Wild Goose Chase!

 Jayne and I drove across to RSPB Frampton Marsh on the search for a few year ticks. As the title of this post implies, it didn't quite go to plan!

We arrived at Frampton hoping to see both Russian/European White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons albifrons) and Tundra Bean Goose. We got lucky with the White-fronted Geese (104), but, despite 3 attempts throughout the day, we couldn't find the (3 or 4) Bean Geese in amongst the 200+ Pink-footed Geese.

Russian White-fronted Geese (pink beak)

Pink-footed Geese

Other birds seen were: Mute Swan, Canada and Greylag Geese, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail (105), Goldeneye (106), Lapwing, Golden Plover, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit (107), Sparrowhawk and Peregrine Falcon.

Earlier in the week (18th), I also added Whooper Swan (103), to the Year List, when 4 flew over our house, an amazing "garden tick" as well!!! The following day (19th), we also added Red Kite to the garden list!!

Scotland Trip - October 2023

 Jayne and I have just returned from a family break in Pitlochry. Whilst there, we saw a few new birds and some lovely Red Squirrels.

We visited RSPB Loch Garten, and, after a short while (10 minutes), spotted my first ever British Crested Tit (191). It was feeding on peanuts, by the footpath to the centre. It flew in, fed for about 30 seconds and then flew off!

Crested Tit

Whilst there, we also heard Crossbills (192), a flock of 15 Whooper Swans and a skein of c50 Pink-footed Geese.

We saw Red Squirrels on several occasions, including this photographic individual at Killiekrankie.

Red Squirrel

Our final sightings of the week was a flock of 9 Waxwings (193), that were seen on 3rd at The House of Bruar retail park, and a single Hooded Crow, that was feeling by the A9!

Waxwings

Pied Wheatear!!

 A first winter male Pied Wheatear turned up in a skate park in Whitley Bay last week, so, after a week of umming and ahhing (!) Jayne and I drove up there today to have a look at this new species.

Pied Wheatear!!

When we arrived, the bird wasn't in the Skate Park, but was, instead, hopping about along the seawall opposite The Spanish City. At times, it hopped to within 2m!!! Luckily, the weather was decent, still and sunny, so we managed to get some decent shots.

Whilst there, we also had a walk up to St Mary's Island. The tide was out, so we spotted a few waders on the way up (Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Lapwing and Ringed Plover) as well as several Pied Wagtails and Rock Pipits. On the Island there were a dozen or so Grey Seals enjoying the sun, and two flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew overhead. A couple of Red-throated Divers also flew past, and Black-headed and Herring Gulls were seen.

Year List update: 

160 - Lesser Whitethroat (1 seen whilst ringing back in September) 

161 - Pied Wheatear

Linacre - 24th September 2022

 A week after my last visit, I was back down at Linacre this morning for a walk around all three reservoirs.

Overall, waterbirds numbers were very similar to last week, except for Moorhen and Coot which had risen to 19 (15 adults and 4 juveniles) and 9 (5 adults and 4 juveniles) respectively. Other birds reported were: Kingfisher (1), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (2), Mallard (60), Mandarin Duck (70), Tufted Duck (25, up from 12 last week), Little Grebe (1) and Great-crested Grebe (5; 3 adults and 2 juveniles). 

The highlight of the morning, however, was another flock/skein of c.98 Pink-footed Geese flying over west at 9am.

Other birds seen around the reservoirs included: Chiffchaff (1 singing), Magpie (3), Woodpigeon, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Robin, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw and Wren.

House Martins, Chiffchaffs and Pink-footed Geese

 When I set off to carry out this month's WeBS count at Linacre it felt like a "Pink-footed Goose morning". There had been several reports of skeins flying over during the last week, and the weather was perfect, with bright blue skies and no cloud cover. As it was, I heard one skein and saw another, totalling 28 birds, and heading west. This is my first record at Linacre this autumn.

Pink-footed Geese

Whilst stood by the dam wall by the lower reservoir, I also heard House Martins, and was very pleased to see 4 flying above the trees, my latest record for this site. a total of 4 Chiffchaffs were also singing around the site, along with several other birds "wheeting" in the willows by the top reservoir. Other birds counted whilst on site were: 78 Mallard, 87 Mandarin Ducks, 6 Moorhens (3 adults and 3 juveniles), 9 Coots (8 adults and 1 juvenile), 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 4 Grey Wagtails, 2 Little Grebes, 3 Great-crested Grebes (2 adults and 1 juvenile), 1 Grey Heron, 1 Kingfisher and 12 Tufted Duck.

Derbyshire Snow Bunting - 9th October 2021

 Last Saturday, Jayne and I popped across to Carsington Water to see if we could see the Snow Bunting that had been reported. We found it, feeding on the weeds on the dam wall and performed beautifully for us. A great "Derbyshire tick".

Snow Bunting

Whilst there, we also had two flocks of Pink-footed Geese fly overhead (13 and a group of c40), which, amazingly, were a "Year tick".

Year List update:

173 - Pink-footed Goose

174 - Snow Bunting

Linacre WeBS - 17th October 2020

Yesterday I had a couple of hours at Linacre to carry out this month's WeBS walk. There had been a notable increase in duck numbers, and I recorded the highest count for Mandarin Duck for the year.

Numbers were: 140 Mallard, 105 Mandarin Duck, 43 Tufted Duck, 12 Moorhen, 4 Coot, 4 Grey Wagtail, 1 Grey Heron, 16 Black-headed Gull and 5 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Grey Heron

Other birds reported around the reservoirs were: Blackbird, Wren, Starling (c.25 over), Treecreeper (2), Jay, Crow, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Great-spotted and Green Woodpecker and  Tawny Owl (heard).

Later in the day, I saw a report of c140 Pink-footed Geese that had been reported flying over Linacre later in the morning. This was the first report of the year.

Linacre Ringing - 12th October 2019

After a couple of wet and windy weekends it was really nice to get out to Linacre again for a ringing session yesterday. I was there with 5 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group, and we managed to catch a ring 75 birds of 11 species.

As usual, the majority of birds ringed were tits, with 24 Blue (23 new and 1 retrap), 24 Great Tits (22 new and 2 retraps), 1 Coal Tit (new bird) and 8 Long-tailed Tits (7 new and 1 retrap). We did however, also ring Goldcrest ( 7 new birds), 1 Wren (new), 2 Robins (new), 1 Treecreeper (new), 1 Chiffchaff ( a new, 1st year bird), Blackbird (4 new birds, including 2 probable continental birds) and 2 Redwings (our first of the year).

Chiffchaff

Treecreeper

In between net rounds we also recorded a Peregrine Falcon (only my third Linacre record, and my first since 2016), Raven (1 over), 1 Cormorant and a lovely skein of approximately 180 Pink-footed Geese flying SE. A Red Admiral butterfly was also seen briefly.

Danish Black-headed Gull

Yesterday, Luke and I were at Poolsbrook CP for a few hours. Whilst there, we managed to spot a metal ringed Black-headed Gull from Denmark (3rd of the winter!).

Danish BH Gull

I heard back today, and the bird had been ringed on the small island of Sprogø, 830km away, as a chick on 2nd June 2017. Nice!!

Whilst there, we also had 2 ringed Greylag Geese. The 2 ring numbers were sequential, and the birds looked like an adult and a juvenile birds, so they were most likely ringed together. I'll update the blog as soon as we hear back from the BTO. A very tame Pink-footed Goose was also present, and associating with the Greylags.

Greylags and Pink-footed Goose

UPDATE: Both Greylag Geese were ringed at Poolsbrook on 5th September 2016, so they haven't gone very far. 98 was born in 2018 and 99 was ringed as "at least 1 year old".

Linacre Ringing - 20th October 2018

This month's ringing session at Linacre started at 6:45am, just before it got light, so that we could set the nets up and ready to try and catch the first Redwings of the autumn/winter period. We were lucky and managed to catch 2 new birds (both adults).

Redwing

We also managed to catch a Brambling (the first to be ringed at Linacre). The bird was a very smart male bird, born this year.

Brambling

The other, slightly different bird was a Coal Tit that was noticeable greyer than our usual birds. We identified this a "continental type" bird, i.e. most likely from mainland Europe! Here's a picture showing the "continental type" (right hand bird) along side a regular bird.

Coal Tits

Finally, we also caught and ringed 2 Greenfinch, another new species for Linacre.

Birds ringed (new/retrap): Wren 3/0, Dunnock 1/0, Redwing 2/0, Goldcrest 4/0, Coal Tit 7/0, Blue Tit 14/6, Great Tit 12/0, Nuthatch 1/0, Chaffinch 1/0, Brambling 1/0, Greenfinch 2/0 and Goldfinch 1/0.

Whilst on site we also noted 3 flocks of Fieldfare (10, 20 and 20) flying over, a lovely skein of approximately 100 Pink-footed Geese flying east and some very vocal (possibly 4) Tawny Owls.

RSPB Old Moor

Luke and I spent 4 hours at RSPB Old Moor on Thursday. It was warm with sunny spells and we walked all around the hides and ponds.

The first area we visited was the so called "Bittern bus stop", an area overlooking the large reedbed. As the name suggests, this is a great area to spot the Bitterns (3 breeding pairs this year apparently), and we got very lucky, seeing our first bird within 10 minutes of arriving. We also recorded Common Tern here. On the walk here we also got excellent views of both male and female Dingy Skipper.

Dingy Skipper (female top, male below)

We next walked down to Wath Ings hide where we were very surprised to find 2 Pink-footed Geese in amongst the Greylags and Canada Geese. 

Walking back to the Visitors' Centre we popped into Wader Scrape and Family Hide adding a very nice breeding plumaged Mediterranean Gull to the list.

The best part of the day, however, was still to come, as we managed to record some super new insects, namely Mother Shipton (a day-flying moth), Common Blue, Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies, Orange Tip, Brimstone butterfly and 3 beautiful Four-spotted Chasers, including one very obliging individual.

Mother Shipton

Four-spotted Chaser

Year List update:
152 - Common Tern
153 - Bittern

Year List Update

After walking around Linacre yesterday, I had an hour up at Shillito Woods. I put out some seed, and within a few minutes there were 13 Bramblings, 5 Yellowhammers, dozens of Chaffinches, Robins, Blackbirds, Blue and Great Tits.

Brambling

In the afternoon, Jayne and I went to Rufford Country Park. We walked around the lake, and added another four birds to the "year list"; Greylag Goose, Pochard (1 male), Common Gull (minimum of 5 birds, including at least 1 adult) and Goosander (10; 5 males and 5 redheads).

Pochard

Common Gull (2nd cy)

The final addition to this year's list is Pink-footed Goose, and relates to a skein of approximately 200 birds that were flying over the Avenue Washlands this morning during a ringing session.

Year List update:
74 – Brambling
75 – Greylag Goose
76 – Pochard
77 – Common Gull
78 – Goosander
79 – Pink-footed Goose

Yellow-browed Warbler!!

Unfortunately, this is not a Linacre report, but instead refers to 2 birds that I've seen today in Holkham Pines in Norfolk. This site is a much more usual spot for this species, but is still an excellent record for me. I tried hard to get a photo, but the only one I could manage was this lovely one of the tree the bird was flitting around in - enjoy!

Yellow-browed Warbler tree (honestly!)

The warblers, were seen on a walk from Wells-next-the-Sea to Holkham, that Jayne and I did today. We set off in Wells, walked down to the beach and along to Holkham Gap. We then walked up through the pines, watched the Yellow-brows, and visited Joe Jordan Hide. Along the way, we also recorded Redshank, Turnstone, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Wheatear (4 by Holkham Gap), Marsh Harrier (2 over Holkham Marsh), Grey Heron, Gannet, Pink-footed Goose Redwing (c.20 over - first of the winter), 1 Grey Partridge (year tick) and a Red Admiral feeding in the sunshine on ivy.

In Wells itself, we also saw House Sparrows, Herring, Common and Black-headed Gulls, Dark-bellied Brent Geese (first of the year), Mallard and Starlings.

Starling

Year List update:

175: Yellow-browed Warbler

176: Grey Partridge

Dark-bellied Brent Goose.

Carsington- 4th April 2016

After my walk around Linacre on Monday, I decided to pop across to Carsington Water to see what was about.

I had a walk around Stones Island and managed to find 3 White Wagtails, the European version of our Pied Wagtail. It isn't a species in its own right, so it won't appear of the Year List. Cracking bird, nonetheless.

White Wagtail

Also present was this Pink-footed Goose. It's a very unusual species to be found "on the ground" in Derbyshire. Normally, they're seen flying over the county throughout the winter months, so I'm not sure where this one's come from. It's either a feral bird, or possible a wild bird that's been injured and has found the area to its liking. Where ever its from, it was coming to bread with the local Mallards, and appeared very tame!

Pink-footed Goose

One last bird of note was Common Gull. There were six present sitting on buoys around the Sailing Club.

Common Gulls (4 of the 6 present)

Year List 2015- the final figure!

So it's just gone 7pm on New Year's Eve, so I think it's safe to say I won't be adding any new birds to the "year list" for 2015. Following on from the Great Northern Diver earlier in the week, I've managed to see another 2 species, taking me to a grand total of 181 for the year. The last species for the year were Red-breasted Merganser and Common Scoter, both seen today in Northumberland.

Red-breasted Merganser

The Mergansers, 2 males and a female, were both seen on the River Coquet in Warkworth, along with 4 Eider Ducks, 2 Grey Herons, a male Goldeneye, Black-headed and Herring Gulls and Redshank. The Common Scoter, a female, was seen by Stag Rocks in Bamburgh, again accompanied by several Eider Ducks.

Jayne and I also visited Cresswell Pond today, where we saw Tree Sparrow, Goldfinch, Curlew, Redshank, Snipe (4), a Peregrine Falcon, Teal, Wigeon, Little Grebe, c.30 Pink-footed Geese, Black-headed, Herring and an adult Mediterranean Gull.

Herring, Black-headed and Mediterranean Gull

Year List update:
180: Red-breasted Merganser
181: Common Scoter

Another Siskin and 2 Blackcaps

At the end of August I was down at Linacre ringing with Sorby Breck Ringing Group, when we caught a Siskin, the first one to be ringed at Linacre. Well, yesterday I was back down there, and we were lucky enough to catch another one! The first bird was an adult male, whereas yesterday's bird was a young bird, born this year. Hopefully, these 2 birds are just the start of a winter influx.

In the 5 hours that we were there (06.45 - 11.45), we managed to catch 49 birds, with the totals as follows (new/retrap): Dunnock 2/0, Robin 0/2, Blackbird 1/0, Blackcap 1/1, Goldcrest 2/0, Coal Tit 3/2, Blue Tit 7/3, Great Tit 6/5, Nuthatch 1/1, Chaffinch 1/0, Goldfinch 6/0, Siskin 1/0, Bullfinch 3/1.

Along with the Siskin, the other highlight of the morning must be the two Blackcaps. Its always good to see this species, especially as the year progresses, but yesterday's catch included a bird that we had caught back in June (see here).

As well as the ringing, we also recorded a very nice skein of 75 Pink-footed Geese flying NW over the site, my first record at Linacre for 2015. We also had a Tawny Owl calling as we arrived, Skylark flying over and a Mistle Thrush.

Pink-footed Geese

The sun was out for most of the session, and by the time we were packing up, we'd manage to record a few butterflies as well, namely: Red Admiral (1), Comma (1), Speckled Wood (3) and Small Tortoiseshell (1).

                                   

                                                                  Small Tortoiseshell

RSPB Frampton Marsh

I had a drive over to Lincolnshire today to see if I could see a Red-footed Falcon at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's Willow Tree Fen Reserve. Unfortunately, I "dipped", but I did spot at least half a dozen Yellow Wagtails feeding around the cows, a Green Sandpiper, a Kingfisher and 2 Marsh Harriers.

Afterwards, I drove over to RSPB Frampton Marsh, near Boston, to look for some of the many waders that had been reported recently on the Birdguides website. The first species I saw was Black-tailed Godwit, followed closely by Ruff , Snipe, Ringed Plover and Lapwing. Wood Sandpiper was the next species seen with 2 individuals seen. Little Stints (2 juveniles), and a single juvenile Curlew Sandpiper were also seen. I got  a few "record shots".

Little Stint showing white "braces"

Little Stint (face on)

Curlew Sandpiper (juvenile)

Wood Sandpiper 

Ruff (juvenile)

Along with the waders there were also hundreds of Mallards, Teals, Canada and Greylag Geese, as well as 6 Pintail, Black-headed and Herring Gulls and a single, unseasonable Pink-footed Goose!

Year List update:

160 – Yellow Wagtail

161 – Green Sandpiper

162 – Wood Sandpiper

163 – Little Stint

164 – Curlew Sandpiper

165 – Pink-footed Goose

166 - Pintail

Avenue Ringing - Finches galore!

The weather for the last few weekends has been grey, overcast and wet, so when we saw a half decent forecast for this morning we (Sorby Breck Ringing Group) decided to get out and do some ringing - hurrah!

3 of us managed to get out to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield, where we ringed 49 birds of 11 species (Blackbird, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Yellowhammer, Dunnock, Robin, Blue, Great and Willow Tit) in three and a half hours.

As the title suggests, many of the birds were finches, and I was lucky enough to ring 3 new Bullfinches (and process 1 retrap), a retrap Greenfinch, 2 new Goldfinches, and 1 retrapped Chaffinch. Along with these birds I also had the following birds new/retrap: Blue Tit 2/3, Great Tit 4/6, Robin 2/0 and Willow Tit 0/1.

In between net rounds, as always, we kept our eyes open for other wildlife. Today we managed to record several Fieldfare, lots of Blackbirds, Skylark, a Kestrel, and, best of all, an over-flying flock of approx. 45 Pink-footed Geese.

Norfolk Highlights

It's been half term this week, so I spent a couple of days in Norfolk with Jayne. We were based in Wells-next-the Sea, and whilst there, we spotted a few nice birds, including a couple of "year ticks".

On arrival in Wells we walked down the estuary to the beach. Black-headed, Common and Herring Gulls were present all along the river. There were dozens of Dark-bellied Brent Geese  present on the river, including this family party of 2 adults and 4 juveniles.

Brent Goose

 

When we arrived on the beach there were dozens of Redwings and a few Fieldfares flying "in-off" the sea.

Next morning we drove down to Holkham Hall, and parked up on St Ann's Drive where we saw Pink-footed Geese grazing in the surrounding fields. We then walked down through the woods, and out on to the beach to scan the sea. We spotted 4 Red-throated Divers, half a dozen Common Scoters, and the two "year ticks"; Velvet Scoter and a winter-plumaged Razorbill. A couple of Oystercatchers and 5 Sanderlings were also seen feeding along the edge of the water. On our way back to the car we spotted a couple of Redwings and this Blackbird feeding on berries in the dunes. I think the white scalloping on the back of this bird points to it being a "continental" bird.

Blackbird

Our last stop in Norfolk was RSPB Titchwell. We only had an hour or so here, but we did get some great views of this winter-plumaged Black-tailed Godwit, along with hundreds of  Golden Plover, a few Dunlin, Teal, Shoveler, a Little Egret and a calling Cetti's Warbler.

Black-tailed Godwit

Year List update:
175 -Velvet Scoter
176 - Razorbill

Linacre WeBS - October 2014

While I was ringing at Linacre last Saturday, Mandy from the Chesterfield RSPB Group was busy walking around the reservoirs carrying out the monthly WeBS walk.

Nothing spectacular to report, but good numbers for the start of the winter period, and the first Black-headed Gulls (15) since April. Other birds recorded were: Mallard (56), Tufted Duck (17), Mandarin Duck (10, )Moorhen (8), Coot (4), Little Grebe (1), Grey Heron (1) and Cormorant (5).

In addition, a flock of approximately 50 Pink-footed Geese was seen flying over to the west. These too were the first of the winter.