Linacre WeBS - 15th October 2023

There was a real autumnal, if not wintery, feel to the air at Linacre this morning, as I arrived just before 7am, for the monthly WeBS count. It was just 2 degrees, and sheltered spots had a covering of frost. As always, October's WeBS count sees the highest waterbird counts for some months, and today's count did not disappoint.

Birds seen were: Mandarin Duck (166 - highest count of the year), Mallard (139 - highest count since January, when 141 were counted), Tufted Duck (47 - highest count since February, when 53 were seen), Teal (1fm), Coot (7), Moorhen (14),Great-crested Grebe (4; 2 adults and 2 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult), Grey Wagtail (1), Pied Wagtail (1), Grey Heron (1) and the first returning Black-headed Gulls (38).

Black-headed Gulls

Other birds heard or seen: Raven (1 heard), Magpie (1), Skylark (1 heard), Long-tailed Tit (flock of c.15), Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Robin and Tawny Owl (1 heard).

Despite the cold weather, it was also very sunny, and I spotted 2 butterflies on the wing, 1 Red Admiral and 1 Small Tortoiseshell - my latest ever sightings.

Linacre Insects - 8th April 2023

 The sun was out again yesterday, and the temperature rose to 15 degrees, so I popped down to Linacre for a few hours looking for the first butterflies of the year. Whilst on site (1.30 - 3.30pm) I managed to see 4 species.

The first species of the year was Comma, with 6 seen. The second species was Peacock, with again 6 seen. I got a brief fly by from a "white butterfly", which may have been an Orange Tip. The final species seen was Small Tortoiseshell, with 2 seen. 

Comma

Peacock

In addition, I also had a very brief view of a possible Orange Underwing moth. Unfortunately, I only saw it once, and can't confirm the identification, but it was in exactly the same spot as my previous sighting in 2021 (see here).Dark-edged Bee-flies were also seen.

Cornwall Dragonflies and Butterflies

Whilst in Cornwall this summer I managed to see a few species of dragon and damselfly: Migrant and Southern Hawker and Beautiful Demoiselle.

The Southern Hawker was seen at several sites, including The Lost Gardens of Heligan, whilst the Migrant Hawker was seen in the grounds of our holiday let.

The Beautiful Demoiselle was seen at the National Trust's Cotehele. 

Beautiful Demoiselle

Whilst at Cotehele we also managed to see a good range of butterflies: Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Large White, Green-veined White, Peacock, Silver-washed Fritillary, Comma and Painted Lady.

Painted Lady

Linacre Lifer - Orange Underwing!!

 The weather was a very pleasant 15 degrees and sunny on Easter Sunday afternoon, so I decided to go down to Linacre for a couple of hours to see if there were any butterflies flying about.

I started off by walking down from the car park along the edge of the farmer's field where I spotted my first Linacre butterflies of the year: 2 Small Tortoiseshells and a Peacock. Whilst walking, a small day-flying moth literally dropped down onto the path in front of me. I grabbed a few photos, and realised that it was an Orange Underwing, a lifer and a new record for Linacre!! Here's a link to this new moth species.

Orange Underwing

Whilst on site I also managed to see many Dark-edged Bee Flies (c.10 - 15), along with  a Tawny Mining Bee (1 female), 1 Common Carder Bee, 1 Garden Bumblebee, Clarkson's Mining Bees and an Early Mining Bee.

Linacre Ringing - 12th September 2020

 Ringing at Linacre this year has been, as you can understand, pretty much non existent. Thankfully, however, we were able to a small team together on 12th September to have our second mist net ringing session of 2020. It was a quiet return, but we did manage to catch and ring 23 birds, including our first, and most likely last, summer migrant of the year, along with a Great Tit that we had originally ringed here in 2018.

As we'd expected, we'd missed most of the warblers this year, but, we did manage to catch one Chiffchaff (a juvenile bird). The other species caught were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 11/0, Great Tit 4/1, Coal Tit 1/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Dunnock 1/0 and Robin 2/0.

Other birds seen whilst on site were: Raven (1 over), Swallow (5), House Martin (13), Chiffchaff (3 feeding on buddleia, including 1 singing) and Tawny Owl (heard).

It was quite sunny whilst we were there and we also recorded several insect species: Red Admiral (1), Small Tortoiseshell (2), Small White (1), Speckled Wood (1), Meadow Brown (1) and Brown Hawker (1).

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

 I spent a couple of hours at Pleasley Pit Nature Reserve yesterday afternoon, after seeing reports on social media, of both Small Red-eyed Damselfly and Brown Hairstreak (butterfly) there.

When I arrived I went straight to the "dragonfly ponds", where I met (by accident) the person who had posted details of both species the day before. He gave me directions of where to find the damselfly, and I managed to get excellent views (about 2m away) of at least 4 males. This is only my fourth siting of this species (see here), and my first in Derbyshire. I managed to get lots of photos, but this one is my favourite as it shows the diagnostic features, separating it from the much commoner Red-eyed Damselfly.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

The key identification features include a smaller size, the blue sections on top of segments nine and ten (last two segments at the end), and on the sides of segments eight (third from the end), one and two, of the abdomen, paler red eyes and a black "X"-shaped marking on the top of segment ten. One other feature, shown nicely in this photo, is the way the abdomen is held slightly up turned (Red-eyed Damselflies hold it straight when at rest).

Whilst on site, I also managed to spot several other species, including Emperor (female ovipositing), Migrant and Southern Hawker, Emerald Damselfly, Common and Ruddy Dater.

Ruddy Darter (obelisquing to keep cool)

The other reason for my visit was to hopefully see Brown Hairstreak butterflies. Despite a couple of "possibles" I didn't confirm a siting (this time!) as the rain started. I did, however, see 3 Small Tortoiseshell, 1 Brimstone and 1 Meadow Brown.

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.

Linacre ringing - 8th September 2019

I didn't manage to get any ringing in at Linacre in July and August, but I was down there on Sunday with 4 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group and what a session we had! In just over 4 hours we managed to catch and ring 81 birds of 15 species.

Birds caught were (new/retrap): Wren 1/0, Dunnock 4/0, Robin 1/0, Treecreeper 1/0, Whitethroat 1/0, Blackcap 6/0, Willow Warbler 2/0, Chiffchaff 2/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Blue Tit 26/1, Great Tit 23/3, Coal Tit 2/0, Nuthatch 2/0, Goldfinch 1/0 and Chaffinch 1/0. As is normal at this time of year, the vast majority of the birds caught today were juveniles, including 1 of the retrap Great Tits that had been ringed in one of the boxes at Linacre on 23th May this year. Other notable records were the juvenile Whitethroat, 2 young Willow Warblers, 6 juvenile Blackcaps and 2 juvenile Chiffchaffs.

Whitethroat (juvenile)

Chiffchaff (juvenile)

Other birds seen/heard were: Grey Heron (1 over), House Martin (9 over), Swallow (3 over), Tawny Owl (birds heard in the woods on arrival at 6am) and Meadow Pipit (2 over).

The sun was out, and the temperature rose to 15 degrees late morning, which brought out some late butterflies: 5 Red Admirals,  3 Painted Ladies, 4 Small Tortoiseshells, 1 Large White and 1 Small White and a Mother of Pearl moth.

Painted Lady

Linacre Insects

I spent a few hours at Linacre over the last few days and recorded the following insects: Southern Hawker (1), Brown Hawker (3, including 1 ovipositing female), Common Blue Damselfly (2 males) and Common Darter (2 tenerals on 30th - my first 2019 record).

Brown Hawker (female)

Common Darter

Butterflies seen were: Red Admiral (3), Painted Lady (1), Large White (1), Green-veined White (1), Common Blue Butterfly (2 males and 1 female), Wall Brown (1), Small Tortoiseshell (1), Peacock (2), Speckled Wood and Small Copper (3).

Small Copper

Herring Gull EPM

Jayne and I were in Llandudno over the weekend. Whilst there we spotted a Herring Gull with a colour ring, EPM. I recognised it straight away as a bird I'd seen there before, in December 2016 (see here for details and ringing and subsequent re sightings).

EPM

I sent the record off, and saw that it had now been reported on the sea front at Llandudno another 6 times since my sighting. All sightings range from September to April, with mine being the earliest "winter" record, so we still don't know if it breeds elsewhere, and winters in Llandudno. It is now  9 years and 255 days since it was ringed.

Whilst in North Wales, we visited the National Trust's Bodnant Gardens again, and saw Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies, Common Darter (mating pairs) and several Southern Hawkers. Butterflies seen were: Painted Lady (10), Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Small Tortoiseshell and Common Blue.

Common Darter

Azure Damselflies

LINACRE LIFER!!!

It was about 20 degrees on Thursday, so I popped down to Linacre in the afternoon for 3 hours to see what was about. In the sun there were lots of butterflies in and around the buddleia in the ringing site, including: Painted Lady (8 - it's been a fantastic year nationwide for this species, and my best ever at Linacre too), Red Admiral (1), Peacock (2), Comma (1), Wall Brown (1), Gatekeeper (1), Common Blue Butterfly (3 males, 1 in the ringing site and 2 on the bank below the top reservoir. A female was also seen in the ringing site on 23rd), Small Tortoiseshell (1), Meadow Brown (1), Speckled Wood (1), Small Copper (1 on the bank below the bottom reservoir) and Large White (2). Other insects seen were: Brown Hawker (2), Volucella inanis (1), Volucella pellucens (1) and many Marmalade and Eristalis hoverflies.

Birdwise it was relatively quiet, except for the Linacre lifer in the shape of a juvenile REDSTART!!

Redstart

This bird was seen flycatching on the boardwalk, with about 3 Chiffchaffs, for about 1 minute, during a short rain shower. Luckily I managed to get this photo before it flitted off into the bushes and disappeared. I only have one other record of this species at Linacre, 2 birds reported in May 2016, so it could be a breeding species, which has been missed, or it could  just be a passage migrant. Only time, and more records will tell. 

Other birds seen were: Mallard (71), Tufted Duck (14), Mandarin Duck (29), Coot (2 adults and no juveniles!!), Moorhen (12; 4 adults and 8 juveniles), Great-crested Grebe (1 adult), Grey Wagtail (1 juvenile), Robin (1 juvenile), Swallow (2), House Martin (6) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (10 dropped in for 5 minutes during the rain).

Trengwainton Gardens - Penzance

On 22nd July Jayne and I visited a National Trust property called Trengwainton Garden near Penzance. We enjoyed a lovely walk around the grounds, and recorded some great butterflies and dragonflies.

The first insect we saw was Beautiful Demoiselle, with a minimum of 4 males seen on the stream by the main path.

Beautiful Demoiselle

Also present on the same stretch of stream were 1 Large Red Damselfly and two Golden-ringed Dragonflies.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Walking up to The Terrace, the sun came out and so did the butterflies. A minimum of 6 Red Admirals were feeding on the Verbena, along with Small Tortoiseshell (2), Gatekeeper, Painted Lady (1), Comma (2), Large White and a single Common Darter dragonfly.

The final insect of note was a Hummingbird Hawk Moth that Jayne found feeding in the walled garden.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Linacre Butterflies- 21st August 2018

The sun came out today, so I popped down to Linacre to see if there were any butterflies about.

The first butterfly I saw was a Painted Lady, my first Linacre record of 2018.

Painted Lady

Other species seen were: Purple Hairstreak (a female) Red Admiral (1), Small Tortoiseshell (6), Common Blue (1 female), Holly Blue (1), Speckled Wood (1), Meadow Brown (1), Peacock (1), Small White (2) and Small Copper (2).

Red Admiral

Small Copper

Linacre Ringing and Nestboxes- 21st April 2018

I was down at Linacre yesterday morning with Luke and 5 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for a ringing session. We also had time to check the owl boxes, and recorded 2 new breeding species using the boxes!

The first species that we found in one of the boxes was Stock Dove. This is an under recorded species at Linacre, so it was really nice to find it breeding. One bird flew out of the box as we approached. A quick look, found 2 eggs.

Stock Dove nest

The second new species was Tawny Owl. A sitting bird was found as we checked the other boxes. She didn't come off the nest, so, although we couldn't confirm breeding (yet), it looks as though she might well have eggs or small chicks underneath here. 

Tawny Owl

Two other boxes were checked, and both contained Mandarin Ducks. One box had a sitting female and 13 eggs. The other box didn't have a female bird, but it did have 12 cold eggs. Hopefully, the female will come back and continue to incubate them.

Mandarin Duck

All 3 nests will be monitored for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. 

As well as checking the nestboxes, we also managed to ring the female Mandarin Duck and had a mist net ringing session ringing the following birds (new/retrap): Mandarin Duck 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Blackcap 4/1, Chiffchaff 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 0/4, Nuthatch 0/3 and Bullfinch 1/0.

It's always great to hear, see and catch the first warblers of the year. Especially nice, however, was the fact that the retrap Blackcap was a bird we'd ringed at Linacre as a juvenile on 11th June 2017, showing site fidelity. Hopefully it'll stay and breed and we'll retrap it again later in the year.

Blackcap

The Chiffchaff was also a bird we'd ringed previously at Linacre. This bird, however, was a little older, having been ringed as an adult male on 17th April 2016. Interestingly, the Chiffchaff hasn't been re trapped at Linacre since 2016. Was it here last year, or did it go somewhere else? Does it stay to breed or move somewhere else? As always, lots more questions than answers!!!

Another male Blackcap was seen and heard singing. Luke managed to get a photo, showing it wearing a ring! Unfortunately we didn't catch this bird, so we don't yet know whether it was ringed by us or elsewhere. Again, let's hope we can catch it later in the year to find out more information about it.

Blackcap

Other sightings from Linacre today included a Common Sandpiper on the bottom reservoir, the second record of the year (thanks Luke!), Green Woodpecker (heard), Sparrowhawk (1 over), Cormorant (3 over) and the first Butterfly of the year, a Small Tortoiseshell. 

Common Sandpiper

Rutland Water - 5th April 2018

Luke and I went to Rutland Water Nature Reserve on Thursday to catch up with the Ospreys that had returned to breed on the reserve. We spent the day there, and got great views of the Manton Bay pair, along with another 4 "year ticks", including a Wheatear, that was quite unexpected. We also a breeding plumaged Mediterranean Gull that had originally been ringed in Poland.

The weather was great, 12 degrees, bright blue skies and sunshine, so we also managed to get our first butterflies of the year; 1 Comma, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 3 male Brimstones.

The other "year ticks" (numbers 103 - 107) on the list below, were seen at Scarborough on Tuesday (3rd), where I also had a stunning breeding plumaged Mediterranean Gull. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a photo as I'd left my camera at home!!!!!

The Chiffchaff, 4 in total, were seen at Linacre on Wednesday 4th.

Year List update:
103 – Red Kite
104 – Kittiwake
105 – Turnstone
106 - Fulmar
107 – Rock Pipit
108 – Chiffchaff
109 – Willow Warbler
110 – Black-necked Grebe
111 – Sand Martin
112 – Wheatear
113 - Osprey

Whitby and Scarborough

Last weekend I was up in Whitby and Scarborough with the family. Whitby was quite quiet Birdwise, but I did spot a well known Herring Gull, with a darvic ring 1R1B.

Herring Gull 1R1B

I say, well known, because I saw this bird in exactly the same spot ( the top of a dustbin on the pier) back in July 2015 (see here). There were lots of other Herring Gulls around, along with the odd Fulmar and a pair of Shags. Red Admiral butterflies were present in good numbers (10+), and 4 Small Tortoiseshells were also seen.

Scarborough was a little busier. There were hundreds of pairs of Kittiwakes in and around the town centre and cliffs, including several with growing chicks.

Kittiwakes

Also present were Herring, Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed, Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls (3 of the latter, including 1 adult in full breeding plumage, on the sea by The Spa).

Mediterranean Gull

Turnstones were seen in the harbour, along with a small flock of 10 Redshank, a few more Kittiwakes and a pair of Rock Pipits that were carrying food to an unseen nest.

Rock Pipits

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

Linacre WeBS - Birds, Butterflies, Damsels and Dragons

This weekend was the time to carry out this month's WeBS count at Linacre, so I was down there at 7am with Luke. We recorded  the usual species, including a good number of youngsters. Numbers were as follows: Mallard (68, including 1 brood of 5 ducklings), Tufted Duck (26, including 1 brood of 5), Mandarin Duck (19, including 8 ducklings), Moorhen (2, 1 adult and 1 juvenile), Coot (9, 5 adults and 2 broods of 3 and 2 chicks), Grey Heron (3), Grey Wagtail (5) and Great-crested Grebe (6, 2 adults and 4 juveniles). Unfortunately, no sign of the Shag, which was last reported on 19th July, but I'm sure someone will find it again soon.

Juvenile Great-crested Grebe

The weather for this morning's walk was super, being warm (16 degrees) and sunny on arrival, and rising to 20 degrees by the time we left. As a result, there was a great deal of insect activity around the site with 4 species of butterfly, 4 species of moth seen along with several bumblebees, 2 species of damselfly and 1 species of dragonfly. The butterflies were: Small Tortoiseshell (2), Large White (3), Meadow Brown (20+) and Small Skipper (1).

Small Tortoiseshell

Moths seen were: Large Yellow Underwing (1), Silver Y (2), Brown China Mark (1) and caterpillars of Cinnabar Moth.

Cinnabar Moth caterpillars

Damselflies seen were: Common Blue (10+) and Blue-tailed (1 male). The Common Blues were the most numerous, and included males, one pair "in tandem" and at least 2 "teneral" or newly emerged individuals, lacking the colour of the mature damselflies.

Teneral Common Blue Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly "in tandem"

The dragonfly species seen was a single adult Brown Hawker, and this exuvia, also possibly a Brown Hawker, that was found floating in the water of the top reservoir.

Dragonfly exuvia

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