Linacre Birds and a Stoat

After Saturday's ringing session at Linacre, I had a couple of hours walking around the reservoirs on Sunday morning. The weather was perfect, being dry, still and 11 degrees, and I was rewarded with the highest counts of the year (so far) for Mandarin and Mallard.

Mallards

Mandarins were everywhere (!), with a minimum of 117 being recorded, but I'm sure there were more that I missed. Mallard numbers reached 92, and there had obviously been an arrival of Tufted Ducks, with 59 present. The immature Shag was busy fishing on the middle reservoir again and an adult Cormorant was present on the top reservoir. Coots and Moorhens numbered 7 each, while 2 Grey Wagtails and 1 Grey Heron were also seen. Black-headed Gull numbers continued to rise, with 22 the maximum seen and a Kingfisher was reported by a couple of dog walkers.

I always check the Rowan trees by the top reservoir, and on Sunday there were 2 Mistle Thrushes, 1 Fieldfare and at least 2 Redwings present.

The final highlight of the morning was a Stoat that was seen running along the ground by the top reservoir. Luckily, it stood still long enough for me to get a quick shot.

Stoat

Linacre Visits- 6th and 7th February 2016

I've managed two visits to Linacre this weekend, the first yesterday morning with my nephew, and the second a brief one on my own this afternoon. Yesterday's visit was wet, to say the least, and this afternoon was dry, but windy.

Firstly, yesterday's visit. We arrived on site at 7.45am and spent about an hour and a half walking around all three reservoirs, despite constant rain! As can be expected, bird numbers were low, except for Coots, which have increased recently. Numbers seen were: Mallard (15!!), Tufted Duck (19), Mandarin Duck (18), Coot (13), Moorhen (10), Black-headed Gull (26), Kingfisher (1 seen on bottom reservoir, but possibly 2 heard), Grey Heron (1), Great-crested Grebe (2, including 1 in breeding plumage), Cormorant (2, including 1 breeding plumaged bird) and Shag (1 juvenile on the bottom reservoir). Whilst looking at/for the Shag, we were lucky enough to catch sight of a Stoat, the first Linacre record for 2016. We also had Song Thrush singing on arrival, and the first blooms of Marsh Marigold on the river feeding into the top reservoir (last year's first record was on 29th March!!).

This afternoon's visit was, thankfully, much drier, with just 1 short shower whilst I was there. This time, I was only on site for about 1 hour and only walked around the bottom reservoir, but I was lucky enough to spot 2 juvenile Shags. Both birds were on the bottom reservoir, along with 3 Cormorants, including 2 in breeding plumage. At one point I managed to get a photo of 1 of the Cormorants and the 2 juvenile/2nd calendar year Shags perching on the trees.

Cormorant and Shags

Cormorant and Shag

1 Grey Wagtail was also heard during this visit, and whilst driving out, I spotted a mixed flock of Starlings (c.20), Redwing (c.40), Fieldfare (2) and Mistle Thrush (2), feeding in the fields.

Linacre - 30th October 2011

Two hours spent around the reservoirs this morning produced a great total of 5 Cormorants (2 adults and 3 juveniles), which is my highest ever count here.

Cormorant in trees on the bottom reservoir

In addition, a group of approximately 100 Lapwings flew over the top reservoir, and despite my best efforts to will them to land, they carried on and disappeared! 1 Skylark was heard flying over and 4 Linnets were disturbed feeding on the banks of the top reervoir.This is my first record of Linnet at Linacre. The Wigeon had unfortunately also moved on and for the first time in a few weeks there weren't any Canada Geese present either.

Mandarin numbers were quite low with just 16 spotted today, Tufted Ducks were also present (22), as were Mallard (109), Moorhen (6), Coot (8), Great-crested Grebe (3; 2 adults and 1 juvenile), Pied Wagtail (4) and Black-headed Gull (32).

Black-headed Gulls on the wall of the middle reservoir

Whilst counting the ducks on the bottom reservoir I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye and spotted a small stoat moving along the bottom of the wall. It disappeared down a hole in the wall and then reappeared about 2 minutes later, looked up at me and then ran off into the undergrowth - super!

Stoat