Linacre - 7th January 2022

 It was cold (3 degrees) and there were snow flurries as I arrived at Linacre on Friday for my first visit of 2022. I spent two hours on site and recorded 36 species.

Birds seen were: Magpie, Carrion Crow, Redwing (c.60 feeding in the field by the main drive, along with c.50 Starlings, 2 Mistle Thrushes and 1 Fieldfare), 30 Black-headed Gulls, Woodpigeon, Nuthatch, Bullfinch (1 pair by the bottom car park), Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Jay, Goldcrest, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Robin, Blackbird, Siskin, 20 Tufted Duck, 119 Mallard, Pheasant, 17 Moorhen (15 adults and 2 juveniles), 10 Coots, 3 male Goosanders, 1 Kingfisher (on the middle reservoir), 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtails, 1 Little Grebe, Dunnock, 3 Mandarin Duck (2 males and 1 female), Wren, Common Buzzard , 1 Kestrel and a male Teal (the first record of a male since April 2019 and the first record since October 2020, when a female was present).

Kestrel

Linacre Nestboxes - 7th April 2021

 Yesterday I went down to Linacre to meet up with some of the regular Severn Trent volunteers (thanks everyone, it was great to meet you all). One of the volunteers shared photos of  2 caterpillars that had been found on site. One was a Pale Tussock and the other was an Elephant Hawk-moth. Both species were new records for the site.

Pale Tussock

Elephant Hawkmoth

Whilst there, we had a first check in the "owl boxes", and found that 3 of the 5 were in use, albeit not by owls!! As usual, the 3 boxes all contained Mandarin Duck eggs, including 1 with at least 38(!) eggs in it - a classic example of "egg dumping" by several different females. The other 2 contained just 3 and 4 eggs. None of the broods were being incubated yet. Several pairs of Blue Tits were seen entering nestboxes, so it seems that the the breeding season is beginning in earnest. 

Mandarin nest with 38 eggs

After the nestboxes, I had a quick walk around the middle and top reservoirs, and spotted my first Swallows (6), House Martins (2) and Sand Martins (2) of 2021.

Other species seen were: Kestrel (1 male hunting below the top reservoir - my first Linacre record of 2021), Raven (2 over the bottom reservoir), Grey Heron (1, my first Linacre record of 2021) and Sparrowhawk (1 female). 

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).

Son Real

Whilst in Mallorca, Jayne and I spent a few hours at the Son Real Nature Reserve.

Son Real

We went hoping to find the Balearic Warbler (details here). Obviously July isn't the best time of year to see this species, and, although we had a brief glimpse of a small warbler disappearing into the bushes, we couldn't be 100% sure it was this bird, so this tick will have to wait for another visit! We did, however, get great views of Red-legged Partridge, Kestrel, Thekla Lark, Nightjar (1 flew up from the ground about 1m away!), Turtle Dove (1 flew over), Serin and Woodchat Shrike (ssp badius).

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile)

Year List update:

180 – Woodchat Shrike

181 – Serin

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 - 1st January 2018

Last Monday I had my first walk of 2018 around Linacre Reservoirs. I was on site for one and a half hours and recorded 25 species, including my first Goosander (1 male bird on the middle reservoir) since March 2017, my first Linacre Raven ( a singe bird "cronking" loudly from the top of a tree by the top reservoir) since 2016 and an excellent count of 7 Cormorants, all roosting in the trees by the bottom reservoir.

Raven

Other waterbirds seen were: Mallard (57), Tufted Duck (20), Mandarin Duck (22), Moorhen (13), Coot (2), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1) and Black-headed Gull (35).

Linacre Ringing - 25th November 2017

Last Saturday saw 5 members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group down at Linacre for a ringing session. The weather was a bit blustery, with a few rain/sleet showers and a temperature of just 4 degrees, so, as you can guess, the ringing was slow. After 3 hours we'd caught just 9 birds of 5 species, namely (new/retrap): Blue Tit (3/1), Great Tit (1/0), Coal Tit (1/0), Goldcrest (2/0) and Dunnock (0/1).

Other birds recorded on the ringing site were: Redwing (20+ over), Fieldfare (12, the first of the winter), Long-tailed Tit, Bullfinch (heard), Chaffinch, Jay (2 seen), Magpie (1), Blackbird, Song Thrush (1 seen) and Kestrel ( 1 hunting over the site).

Whilst there, my nephew, Luke had a quick walk around the bottom and middle reservoirs were he recorded: c.20 Black-headed Gulls, 12 Mandarin Ducks, Mallard, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 2 Cormorants.

Linacre - 11th November 2017

It's been a while since I was last at Linacre, but today I was down on site for a couple of hours with my nephew, Luke.

We arrived at 7.40am, and walked around all 3 reservoirs. Waterbirds seen were: Mallard (69), Tufted Duck (12), Mandarin Duck (2), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1), Coot (5 adults), Moorhen (16; 11 adults and 5 well grown juveniles), Black-headed Gull (26)and Grey Wagtail (3).

Black-headed Gull

Grey Wagtail

The woods were quite quiet, but we did manage to record Great-spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Robin (singing), Wren (singing), Siskin, Kestrel (1 male), Starling (flock of c.30 flew over), Redwing (17 over), Jay, Magpie (2), Carrion Crow, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit.

Ringing Success

After a couple of months break, we (Sorby Breck Ringing Group) were back down at Linacre this morning for a ringing session. As the title suggests, we had a very successful morning, with 72 birds of 10 species caught and ringed. All the birds, bar two, were juvenile birds.

The most numerous species caught was Blue Tit, comprising 42 birds (38 new and 4 retraps). All birds were born this year, and the retraps were birds that had been ringed this year in the boxes throughout Linacre, which is always good to see. We also caught 4 juvenile Great Tits (3 new birds and 1 retrap that had also been ringed in a Linacre box this year), 2 Coal Tits (1 adult and 1 juvenile), 2 Long-tailed Tits (both juveniles), 1 Wren (juvenile), 1 Song Thrush (juvenile) and 1 Goldfinch (juvenile).

To supplement the resident birds, we also caught 3 species of summer migrant; Blackcap (3 juveniles), Chiffchaff (6 juveniles) and Willow Warbler (9 juveniles and 1 adult). All in all, an excellent morning's ringing.

Willow Warbler (juvenile)

Other bird species seen during the morning included 12 House Martins, 1 Swallow and 2 Kestrels, which could have been an adult and a juvenile. A Painted Lady butterfly was also seen, the first site record since 2013 (see here), along with 1 Peacock,  1 Red Admiral and dozens of Cinnabar Moth caterpillars.

Linacre Ringing - 4 breeding records

This morning's ringing session at Linacre was a quiet one, with just 10 birds caught, but within that small number, we were very lucky to record juvenile birds, born this year, of 4 species (Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Blue Tit and Mistle Thrush). Of these 4 species, 3; Blackcap, Garden Warbler and Mistle Thrush, were the first records of young birds for 2017, and prove breeding on site. The Blue Tits included new  juvenile birds, unfortunately, not ones ringed in the boxes. The 4th species in the title was Common Buzzard. We didn't ring any chicks (unfortunately), but we did spot an adult bird carrying food into the woods, which, again, is positive proof of breeding. This last record, is particularly pleasing, as it's the first time I've recorded breeding of this species at Linacre.

Other birds caught this morning were: Bullfinch (a new male and a retrap female) and a retrap male Nuthatch.

In between the net rounds we recorded a couple of Swifts, a Grey Wagtail (thanks David), a House Martin, a Kestrel, a Brown Hare, a Sparrowhawk and a Chimney Sweeper (moth - see here for details).

We also took the ladders with us today, so we could check the owl boxes. The Mandarin Duck eggs we found in April (see here) had gone (hopefully hatched and fledged, and not predated), and the other boxes (including the Little Owl box), were all empty.

Nestbox update - 20th May 2017

May is always a very busy month with lots of juvenile birds (pulli) in nestboxes that are ready to be ringed before they fledge. In the last week, I've been lucky enough to ring Blue Tits and Great Tits at Linacre (see last post), a Tawny Owl chick. and 3 Nuthatch chicks.

The Tawny Owl chick was 1 of  2 in a Kestrel box in a garden site in Wingerworth. What a super bird!!

Tawny Owl

The Nuthatches were a brood of 7 birds in a nestbox at a local farm in Coal Aston, where we also ringed a brood of 7 Great Tits earlier in the month.

Nuthatches

All these nests are monitored and recorded as part of the BTO Nest Record Scheme.

There are still 7 active nests in the Linacre boxes, which will need checking again later this week. In addition, Stewart, a fellow ringer with Sorby Beck Ringing Group, sent us details of 2 very exciting nests, 1 Barn Owl and 1 Kestrel that both contain eggs!! Hopefully, I'll be able to help out with the ringing  later in the season.

Linacre Ringing and a 2 new Species

I was out ringing with 3 members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group at Linacre yesterday. We had 3 and a half hours on site, but only caught 9 birds, most of which were retrap Tits (Blue, Great and a single new Long-tailed). We also had singles of Dunnock and Bullfinch (a 5 male). Unfortunately, no warblers were caught, although Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap were all heard singing.

Whilst there, the sun came out for a while, and a Peacock butterfly was seen, along with a moth. I grabbed a quick photo, and was very pleased to identify it later as a Water Carpet - a new species for me and for Linacre (as far as I'm aware).

Water Carpet

Apparently, this species is quite common in Derbyshire, so is presumably quite common here, but has, so far, been overlooked. A nice addition.

The other "new" species was , I think, a Short-tailed or Field Vole. The individual was found underneath an old manhole cover that was on the grass by the ringing site. I lifted it up, and spotted this.

Field Vole

As you can (hopefully) see, its the back end of a Vole, and appears to have a very short tail. According to The Wildlife Trust's website (see here),  a Field Vole's tail is approximately 30% of its body length, so I quite happy that the id is correct. We did, also, see its face, but I didn't manage a photo of that end!! Now I know what the Kestrel that we saw, was after.

Big Moor Year ticks

Jayne and I had a couple of hours on Big Moor this afternoon. It was pretty blustery, but we walked from the road up to the old reservoir and back again, adding 2 new species to the "year list".

The first species seen was Wheatear, with 2 male birds seen on the fence posts by the house by the reservoir.

Wheatear

The other "year tick" was Red Grouse, with 2 birds seen flying over the moor. Other species seen were: Kestrel (1 hunting by the house), Peregrine Falcon (1 flew over), Meadow Pipit (10+ flying around and singing), Skylark (6 flying and singing), Lapwing (5 displaying), Canada Goose (2 birds on the pools), Curlew (1 heard), Carrion Crow (3), Reed Bunting (1 male) and Linnet (2 birds flew over).

Year List update:
132 - Wheatear
133 - Red Grouse

Linacre Ringing and a nice retrap

The weather forecast for this morning was dry and settled, so I was down at Linacre with 3 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group, and my nephew, Luke, for a ringing session. Ringing was steady and in the 3 and a half hours on site we caught 22 new birds of 7 species. Birds caught were (new/retrap): Blue Tit (7/0), Great Tit (5/2), Coal Tit (0/1), Goldcrest (1/0), Robin (2/2), Chaffinch (1/0) and Nuthatch (1/0).

Nuthatch

Whilst ringing at Linacre we often retrap birds that we've previously ringed here. As you can see from the totals above, today we re trapped, amongst others, 2 Great Tits, 1 of which was wearing a B ring. As soon as we see a Great Tit wearing a B ring we get excited, because this means the bird was ringed as a pullus, in the nest (adult birds are ringed with an A ring). Anyway, this afternoon I found out that today's bird was ringed at Linacre Reservoirs, by me, in a nestbox just above the top reservoir, at 7.30pm on Thursday 4th June 2015 (thanks for the details David).  It came from a brood of 5 birds, and this sighting is the first since it was ringed. All the birds ringed in this box fledged successfully, but none of the other birds have been re trapped ... yet. See blog post here for details of the ringing trip. Here's a picture of one of today's Great Tits (can't remember if it's the re trapped bird or not!).

Great Tit

In between net rounds we also recorded the following birds: Kestrel (1), Sparrowhawk (1), Jay, Starling (c.20), Magpie (1), Mistle Thrush (1), Bullfinch (heard), Siskin (heard), Long-tailed Tit (heard), Woodpigeon (10s) and the immature Shag (found on the bottom reservoir by Luke- thanks).

Crest Fest - Part 2

Back in October 2014 I wrote a post entitled Crest Fest (see here), after a session where we'd ringed 5 Goldcrests in 1 session. Well, this Autumn we've had an excellent run with this species, so I thought I'd return to the title for a second time. So far, at Linacre, we've caught the following numbers: 12 in September (11 new and a retrap), 13 at the start of October (12 new and  a retrap) and another 20 (!) yesterday (18 new birds and 2 retraps). As always, these birds could be locally born or they could be birds that have migrated into the country and are now filtering inland. Only time, and a few retraps will tell.

Along with the Goldcrests, we also caught the following birds (new/retrap): Robin 3/0, Blue Tit 5/4, Great Tit 7/1, Coal Tit 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 0/1, Nuthatch 0/2 and Goldfinch 4/0.

Apart from the ringing, we also saw a hunting Kestrel, 2 flocks of Fieldfares (20 and 9), calling Tawny Owls and a few Redwings flying over.

1 last sighting of note was a Bank Vole, seen by David. This is the first sighting of this species at Linacre, although I'm sure it, and many other species are regularly found here. More surveying required!

Isle of Wight Birds- Part 1

Jayne and I have been in the Isle of Wight for a week today, so I thought it was about time I wrote a post about birdlife here.

The first birds we saw this week, were, of course, gulls, with Black-headed, Mediterranean and Herring Gull all seen on the ferry trip over to the island. Great Black-backed was added when we arrived in Ventnor (1 adult and 1 juvenile), a Common Gull was seen in Bembridge and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull was on the seafront at Sandown today.

Mediterranean Gull (Ryde Esplanade)

Tern species seen so far are Sandwich (5 in Bembridge harbour - year tick), and Common Tern.

The crow family has also been well represented so far with Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Rook, Magpie and Jay all seen in and around Ventnor, while 2 Ravens were also seen flying over Afton Down.

Waders are a bit thin on the ground, but we have seen Oystercatcher, Redshank and a single Greenshank (at Bembridge on Thursday- year tick).

As far as birds of prey are concerned, we've had a couple of sightings of Peregrine Falcon (1 mobbing a Raven at Afton Down, and 1 over Osborne House). We've also had daily sightings of Common Buzzard, and a couple of Kestrel sightings (1 over the cliffs in Ventnor, and 1, which, judging by the state of the plumage, is a juvenile, perched on the cliff side below Afton Down yesterday morning).

Kestrel

Passerines seen include Stonechat (2 on Afton Down), Meadow Pipit (several birds, including one carrying food on Afton Down), Skylark ( 1 singing on Afton Down), Linnets (group of c.10 on Afton Down), House Sparrow, Starling, Yellowhammer, Swift (10 flying over Afton Down on 5th, and a large flock of c.30 over Sandown today), Swallow, Goldfinch, Wren, Robin ( seen daily, including juveniles in Shanklin Chine and Osborn House), Blackbird, Green Woodpecker (heard daily from bed (!) and seen around Ventnor Park), Great-spotted Woodpecker (heard in Osborne House gardens/woods), Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits.

Water birds seen are: Mute Swan (in Ryde), Mallard, Little Egret (1 in Ryde) and Coot.

This isn't bad considering we haven't been "bird watching" yet, so hopefully we can add a few more species next week.

Year List update:
163: Greenshank
164: Sandwich Tern

Linacre Ringing, a new damselfly and a Year Ticks

Yesterday saw the first mist netting session at Linacre since April with 3 members, including me, from Sorby Breck Ringing Group. To say it was quiet would be an understatement, with just 10 birds of 5 species ringed, but at least this consisted of 3 species of warbler, including a "year tick" .

The first bird out of the nets was the "year tick" - a Garden Warbler! Not only was this my first record of this species this year, but it was also a juvenile bird, proving breeding at Linacre. The next couple of birds were Chaffinch (re-trapped adult) and Nuthatch (new, juvenile bird), and then, about half an hour later, we caught a couple of Blackcaps (both adults, 1 new and 1 a re-trap) and a new juvenile Chiffchaff. The last four birds of the morning were a Blue Tit (new juvenile), Chaffinch (new juvenile), and 2 more Blackcaps ( new, adult birds).

After the ringing, we spent some time clearing some of the vegetation from the net rides, and managed to record a few insects, including  Red-tailed, White-tailed and Tree Bumblebees, a Small Skipper, a Bloodvein moth and a Large Red Damselfly, my first record of this species at Linacre. The damselfly, a female, was found resting on the Yellow Flag Irises in a very small pond on the ringing site.

Bloodvein

Large Red Damselfly

Other birds seen around the ringing site included a singing male Whitethroat (first Linacre record of 2016), 3 Swifts, 2 Swallows, and a  Mistle Thrush mobbing a hunting Kestrel.

Linacre - 30th January 2016

I was down at Linacre this morning at first light to walk around the reservoirs, and check on the Shags. Two had been reported on Thursday on the Sheffield Bird Study Group website, and I managed to find two again today on the bottom reservoir.

Apart from the Shags it was quite quiet this morning with just 48 Mallards and 16 Tufted Duck seen. Both Coot and Moorhen were, however, present in the highest numbers of the year so far, with 10 and 13  respectively seen. 17 Mandarins were on the middle reservoir, with 2 Goosanders (1m and 1 redhead), as was a Great-crested Grebe, that was just beginning to get its breeding plumage. Black-headed Gulls numbered just 20, and there was just 1 Cormorant today, a beautiful, breeding-plumaged bird.

The woodlands were quite quiet as well, but three species; Woodpigeon, Coal Tit and Mistle Thrush were heard singing. A Kestrel was seen flying over the top reservoir, as was a female Sparrowhawk. There were four species of tit on the feeders by the bridge at the top reservoir (Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed), along with several Nuthatches.

Long-tailed Tit

Linacre WeBS- November and December 2015

No ringing this weekend due to high winds, but instead I was down at Linacre with my nephew, to carry out this month's WeBS walk. It was a balmy 9 degrees, the sun was out and, out of a cool, stiff wind, it was quite pleasant. We were on site as it was getting light, for  just over 2 hours and recorded the following birds: Shag (3 juveniles on the middle reservoir), Cormorant (2), Mallard (87), Tufted Duck (20), Moorhen (9), Coot (3), Grey Wagtail (1), Little Grebe (1 on the middle reservoir), Grey Heron (1 sunning itself on the bottom reservoir), Black-headed Gull (45) and Kingfisher ( 1 heard on the middle reservoir, and 1 seen on the top reservoir- same bird?). 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over the car park as we were going.

Shags

As well as the wildfowl, we also spotted this very confiding Kestrel that was perched and hunting from trees at the bottom of the bank by the middle reservoir. We got to within 5m of the bird, and saw it fly down, catch and eat  a couple of earthworms. The wing appears quite "droopy" in this picture, which could mean its damaged, and could possibly explain the bird's apparent "tameness". It did, however, fly down to the ground to catch the earthworms and then flew back to the tree, so hopefully it'll be okay.

Kestrel

Other birds seen or heard around site this morning were: Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Jay, Wren (singing), Robin (singing), Tawny Owl (heard), Mistle Thrush (1), Redwing (12), Common Buzzard (2), Dunnock, Blackbird, Crow, Jackdaw, Jay, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Bullfinch (1 male, by the top reservoir), Goldcrest, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit.There were also several of these fungi growing on the dam wall, which I think may be Scarlet Waxcaps.

Scarlet Waxcap?

November's results are a combination of 2 walks, 1 that was carried out by Paul from the Chesterfield RSPB Group, and one from me and Luke.The following birds were reported: Coot (5), Great-crested Grebe (3), Grey Heron (1), Kingfisher (2), Little Grebe (1), Mallard (132- the second highest count of the year), Mandarin Duck (77), Moorhen (15), Teal (3 males), Tufted Duck (83), Wigeon (1 juvenile type), Black-headed Gull (80) and Grey Wagtail (1).