RSPB Winterbourne Downs - 2nd April 2023

 Jayne and I have had a few days down in Wiltshire, visiting a few new sites and  seeing some nice birds.

Our first new site was RSPB Winterbourne Downs, which is a great spot to see Stone Curlews. We popped across on Sunday, and managed to see a couple of birds. Also on site were; Lapwing, Linnet, Green Woodpecker, Red Kite, Buzzard and Brown Hares. Whilst there, we also spotted a Comma butterfly, and a "Flifer" - a new species of fly (thanks for the new word Jayne!), Dotted Bee Fly.

Dotted Bee Fly

Year List Update: 105 - Swallow, 106 - Green Woodpecker and 107 - Stone Curlew.

Common Scoter

 After today's visit to Linacre, I saw a record of a male Common Scoter on Chesterfield Canal, so popped down there. It was still present, and Jayne and I managed great views.

Common Scoter

Year List update: 

103 - Skylark, 104 - Common Scoter

Linacre Nestboxes - 3rd May 2021

 It's been a couple of weeks since I last checked the nestboxes at Linacre, so I popped down for a couple of hours this morning, before the rain and wind started!!

It was a mixture of good news and bad news (as is always the case with every nestbox season). The bad news was that all three owl boxes, that had been used by Mandarins this year, appear to have failed. A quick check yesterday afternoon, revealed cold, uncovered eggs and no females. The better news, however, is that this morning's tit box check revealed a total of 32 active nests, the first chicks of the year (7 Great Tits, still naked and blind, so most likely very recently hatched),  my first ever record of a Coal Tit using a nestbox, and a pair of Pied Flycatchers entering a nestbox!! In addition, the Mallard's nest with 8 eggs was empty this morning (hopefully fledged successfully), and another nest, with 6 eggs this time, was found on the floor in the woods.

Pied Flycatcher

After checking the boxes, I walked around all three reservoirs, and spotted the following waterbirds: Mallard (72; 51 adults and 21 ducklings from 4 broods of 8, 1, 5 and 7), Coot (12; 7 adults and 1 brood of 5 - first of the year), Moorhen 14; 9 adults and 1 brood of 5 - first of the year), Mandarin (7 males), Tufted Duck (30),  Canada Goose (5; 3 flew over and 2 on the top reservoir), Greylag Goose (2 on the top reservoir -  second record of the year), Great-crested Grebe (4 adults), Grey Wagtail (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 adult) and  a 1st summer/2nd calendar year (born 2020) Black-headed Gull - only my second May record of this species. 2 Swallows were also seen over the top reservoir.

Black-headed Gull

Whilst on site, I also had a short time on the ringing site, where I saw a pair of Bullfinch (first Linacre record of the year!), a singing Song Thrush, 1 singing Willow Warbler, and, best of all, my first Whitethroat of the year. 

Year List update:

139 - Whitethroat

Linacre Ringing and Nest Recording

 This weekend I've had two visits to Linacre, once for the first ringing session there since September 2020, and once for the first nest box check of the year (not including the owl boxes - see here).

The ringing session, with 4 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group, and one of the Linacre volunteer rangers, took place yesterday, from 06.15 - 09.30. In total we ringed 21 birds of 9 species. Totals were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 3/2, Great Tit 4/1, Coal Tit 2/0, Robin 3/0, Chiffchaff 1/0, Blackcap 0/1, Dunnock 1/1, Chaffinch 1/0 and Goldcrest 1/0. All the retraps were Linacre-ringed birds. The 2 Blue Tits had been ringed in June 2019 and March 2020 (just before lockdown). The Great Tit was ringed in July 2018, the Dunnock in December 2018, but, best of all, was the male Blackcap, originally ringed as an adult, in July 2016! I also found out yesterday, that a Blue Tit we originally ringed at Linacre on 16th July 2016 had been found dead (killed by a cat), 7km away, on 28th April 2020. This is the longest recovery (distance) we've had, so far.

This morning's visit was to check the nest boxes. In total there were 30 boxes in use, ranging from N1 (a nest just being started) through to sitting birds. All the boxes appeared to be tit nests, except for one Wren nest. The highlight, however, of the morning was the discovery of the year's first singing Pied Flycatcher. It was in the vicinity of a nest box, so I'm keeping everything crossed for another successful breeding season (1 successful box last year, fledged 7 young). It's still quite early in the season too, so hopefully, there could be some more birds to arrive. A female Mallard was also disturbed from a nest, 1m away from a nest box, revealing a nest with 6 eggs. As always, the results of the nests will be recorded for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. 

Mallard nest

Whilst on site this morning, I also recorded Green Woodpecker (heard), a Mallard with 13 ducklings (the first 2021 record), Willow Warbler (1 heard by the top reservoir), Reed Bunting (one male heard singing in willows by the boardwalk), Skylark (1 singing over fields by the top reservoir), Curlew (1 heard, but not seen, from the top reservoir - my first record here since 2018) and Canada Goose (6 - my highest count of the year). The Moorhen nest on the top reservoir was empty, but no young were seen.

Linacre 21st March 2021 - Chiffchaffs are back!!

 It was a grey, still, overcast morning with a temperature of  9 degrees, as I arrived on site. As usual, I did a two hour walk around all three reservoirs, listening out for any new arrivals and counting the wintering duck.

Numbers of duck are beginning to fall now, as birds disperse from the water, to start their breeding activity. Having said that, there were still good numbers present: 51 Mallard, 14 Coot, 12 Moorhen (including a bird sitting on one of last year's nests!), 10 Black-headed Gulls, 2 Canada Geese, 3 Greylag Geese (flying over - year tick), 2 Cormorants, 80 Tufted Duck, 4 Great-crested Grebe, 1 Little Grebe and 28 Mandarin Ducks (including 6 in trees by the bottom car park - nest prospecting).

The woodland was very noisy this morning (with bird song!), and included my first Chiffchaffs of 2021, with 2 singing around the reservoirs. A Great-spotted Woodpecker was also watched drumming, a Skylark was singing in the fields by the top reservoir, and 3 Siskin were seen feeding on the path by the boardwalk.

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.

Linacre - 2nd March 2019

Luke and I had a couple of hours at Linacre yesterday morning, hoping to see, or hear, our first spring migrants. Unfortunately, we didn't see, or hear, any migrants, but we did get some good counts of the waterbirds, and recorded a species that we'd not recorded at Linacre since 2014!

First the waterfowl numbers: Mallard 59, Tufted Duck 29, Mandarin Duck 26, Moorhen 14, Coot 10, Grey Wagtail 2, Great-crested Grebe 5, Canada Goose 2, Black-headed Gull 14.

We also had drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker, Stock Dove (1), Skylark (1 singing), Siskin,  and ….. Red-legged Partridge (2; the first record since 2014).

Red-legged Partridge

Linacre - 7th May 2017

I spent a couple of hours at Linacre yesterday, recording 2 new species for the year; Swift and Skylark. The Swifts, 4 birds, were flying over the bottom car park when I arrived at 6.30am, and the Skylark, a single singing bird, was in the fields above the top reservoir. As well as these 2 species, I also recorded my first ever May record of Black-headed Gull, with 3 breeding plumaged birds flying over the middle reservoir!

Other birds of note  were: Greylag Goose (2), Canada Goose (1), Mallard (52; 46 adults and one brood of 6 ducklings), Tufted Duck (22), Mandarin (3 males), Grey Heron (1), Coot (14; 8 adults and a brood of 6 chicks), Moorhen (6 adults and 2 nests), Great-crested Grebe (4 birds and 2 nests) and Grey Wagtail (2).

Greylag Goose

Moorhen

Other birds seen were: House Martin (3), Swallow (1), Willow Warbler (2 singing), Chiffchaff (4 singing), Blackcap (3 singing), Song Thrush (collecting food), Bullfinch (1 male) and Buzzard (1 being mobbed- as always!!).

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 - 15th October 2016

Weather conditions for ringing were perfect this morning, and with good numbers of Redwing being ringed by members of The Group last weekend, we decided to head down to Linacre this morning to try our luck. We arrived in the dark, at 6:30am, and got the nets up and sound systems on to begin attracting the Redwings down.  The first net round produced 5 birds, and by the end of the session at 11.30am we'd caught and ringed a very respectable 15 birds. Its hard to estimate how many birds were attracted into the area, but there must have been 100+ throughout the morning.

Redwing

Other birds ringed this morning were (new/retrap): Goldcrest (12/1), Wren (0/1), Robin (6/0), Blackbird (1/0), Long-tailed Tit (11/0), Blue Tit (23/5), Great Tit (11/1), Coal Tit (4/0) Goldfinch (4/0) and Treecreeper (1/0), bring the morning's total to 96 birds.

Here's a photo of this mornings' Treecreeper, a juvenile, just before it flew off. Love the beak and those amazing claws!!

Treecreeper

Other birds seen or heard this morning included Tawny Owl (heard first thing), Skylark (1 over, the first since June), Nuthatch and Woodpigeon.

Big Moor Year Tick

Last Thursday I spent a few hours up on Big Moor. Whilst there I added Whinchat to the "year list", with one adult and at least 3 juveniles present.

Whinchat (juvenile)

Whilst up there, I also saw juvenile Stonechat, Meadow Pipits, Skylark and 5 Red Deer.

Red Deer

Insect wise, I saw Black Darter, Small Heath, Common Darter, Common Hawker (2) and Emerald Damselfly.

Black Darter

Common Darter (female/immature)

Small Heath on Harebell

Emerald Damselfly (male)

Year List update:
166 - Whinchat

Good Friday Sunshine

As the title suggests, the weather today has been great, with lots of sunshine, and bright blue skies for most of the day. I started the day at Linacre with Luke, where we had two and a half hours walking around all three reservoirs.

The highlights of today's visit were the first singing Chiffchaffs of the year (2, with another non-singing individual seen by the boardwalk on the top reservoir), and the juvenile Shag that was still present on the middle reservoir. The Chiffchaffs were 4 days later than in 2015.

Shag

As well as these records, we also had  lots of the commoner woodland birds, Wren, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Blue, Great and Coal Tits, singing in the sunshine, drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker, a Carrion Crow carrying nesting material, 2 Magpies, Jackdaws checking out potential nest sites, a Nuthatch plastering a hole, a singing Skylark, 2 Common Buzzards, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Mistle Thrushes and a flock of Siskin (phew!)

Along with the Shag, there were also 5 Canada Geese (2 pairs on the top reservoir and a lone individual on the middle reservoir- breeding this year perhaps?), 12 Coots, 9 Moorhens, 18 Tufted Ducks, 7 Mandarins (all males), 22 Mallards, 1 Grey Heron, Grey Wagtails (2, including 1 singing bird) and 4 Great-crested Grebes.

Great-crested Grebe

2 Brown Hares were also seen in the fields by the entrance and a single Wood Anemone was out in bloom.

Spring is in the Air

Walking around Linacre for the March WeBS count this morning with Luke, there was a definite spring-like feeling in the air, despite it being just 3 degrees and quite misty. The songbirds were in very good voice, the ducks were chasing each other around, and the Shags appeared to have moved on.

We started our walk by the Rangers' Base, where we had the first of several drumming Great-spotted Woodpeckers. As we walked down to the bottom reservoir we spotted a couple of Grey Wagtails ( 1 of which was singing), the first of 27 Tufted Ducks, and, best of all, a couple of Kingfishers. The Kingfishers, which were chasing each other about and flying up and down the south side of the reservoir, before flying off down towards the river, were, presumably a pair or 2 males in territorial dispute. Either way, very good to see. A Grey Heron was also present on the bottom reservoir.

Moving up to the middle reservoir, we had a very good count of 51 Black-headed Gulls, many in near breeding plumage, which was soon boosted by another 30 on the top reservoir. The first of 4 Great-crested Grebes were also spotted on the middle reservoir, and were seen displaying and nest building in the traditional site. The second pair, on the top reservoir, were present, but not showing any signs of nest building... yet. A pair of Mandarins were present on the middle reservoir, and, unusually, were eating bread with the Mallards (39 in total), allowing us to get some nice pictures of the male bird.

Mandarin Duck

In total, we spotted a total of 9 Mandarins today, including 1 pair looking at a potential nest site in a dead tree on the top reservoir.

Mandarin pair

Moving on to the top reservoir, we had 3 Greylag Geese fly over, and heard the first 2016 Linacre record for Skylark, with 1 singing by the fields on the north side. Coots and Moorhen were seen on all reservoirs, with 9 and 11 seen respectively. No evidence of nests yet though.

6 Year Ticks

I was out and about again this morning, trying hard to "tick" a Black Redstart that has been present on an industrial site in Sheffield since 13th January. I was there for two hours, but unfortunately drew a blank. As you can guess, it was recorded later on, about 2 hours after I'd left! See the BirdGuides Website here for details and some great pictures. The good news, however, is that whilst there, I did manage to get a couple of "year ticks", with about half a dozen Skylarks present and singing over the site, and  a flock of about 15 Linnets also seen.

In the afternoon, Jayne and I decided to drive over to the National Trust's Clumber Park to enjoy the 15 degree temperatures! We walked all around the lake, and added another 4 species to the "year list". The first species, Marsh Tit, was very good to see, as I didn't manage to get it at all last year at all. I'm not sure why, as there were everywhere today, especially at feeding stations. It's not the easiest species to identify, so here's a link to the BTO's i.d. guide. Well worth a look. Here's a terrible, out of focus picture I took today. They really are fast!

Marsh Tit

The next species seen was Stock Dove, which was seen in the trees by the car park. The last two species, Shoveler and Pochard, were seen on the main lake. There was a pair of Shoveler, and 7 Pochard (4 males and 3 females).

Shoveler (male)

Other species seen on the lakes included Mallard, Gadwall, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Great-crested Grebe, Mute Swan, Black-headed and this single Lesser Black-backed Gull. 

Mute Swan

Year List update:

93 – Skylark

94 – Linnet

95 – Marsh Tit

96 – Stock Dove

97 – Shoveler

98 - Pochard

RSPB Bempton, Scarborough and Flamborough

I spent this weekend in Scarborough celebrating my up-coming birthday (thanks Jayne!!). We started off at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, then moved on to Scarborough, and then visited The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Flamborough Cliffs Reserve.  Over the 2 days we added 7 new species to the "year list", enjoyed some lovely weather, great food and company (thanks again Jayne) and stunning views of some of our amazing seabirds.

The weekend trip started at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, where the first birds we saw were the Gannets, followed closely by Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and a couple of Puffins. Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were singing everywhere, and Tree Sparrows were feeding around the centre.

Gannets, Kittiwakes, Guillemots and a Razorbill

Razorbill and Kittiwake

After Bempton, we drove down into Scarborough. We had a walk around the town, went on the beach, had a spot of lunch at the excellent  C.A.L.F. vegetarian café, and added a couple more birds to the list, namely Purple Sandpiper (30 roosting on the breakwaters in the harbour at high tide), and a male Scaup, that was present on the lake in Peasholme Park (no photo, it was just too far away).

Purple Sandpiper

Also present in the harbour were about 6 pairs of Kittiwake that were on nests, several Herring Gulls, a pair of Rock Pipits, two Turnstones and a stunning breeding plumaged Redshank.

Pair of Kittiwakes nesting in Scarborough harbour.

Turnstone

Redshank

This morning we left Scarborough and headed down to North Landing at Flamborough Cliffs. We didn't see anything new, but we did spot a pair of Puffins, and I managed to get a reasonable photo.

Puffins

Year List update:

105 – Gannet

106 – Kittiwake
107 – Guillemot
108 – Razorbill
109 – Puffin
110 – Purple Sandpiper
111 - Scaup

Last March Visit

Yesterday morning the weather wasn't conducive to ringing, so instead I had a walk around all three reservoirs at Linacre. It was just 7 degrees, grey, overcast and windy when I arrived at 6am, but the Chiffchaffs were singing (3), as was a single Skylark (my first Linacre record of 2015), several Goldcrests (also my first singing record this year), and a few spring flowers had begun to flower (Cowslip, Coltsfoot and a single Marsh Marigold flower).

In addition, there was a pair of Canada Geese on the middle reservoir, along with a Moorhen that was sitting on an empty nest. The 2 Great-crested Grebe pairs were still on site, and I also managed 5 Mandarin Ducks ( 4 males and a female), which are always a bonus at this time of the year.

When I got home, I spent some time watching the garden birds for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme, and was treated to another visit from this beautiful male Sparrowhawk, this time sitting on the feeders for 10 minutes, before chasing, unsuccessfully, after a Blackbird.

Sparrowhawk

I'm pretty sure its the same bird as last week, as it has 2 white spots on the back of its head. Just need to get a ring on it!!

Avenue Ringing

Yesterday's ringing session with 4 members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group, at The Avenue Washlands began slowly, but, by the end of the session, we had reached a respectable 27 birds of 9 different species (Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit and  Robin).

My personal totals were new/retrap:

Goldfinch 2/0, Blue Tit 1/1, Wren 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 0/2, Yellowhammer 1/0 and Great Tit 1/0.

As well as the ringing, we also recorded the other birds around the site, which included over 100 Redwing in several small flocks and a "year tick" for me, Skylark, which were singing on nearby fields.

Year List update:

85 - Skylark

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.

A Golden Morning

Today's blog title comes from Alan this week (thanks Alan), and refers to the fact that out of the 55 birds we managed to catch this morning at Linacre, 10 were Goldcrests and 10 were Goldfinch.

In addition to these lovely birds, we also managed to catch 3 Bullfinches, 3 Blue Tits, 4 Great Tits, 3 Coal Tits, 6 Chaffinches, 2 Wrens, 8 Dunnocks, 5 Robins and 1 Chiffchaff. The Chiffchaff was a very nice bird to see, especially as we heard 1 singing at the same time that this one was being ringed, so we know that there were at least 2 on site today. It had a fat score of 5 and a muscle score of 3, so it will presumably be heading south soon. Interestingly, I also had 2 feeding in the garden this afternoon. Good records for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme.

My personal totals were (new/retrap):
Robin 1/0, Great Tit 2/1, Blue Tit 0/2, Coal Tit 0/2, Dunnock 1/1, Chaffinch 2/1, Bullfinch 1/0, Chiffchaff 1/0, Goldfinch 2/0 and Goldcrest 2/0.

Other birds seen or heard during this morning's session included 5 over-flying Cormorants, a lovely flock of approximately 50 Pink-footed Geese flying over to the north west (my first at Linacre this year), 3 Red-legged Partridges (feeding in the fields by the main entrance, and again, my first at Linacre in 2014), and several Skylark that were heard flying over, but not seen.

The sun was out most of the morning, which meant I was also able to log a couple of insects, namely a Harlequin Ladybird and a Red Admiral butterfly.

Harlequin Ladybird

Red Admiral

Linacre in the sunshine - 9th March 2014

Sunday morning started sunny, so I decided to pop down to Linacre for a few hours. The temperature at 7am was already 7 degrees and the sun was shining. By 9am the temperature had risen to 12 degrees! My hope was to find the first summer migrants, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Instead, I enjoyed a great walk with a lovely mixture of birds, and the first frogspawn of the year.

As I walked down from the car park I was surrounded by singing birds (Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Goldfinch, Goldcrest, Woodpigeon and Wren!). A couple of Great-spotted Woodpeckers were drumming, and a Green Woodpecker was heard "yaffling". 

Waterbirds were becoming scarcer with Tufted Duck and Mallard numbers down to 13 and 38. There were just 8 Black-headed Gulls, but a big surprise was 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls that were feeding along with them!! 3 Cormorants were also present on the bottom reservoir, including an adult with a BTO ring on its right leg. This time last year a ringed Cormorant was also present- the same bird returning? If only I could read the number!!!1 Little Grebe was swimming around, while 2 Grey Wagtails were fighting each other around last year's nest site and another 2 were on the top reservoir. Coots and Moorhens were present in good numbers, 11 and 9, and 7 Mandarin Ducks, were together on Linacre Brook, east of the lower reservoir. 1 Grey Heron was spotted flying around the middle reservoir. Finally, two pairs of Great-crested Grebes were present and a couple of Canada Geese, including the hybrid bird returning for at least its 8th year, were found on the top reservoir (see here for details of last year's return).

Canada Goose and hybrid

The final birds of note were calling Crossbills, a singing Skylark above the top reservoir, and a female Kestrel in the same area.