Linacre Update - 11th May 2024

 Yesterday morning I went down to Linacre to carry out this month's WeBS count, and to catch up with the nestboxes.

The WeBS count was, as usual for May, quite quiet, with the following birds recorded: Mallard (46 birds; 32 adults and 14 ducklings - 4 broods of 5, 5, 3 and 1), Tufted Duck (4!), Grey Wagtail (2; 1 male and 1 female), Grey Heron (1), Coot (5 adults), Moorhen (4 adults) and Mandarin Duck (10).

The nestboxes, on the other hand, were much more exciting! I found our first full clutches Pied Flycatcher eggs of the year (2 nests, each containing 5 eggs). Another 2 singing males were also heard away from these boxes, so I'm keeping everything crossed for further nests. The Coal Tit and Wren nests were still going strong, and the first Blue Tit chicks of the year had hatched. In total, we now have 43 active nests on site - a very good year! Other birds recorded around the site were 3 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaffs and 1 singing Garden Warbler.

On Thursday, I was also on site, with Chloe, to ring the adult Mandarin Duck that is nesting on site. This year, we also added a colour ring, so hopefully, we'll get some more sightings of her.

Mandarin Duck "HA"

Last, but by no means least, I also managed to spot a few insects: 2 female Orange Tips, 1 Green-veined White, 1 Helophilus pendulus, 1 Common Carder Bumblebee, 1 Red-tailed Bumblebee and 1 Hairy Shieldbug.

Linacre - 11th June 2023

 Yesterday, Luke and I went down to Linacre to check on, and ring, the last few chicks. There were four boxes left, but when we got there, just two still had chicks, and two had been predated. The first box contained 3 Pied Flycatcher chicks and the other held 3 Blue Tits.

Pied Flycatcher

Now that all the boxes have been checked the totals for 2023 are as follows: Blue Tit; 14 broods and 93 chicks, Great Tit; 7 broods and 46 chicks and Pied Flycatcher; 1 brood and 3 chicks. This gives a total of 142 chicks ringed.

Whilst on site, we also spotted 5 adult Great-crested Grebes, with 2 juveniles and one pair on a nest, 45 adult Mallards and 7 broods of ducklings totally 34 young, 11 adult Coots and 10 juveniles (3 broods), 6 Moorhens and 8 juveniles (5 broods), 24 adult Tufted Ducks, 40 Mandarin Ducks (28 adults and 11 ducklings (3 broods), 3 Grey Wagtails (1 adult and 2 juveniles), 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 3 Swallows, 4 Chiffchaffs, 4 Blackcaps, 1 Willow Warbler, Goldfinch, Skylark, 5 Song Thrushes (singing and 1 adult seen), 2 Bullfinches (1m and 1fm) and 1 singing Garden Warbler.

Coot chicks

Insect wise, we saw 3 Common Blue Damselflies, 1 female Broad-bodied Chaser (first record of the year),  Volucella bombylans (hoverfly), 1 Marbled White Spot (moth, a first record for the site), 1 Silver Y moth, 1 Hairy Shieldbug (my first Linacre record since 2013!), 1 Black-headed Cardinal Beetle, Thick-thighed Flower Beetles,  1 Dark-edged Bee-fly, 1 Speckled Wood, Scorpion Fly, and several Eristalis hoverflies.

Marbled White Spot

Shieldbugs, Flies, Grasshoppers and Hoverflies

Whilst ringing at Linacre yesterday the sun came out and I spent some time searching out some of the insects with Luke, my nephew. Together we found 3 shieldbug species, 3 hoverfly species, a new fly species and a couple of Field Grasshoppers. The shieldbugs were new records for me at Linacre, as was the grasshopper and one of the hoverflies. Lovely!!!

The Field Grasshopper is a common, widespread species throughout Britain (see here for details), but this is the first time I've managed to see and identify one at Linacre.

Field Grasshopper

 

 We also spotted this beauty, a Noon Fly (Mesembrina meridiana) Again, this is a common species, but my first record. More details here.

 

Noon Fly

 

 The shieldbugs were all new to me at Linacre. Here's the first one, the Common Green Shieldbug. The top photo shows the adult, and the bottom photo shows a "fourth instar" nymph. Apparently, young shieldbugs moult several times before they become adults and each time they moult, they look different. See here for pictures of the different moults.

 

Adult Green Shieldbug

Young Green Shieldbug

 

Another species we saw was the Bronze Shieldbug. This time I'm sure this individual is a "final instar nymph". See here for more images.

Bronze Shieldbug

 

The final shieldbug was a Hairy Shieldbug, another common and widespread species, but my first at Linacre. See here for more details.

 

Hairy Shieldbug

 

The hoverflies were a Drone Fly species (Eristalsis pertinax), a Helophilus species, most likely Helophilus pendulus and a Syrphus species. The Syrphus species is particularly tricky to identify as there are 3 very similar species that can only be separated under good magnification. Unfortunately I didn't have a hand lens with me and the hoverfly wouldn't sit still!

 

Drone Fly

Helophilus pendulus

Syrphus sp