Linacre - 6th April 2023

 After a short drive to a site in Nottinghamshire to see breeding plumaged Black-necked Grebes (124) (7 birds seen) and a single Little Ringed Plover (125), I popped into Linacre for my first visit in a few weeks.

I arrived at Linacre at 10.30am, and spent until 1.00pm on site, walking around all three reservoirs. The highlight of the visit was the 12 Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap and 1 Willow Warbler, that were singing. I also found my first Great-crested Grebe nest of the year (1 bird sitting, along with 2 other birds), a pair of Little Grebes, 1 Greylag Goose (my first Linacre record of 2023), 41 Mallards, 44 Tufted Ducks, 12 Coots, 8 Moorhens, 5 Mandarin Ducks, 1 Grey Wagtail, a female Goosander (late record) and 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (all feeding in the field by the main entrance - my highest ever count!).

Whilst on site, the sun came out and I managed to spot a few insects - 7 Dark-edged Bee-flies, Tree Bumblebees, Common Carder Bees, Buff-tailed Bumblebees and a Mining Bee sp.

Dark-edged Bee-fly

The sun also brought out the flowers, with Wood Anenome, Lesser Celandine, Coltsfoot, Dandelion and daisies all in bloom.

Blackcaps and Willow Warblers are back!

On Saturday I went down to Linacre to check for spring migrants. The Chiffchaffs were in very good voice, and had increased to 10 singing birds. In addition, two new species had arrived, with 4 singing Blackcaps and 2 Willow Warblers present.

Other species seen or heard around the site were: Tufted Duck (61), Mallard (48), Canada Goose (3), Mandarin Duck (10), Coot (10, including 1 on a nest), Moorhen (10, including 1 on a nest), Grey Wagtail (4), Great-crested Grebe (2), Lesser Black-backed Gull (3 adult-type birds), Buzzard (2), Siskin (heard), Mistle Thrush (2) and Stock Dove (3).

A few spring flowers had started to bloom, with Marsh Marigold, Wood Anenome and Lesser Celandine in flower.

Year List update:

77 - Blackcap

78 - Willow Warbler

Welcome Back EXP662

EXP662 is the ring number of a Chiffchaff that was ringed as a juvenile bird at Linacre on 16th July 2016 (see blog post here). This morning I was out ringing at Linacre with 3 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group, when we re trapped said bird. Where it's been in between we don't know, but most recoveries of British-ringed birds show this species moving south into southern Europe and North west Africa, so this the was likely destination for "our" bird. Hopefully, it'll hang around and breed here. Along with this bird, we also ringed another 4 Chiffchaffs (all new).

Chiffchaff

Also caught this morning were (new/retrap): Blackcap (1/0), Dunnock (1/0), Coal Tit (1/1), Blue Tit (1/2), Magpie (1/0), Nuthatch (1/0).

In between net rounds we also saw: Brown Hare (2), 1 Peacock and 1 Small Tortoiseshell (first Linacre records of 2017 for all 3 species), a Dronefly (Eristalsis sp), a Harlequin Ladybird, Mandarin Duck (2 flew over), Sparrowhawk ( 1 female over), Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow,  dozens of Cowslips and a single Red Campion flower.

Peacock

Small Tortoiseshell

Harlequin Ladybird on Gorse

Summer Migrants at Linacre

Luke and I had 2 hours at Linacre this morning and walked around all 3 reservoirs. We recorded good numbers of the usual waterbirds, along with a pair of Greylag Goose (present since Wednesday 29th) and our first singing Blackcap (3) and Willow Warbler (1) of 2017. The Willow Warbler was by the top reservoir, and was 3 days earlier than 2016, whilst the Blackcaps were by the middle reservoir (1), and by the stairs by the bottom reservoir (2) and were an  amazing 16 days earlier than last year!! Also singing this morning were: 9 Chiffchaffs, 7 Song Thrushes, Wrens, Stock Doves and Dunnocks. 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers were drumming.

Greylag Geese (a pair?)

Waterbirds seen were: Mallard (33), Tufted Duck (27), Coot (6), Moorhen (12), Cormorant (3; 2 adults and a young bird), Great-crested Grebe (6; 3 pairs, including 1 pair that appeared to have a nest), Mandarin Duck (6) and Grey Wagtail (4: 2 pairs). A mixed flock of c.30 Siskins and Lesser Redpolls was flying around the Larch woodlands.

Wood Anenome, Lesser Celandine and Coltsfoot were in all in flower. Interestingly, another 4 Perch and another dead Trout were in the overflow from the middle reservoir, along with, what looked like a half eaten duck, possibly a Mallard?

Mallard?

Year List update:
115 - Chiffchaff (at Linacre on 12th March)
116 - Willow Warbler

Linacre Year Tick

The weather forecast for this morning wasn't great, but Luke and I decided to have a few hours around Linacre anyway. The forecast was right, and we walked around all 3 reservoirs in the wind and rain!

Despite the rubbish conditions we still managed to hear 6 singing Chiffchaffs around the site along with Mallard (39), Tufted Duck (37), Moorhen (9), Coot (10), Great-crested Grebe (5; 2 pairs and a single bird), Cormorant; 2, one breeding plumaged bird and a younger bird, Grey Wagtail (2),  Mandarin Duck (9), Black-headed Gull (4) and, the Linacre year tick, Canada Goose (6).

Canada Geese

Other birds recorded around the site today were: Siskin (heard), Goldcrest (singing), Great-spotted Woodpecker (1 drumming), Song Thrush (3 singing), Magpie (2), Mistle Thrush (2) and Redwing (4).

The last species of note from today's trip was another fish species, following on from last week's Perch. This time the fish was, again, found dead in the overflow. It was a little trickier to photograph, but Twitter users (thanks) point to it being a Trout, a species that Linacre was apparently stocked with in the 1990s. Unfortunately, we can't be sure whether it's Rainbow or Brown.

Trout species

Linacre Orchids

Every year the field by the top reservoir at Linacre erupts into flower with a wide variety of different plants, most of which, I'm ashamed to admit, I can't identify. While I was there on Saturday I noticed, among others, a huge number of orchids, many more than I've ever spotted before. Hopefully, this photo will give some idea of the numbers involved.

Orchids!

I got a few photos of individual spikes, and, according to one of the people I follow on Twitter, they are Common spotted Orchids.

Common spotted Orchid

Another plant that was also in bloom this weekend was the Foxglove. This is a very common plant, but one that, surprisingly, hasn't been included in this blog before! Here's a picture of one from Saturday, again, from the top reservoir.

Foxglove

Whilst looking at the flowers, Luke and I also noticed a number of wasps chewing the wood off the boardwalk! Luke managed to get a few close ups, including this lovely, face-on shot (thanks for the copy Luke). I looked ont t'internet, and think it's a Common Wasp, due to the anchor shaped mark on its face (see here).

Common Wasp

This second photo, of a different individual, also shows the line of wood that the wasp has chewed off.

Common Wasp