Wales - 15th - 22nd April 2022

 Jayne and I have just spent a week in Llanbedrog, North Wales. Although primarily a family break, we did manage to do some birding, and added 10 species to the "Year List".

The first new bird was a very nice surprise, a drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (129), that was heard  from our bed!! Unfortunately, we couldn't see it, but we heard it for three mornings on the trot (at 6:30am!). The next two additions were Gannet (130) and Whitethroat (131), which were both seen in Aberdaron. The 132nd species seen was Osprey. We saw 2 pairs of birds at the Glaslyn Osprey Centre, near Porthmadog. 

Yesterday, we had a trip to Cemlyn Lagoon and RSPB South Stack. Cemlyn was very busy with 100+ Sandwich Terns (133) coming and going, along with a similar amount of Black-headed Gulls. We popped in to the old harbour at Holyhead and managed to see three Black Guillemots (134), before heading across to RSPB South Stack, where we added Razorbill (135), Kittiwake (136), Puffin (137) and House Martin (138) to the list. 

Other species seen here included: Chough, Raven, Guillemot, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Swallow, Lesser, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, Linnet. 

Linacre Gull Fest and WeBS - 15th February 2021

 This month's WeBS walk at Linacre Reservoirs took place yesterday. Following a week of very cold temperatures (+2 maximum) and snow there was a lot of ice covering all three reservoirs (c.40%), which made counting easier, and also lead to some excellent records.

First up, the waterfowl counts: 148 Mallard, 105 Tufted Duck (my highest ever count, possibly cold weather movement?), 102 Mandarin Duck, 12 Moorhen, 9 Coot, 1 Cormorant (in full breeding plumage), 4 Little Grebe, 10 Goosander (4 males and 6 females), 168 (minimum, most likely 200+) Black-headed Gull (including 2 metal-ringed birds and a darvic-ringed bird),  2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (both adult-type, returning breeders from Chesterfield?), 1 Herring Gull (flew over the top reservoir for 5 minutes - only my sixth record since 2006!), 1 adult Common Gull, only my third ever Linacre record, previous records being in 2014 and 2016 and 2 Grey Wagtail. 

Common Gull (and Black-headed Gull)

As you can see, the number of Black-headed Gulls was fantastic, probably due to me being on site until 2.00pm, and because of the icy conditions elsewhere, as were the Herring and Common Gull records. Lesser Black-backed Gull sightings have increased in  the last few years, as they have established themselves as a breeding species in Chesterfield (first confirmed breeding in 2018 I think) and will continue to grow as the breeding population increases. The same may happen for Herring Gull, as they too, have become a breeding species in Chesterfield too.

Whilst scanning through the Black-headed Gulls, I spotted 2 metal-ringed birds and 1 darvic-ringed bird. Unfortunately, I couldn't read the metal rings (too far away), but I did manage to get a distant photo of the darvic-ringed bird, and saw that it was 2T46. This was a bird that my nephew, Luke, saw at nearby Holmebrook Valley CP, on 6th November 2020, and had been ringed in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, on 19th September 2020. The first photo is this bird in November, whilst the second is from yesterday. Luke's photo was taken much nearer (!), whilst my photo shows how the bird's breeding plumage brown hood is developing.

2T46, Holmebrook Valley CP, November 2020

2T46, Linacre Reservoir, February 2021

Other birds seen/heard around the reservoirs were: Tawny Owl (heard), Raven (2 displaying), Green Woodpecker (heard), Skylark (1 seen and heard over the top reservoir), Common Buzzard (3 together), Sparrowhawk (1 displaying), Stock Dove (4, and singing heard).

NOTE: a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker was noted (not by me!) on 14th February, feeding with a mixed tit flock - the first 2021 record.

Year List Update- 14th April 2019

It's been over a month since I last updated the year list, and, since then, I've added quite a few new species, including a "lifer", the Siberian Lesser Whitethroat (blythi) that I caught and ringed in February (see here). As you can see, most of the new species are summer visitors, except for the Lesser-spotted Woodpecker (heard at Linacre on 30th March - my first record there since 2014), and the Red Grouse, seen yesterday at Stanage Edge.

Ring Ouzel

Year List update:
126 – Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

127- Lesser Whitethroat (blythi) 

128 – Blackcap
129 – Willow Warbler
130 – Swallow
131 – Sand Martin
132 – House Martin
133 – Red Grouse

134 – Ring Ouzel

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Checking back in my records, the last time I saw a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was at Linacre in January 2012 (see here). Therefore, news of  birds drumming in Graves Park, Sheffield got me interested, and on Sunday morning, I drove across to see if I could catch up with this species.

I arrived at 7am, and within 5 minutes I'd spotted, and heard, a female bird drumming on a dead branch. She hung around for about 2 minutes, before flying off. She returned again 5 minutes later, and drummed again for another couple of minutes, before flying off again. An excellent record! I didn't manage any photos, so here's one from  Linacre back in 2012.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Year List update:

113 – Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

114 – Wigeon (seen at Linacre on 12/3)

Linacre -2nd January 2012

Wow, the first visit of the year to Linacre produced one of my most favourite birds and one that I haven't seen for a very long time - LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER!!!

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

This bird is one that has undergone massive declines in the UK and one that, although resident at Liancre, is seen very infrequently. The group has only recorded it 5 times in the last 3 years and my last sighting was back in March 2009! As you can imagine, therefore, I was very pleased to see him (it is a male because of the red cap) and even happier to get some photos and video. Now all I've got to do is find him again, and hopefully a female too!

This first visit also produced a super Raven flying over "croaking", (which I managed to see today), an immature female Goldeneye ( no sign of the male today, although he was reported yesterday),  as well as the usual woodland species. Waterbirds seen were: Mallard (127), Grey Heron (2), Mandarin Duck (27), Black-headed Gull (35), Moorhen ( just 2!), Coot (6), Pied Wagtail (1), Great-crested Grebe (1 ad) and Little Grebe (1).

The year list increased today with the following additions:

21 - Nuthatch
22 - Great Tit
23 - Coal Tit
24 - Wren
25 - Robin
26 - Dunnock
27 - Great Spotted Woodpecker
28 - LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER
29 - Goldfinch
30 - Little Grebe
31 - Great-crested Grebe
32 - Pied Wagtail
33 - Tufted Duck
34 - Mandarin Duck
35 - Goldeneye
36 - RAVEN