, visiting a few new sites and  seeing some nice birds.

Our first new site was RSPB Winterbourne Downs, which is a great spot to see Stone Curlews. We popped across on Sunday, and managed to see a couple of birds. Also on site were; Lapwing, Linnet, Green Woodpecker, Red Kite, Buzzard and Brown Hares. Whilst there, we also spotted a Comma butterfly, and a "Flifer" - a new species of fly (thanks for the new word Jayne!), Dotted Bee Fly.

Dotted Bee Fly

Year List Update: 105 - Swallow, 106 - Green Woodpecker and 107 - Stone Curlew.

Linacre WeBS - 27th February 2022

 This morning, I went down to Linacre to carry out this month's WeBS count. It was a beautiful, bright morning with a slight frost.

The highlights of this month's count were my first Linacre Greylag Goose record of the year (1 bird) along with 7 Canada Geese (down slightly from 9 on Tuesday 22nd) and a Green Woodpecker (year tick) that was heard calling by the middle reservoir. Mallard numbers were good (141 - the highest count of the year so far), as were Little Grebe (4) and Great-crested Grebe (4). Other counts included: Cormorant (2), Mandarin Duck (5 - 3 males and 2 females), Black-headed Gull (43), Moorhen (16), Coot (12), Tufted Duck (24 - the highest count of the year), Goosander (8 females) and Grey Wagtail (1).

2 Common Buzzards were also seen over the woods along with a drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker and a singing Song Thrush.

Year List Update:                                                                                                                           105 - Golden Plover                                                                                                                                   106 - Green Woodpecker

Linacre Ringing and Nest Recording

 This weekend I've had two visits to Linacre, once for the first ringing session there since September 2020, and once for the first nest box check of the year (not including the owl boxes - see here).

The ringing session, with 4 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group, and one of the Linacre volunteer rangers, took place yesterday, from 06.15 - 09.30. In total we ringed 21 birds of 9 species. Totals were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 3/2, Great Tit 4/1, Coal Tit 2/0, Robin 3/0, Chiffchaff 1/0, Blackcap 0/1, Dunnock 1/1, Chaffinch 1/0 and Goldcrest 1/0. All the retraps were Linacre-ringed birds. The 2 Blue Tits had been ringed in June 2019 and March 2020 (just before lockdown). The Great Tit was ringed in July 2018, the Dunnock in December 2018, but, best of all, was the male Blackcap, originally ringed as an adult, in July 2016! I also found out yesterday, that a Blue Tit we originally ringed at Linacre on 16th July 2016 had been found dead (killed by a cat), 7km away, on 28th April 2020. This is the longest recovery (distance) we've had, so far.

This morning's visit was to check the nest boxes. In total there were 30 boxes in use, ranging from N1 (a nest just being started) through to sitting birds. All the boxes appeared to be tit nests, except for one Wren nest. The highlight, however, of the morning was the discovery of the year's first singing Pied Flycatcher. It was in the vicinity of a nest box, so I'm keeping everything crossed for another successful breeding season (1 successful box last year, fledged 7 young). It's still quite early in the season too, so hopefully, there could be some more birds to arrive. A female Mallard was also disturbed from a nest, 1m away from a nest box, revealing a nest with 6 eggs. As always, the results of the nests will be recorded for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. 

Mallard nest

Whilst on site this morning, I also recorded Green Woodpecker (heard), a Mallard with 13 ducklings (the first 2021 record), Willow Warbler (1 heard by the top reservoir), Reed Bunting (one male heard singing in willows by the boardwalk), Skylark (1 singing over fields by the top reservoir), Curlew (1 heard, but not seen, from the top reservoir - my first record here since 2018) and Canada Goose (6 - my highest count of the year). The Moorhen nest on the top reservoir was empty, but no young were seen.

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?

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

Jayne and I have had a week in East Sussex, staying in Rye Harbour. Whilst there, we had a couple of walks around the Sussex Wildlife Trust's Rye Harbour Nature Reserve.

Our first walk, with the ranger, on 27th July, saw us visit the shingle ridges and scrapes. We were introduced to a wide range of interesting flora, and also spent time looking at birdlife, including dozens of Dunlin, 1Knot, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, Redshank, Curlew and Whimbrel. There were also several Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns (adults and juveniles) still present. Whilst there, Jayne also spotted a small bee that turned out to be a Sharp-tailed Bee (Coelioxys conoidea).

Sharp-tailed Bee

We had a second walk around this morning, and this time we visited the Castle Water side of the reserve. This area is very different, consisting of large areas of reedbed, and deeper lakes. Here we saw: Mallards, Coots, Mute Swans, Greylag Geese, and then.....a juvenile Green Woodpecker, a Kingfisher (1), a Great White Egret and at least 2 juvenile Bearded Tits!!

Although it was quite overcast we also managed to see a few insects including Gatekeeper, Red Admiral, Painted Lady (1), Common Carpet (moth), Brown Hawker, Common Blue Damselfly, Small Red-eyed Damselfly, Volucella inanis (hoverfly), Common and Ruddy Darter.

Common Carpet

We also managed to spot 3 Marsh Frogs (a new species for us both), a non-native amphibian from Europe, that was introduced into Kent in 1935, and has set up feral populations in the south east.

Marsh frog

Linacre - First visit of 2019

On Wednesday, Luke and I had our first visit of the year to Linacre. We walked around the middle and top reservoirs recording the following waterbirds: Mallard (79), Tufted Duck (11), Mandarin Duck (6), Moorhen (15), Coot (4), Kingfisher (1), Black-headed Gull (76), Little Grebe (1) and Grey Wagtail (2).

We also added another few species to the "year list". Greenfinch was recorded in the garden.

Year List:
31 – Green Woodpecker
32 – Wren
33 – Mandarin Duck
34 – Goldcrest
35 – Wren
36 – Blue Tit
37 – Long-tailed Tit
38 – Nuthatch
39 – Jay
40 – Chaffinch
41 – Little Grebe
42 – Kingfisher
43 – Great-spotted Woodpecker
44 – Grey Wagtail
45 – Dunnock
46 – Greenfinch

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).

Linacre Ringing and Nestboxes- 21st April 2018

I was down at Linacre yesterday morning with Luke and 5 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for a ringing session. We also had time to check the owl boxes, and recorded 2 new breeding species using the boxes!

The first species that we found in one of the boxes was Stock Dove. This is an under recorded species at Linacre, so it was really nice to find it breeding. One bird flew out of the box as we approached. A quick look, found 2 eggs.

Stock Dove nest

The second new species was Tawny Owl. A sitting bird was found as we checked the other boxes. She didn't come off the nest, so, although we couldn't confirm breeding (yet), it looks as though she might well have eggs or small chicks underneath here. 

Tawny Owl

Two other boxes were checked, and both contained Mandarin Ducks. One box had a sitting female and 13 eggs. The other box didn't have a female bird, but it did have 12 cold eggs. Hopefully, the female will come back and continue to incubate them.

Mandarin Duck

All 3 nests will be monitored for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. 

As well as checking the nestboxes, we also managed to ring the female Mandarin Duck and had a mist net ringing session ringing the following birds (new/retrap): Mandarin Duck 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Blackcap 4/1, Chiffchaff 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 0/4, Nuthatch 0/3 and Bullfinch 1/0.

It's always great to hear, see and catch the first warblers of the year. Especially nice, however, was the fact that the retrap Blackcap was a bird we'd ringed at Linacre as a juvenile on 11th June 2017, showing site fidelity. Hopefully it'll stay and breed and we'll retrap it again later in the year.

Blackcap

The Chiffchaff was also a bird we'd ringed previously at Linacre. This bird, however, was a little older, having been ringed as an adult male on 17th April 2016. Interestingly, the Chiffchaff hasn't been re trapped at Linacre since 2016. Was it here last year, or did it go somewhere else? Does it stay to breed or move somewhere else? As always, lots more questions than answers!!!

Another male Blackcap was seen and heard singing. Luke managed to get a photo, showing it wearing a ring! Unfortunately we didn't catch this bird, so we don't yet know whether it was ringed by us or elsewhere. Again, let's hope we can catch it later in the year to find out more information about it.

Blackcap

Other sightings from Linacre today included a Common Sandpiper on the bottom reservoir, the second record of the year (thanks Luke!), Green Woodpecker (heard), Sparrowhawk (1 over), Cormorant (3 over) and the first Butterfly of the year, a Small Tortoiseshell. 

Common Sandpiper

Linacre WeBS and Nestboxes - 20th February 2018

I was down at Linacre this morning, with 2 jobs to do. The first job was to replace a few of the nestboxes that had been damaged by Grey Squirrels last year, just in time for the BTO's National Nestbox Week. In total 6 boxes were replaced, and a few others were picked up off the floor!! Thanks to Chesterfield RSPB Group for providing the boxes. It'll be another couple of months before the first nests will be built, and I can begin to new Nest Record Cards for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme, so I'll report back then.

New nestbox

The second job was this months WeBS count. Numbers were average for the time of year: Mallard 51, Tufted Duck 27, Coot 5, Moorhen 6, Great-crested Grebe 4; 2 pairs, 1 on the top reservoir and 1 on the middle reservoir, Little Grebe 1 breeding plumaged bird, Mandarin Duck 2, Black-headed Gull 18 and Cormorant 6.

Cormorant

The temperature today was 10 degrees and it was quite sunny, so several of the woodland birds were singing, including 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Coal and Great Tit, Robin and Dunnock. A drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker was heard, as was a "yaffling" Green Woodpecker.

The Snowdrops were looking very nice in the woods by the top car park too.

Snowdrops

Kestrel - new species at Linacre

I was down at Linacre this morning for the second ringing session of the year. We started off well with a great catch of 14 Long-tailed Tits ( 8 new and 6 retraps), but then things got quite quiet, until the last net round when we found a new species in the net - a Kestrel!! We often see a Kestrel flying and hunting around the site whilst we are ringing, so today's catch was a very nice surprise.

Kestrel

Other birds ringed today were (new/retrap): Robin 3/0, Blue Tit 6/3, Great Tit 1/3, Nuthatch 2/0, Chaffinch 1/0 and Bullfinch 1/0.

Other birds seen around the ringing site were: Sparrowhawk (1 female), Common Buzzard (1), Great-spotted Woodpecker (4), Green Woodpecker (1 seen and heard), Mistle Thrush (4; 2 pairs, including 1 singing bird), Siskin (1 over), Cormorant (1 over) and Tawny Owl (1 heard calling at 6:45am).

Linacre - 3rd February 2018

Luke and I had a couple of hours out at Holmebrook Valley CP and Linacre this morning. Despite persistent drizzle, and a little bit of sleety snow, we had a good walk.

First up Holmebrook Valley. We arrived at just after 7:30am and saw: Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Mute Swan and Kingfisher.

Linacre records were: Mallard (60), Mandarin Duck (17), Tufted Duck (15), Coot (8), Moorhen (10), Great-crested Grebe (2), Little Grebe (1) and Black-headed Gull (29). Great-spotted Woodpecker was heard, as were Song Thrush (singing), Bullfinch and Green Woodpecker (calling).

Black-headed Gulls 

In the afternoon Jayne and I drove across to Sheffield to see 3 Waxwings. we got brief views through the rain!!

Waxwings

Year List update:
72 – Marsh Tit
73 – Goldeneye
74 – Song Thrush
75 – Green Woodpecker
76 – Waxwing

Red-footed Falcon!!

News of a 1st summer male Red-footed Falcon on Dunwich Heath on Tuesday evening had me up early (again!) this morning, to see if I could catch up with this species. I've seen a female Red-footed Falcon in Britain before, but this was my first male, so I was really keen to see it. Luckily, as the blog title suggests, I got lucky, and had super, 'scope views of the bird as it perched up in a dead tree in the reedbeds at the bottom of the National Trust's Dunwich Heath. It was also seen flying around briefly, catching dragonflies! An excellent addition to the "year list". No photos unfortunately, but here's a link to see photos of this species.

In addition to the falcon, I also added Little Gull to the "year list", with a first summer bird that flew overhead, along with several Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls. Other birds seen on the heath were: Linnet, Goldfinch, Dartford Warbler, Green Woodpecker, Stonechat and several Whitethroats, including 1 carrying food to a nest.

Whitethroat

Whilst looking for the falcon, I also heard a booming Bittern, pinging Bearded Tits and a calling Cuckoo. A Little Owl was seen on the drive.

Year List update:
165 - Red-footed Falcon
166 - Little Gull

Avenue Ringing - 2nd April 2017

After a few weeks without a ringing session it was really nice to get out and about again today. I spent 3 and a half hours out with 4 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield. We had a quiet session with just 17 birds ringed, but the total did include our first summer migrants of the year; 3 Chiffchaffs and a single, female Blackcap.

Chiffchaff

Blackcap

Today's totals were (new/retrap): Chiffchaff 3/0, Blackcap 1/0, Blackbird 1/0, Blue Tit 0/1 , Great Tit 0/2, Long-tailed Tit 0/1, Dunnock 1/1, Robin 1/2, Wren 0/1, Bullfinch 1/0 and Reed Bunting 1/0.

During net rounds we also recorded these birds: Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker (year tick), Linnets, Yellowhammers, Goldfinch, Canada Geese and Mute Swans.

Year List update:
117 - Green Woodpecker
118 - Raven (1 over Sudbury Hall, Derby, this afternoon)
119 - Shoveler (1 male on Sudbury Hall lake).

Linacre - 4th September 2016

According to meteorologists Autumn begins on 1st September, so today's visit to Linacre was the first autumn visit of 2016. When I arrived at 6.45am it was still, 13 degrees, grey and overcast, but dry. Minutes later the wind had picked up, and a thick drizzle had started, that came down, on and off for the next two hours! Despite this, the birds were good, and numbers were pretty reasonable for the time of year.

Rainbow over the bottom reservoir

The first water bird I saw was, as usual, Mallard. In total, 90 were seen, which was  a very good start, and the highest count of 2016, so far. Mandarin Duck numbers of 39,were the highest since the start of July. 26 Tufted Ducks were also counted (down from a maximum of 44 in July and 40 in August), along with the immature Shag (on its usual perch on the bottom reservoir), 3 Grey Herons, 6 Grey Wagtails (all together on the overflow of the top reservoir), 5 Coots (all adults), 5 Moorhens (3 adults and 2 juveniles), 1 breeding plumaged Little Grebe on the middle reservoir and 4 Great-crested Grebes (1 adult and 1 juvenile on the middle reservoir, and 1 adult and 1 juvenile on the top reservoir).

Other birds of note were a singing Chiffchaff by the top reservoir, a Green Woodpecker heard "yaffling" by the top reservoir, 4 Swallows (3 over the top reservoir and 1 over the fields by the main entrance) and singing Goldcrests.

Linacre WeBS - 21st August 2016

This Sunday was the set date for this month's WeBS count, so Luke and I went down for a couple of hours to see what was about. Numbers were average for this time of the year, and the highlight was the immature Shag that celebrated its 9 month anniversary today, being first recorded on 21st November 2015 (see details here). The Shag was on the bottom reservoir, fishing just by the wall. I managed to get a  quick photo, looking into the early morning sun, before it swam off.

Shag

Other waterbirds seen this month were: Mallard (60), Grey Heron (4; 1 on the bottom reservoir and 3 together in trees on the middle reservoir), Mandarin Duck (16), Coot (6; 4 adults and 2 well grown juveniles), Moorhen (3; 1 adult and 2 juveniles), Grey Wagtail (2), Great-crested Grebe (5; 1 adult and 1 juvenile on the middle reservoir and 1 adult and 2 juveniles on the top reservoir), Kingfisher (1 heard on the middle reservoir) and Tufted Duck (30; 28 adults and 2 "fluffy" ducklings).

Tufted Duck (duckling)

The woodland birds are pretty quiet at this time of the year, so we didn't hear too much else, although one bird, the Green Woodpecker, was a good record, being just the second record for 2016. Other birds seen or heard were Common Buzzard (1 heard), Nuthatch (heard), Wren (singing), Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit, Robin (juvenile), Great-spotted Woodpecker (heard) and Willow Warbler (1 singing).