Linacre Update - 22nd May 2021

 May is a busy month for  ringing, especially the nestboxes, at Linacre, so a visit on Saturday with 2 other members of  Sorby Breck Ringing Group saw a total of 50 pulli (young birds) ringed. All birds were Blue or Great Tits. Unfortunately, the Coal Tit nest I found in one of the boxes had been predated. Better news was the Pied Flycatcher nest. When checked, the female bird was sitting tight, hopefully on a nice, full clutch of eggs.

After checking the main nest boxes, I went down to 23 new boxes that have been put up by the bottom reservoir - The Glade. 3 broods of Blue and Great Tits were ringed. Whilst checking the boxes, a female Leucozona lucorum hoverfly landed on my arm. This was the first record of this species at Linacre!!

Leucozona lucorum (female)

Middleton Top - 13th June 2020

Since lockdown eased, Jayne and I have decided to go and visit some places that we've drived past for years, but have never actually stopped at. One such place is Middleton Top, near Wirksworth.

We parked up, and walked along the old railway line in the direction of Parsley Hay. As we walked along, we began to notice a profusion of bees, and it wasn't long before we spotted our first butterfly of the day, a pristine Small Tortoiseshell. In total, at least 12 were seen, possibly more, and were presumably, newly emerged. Along the walk, we also saw one Small Heath, one Small Skipper , 2 Chimney Sweepers (day-flying moth) and three Meadow Brown.

Chimney Sweeper

There were also many hoverflies, including a new species for me, Leucozona lucorum.

Leucozona lucorum

When we got back to the Visitors' Centre, we noticed a small nature reserve called Redhills Quarry, and had a short look around. The first thing Jayne spotted was a family of Redstarts flying around the bushes. In total, we saw 2 fledged family groups and 1 pair feeding young!

Redstart

We also had a couple of Common Blue Butterflies and, what I think is a Potter Wasp, possibly Ancistrocerus scoticus.