Linacre Update - 15th March 2026

The weather yesterday was lovely, with bright, sunny skies and little wind, so I went down to Linacre for a couple of hours, walking around the reservoirs. Highlights were seven "year ticks" for the site, and lots of breeding activity.

Waterbirds seen were: Mandarin (26), Mallard (30), Tufted Duck (55), Canada Goose (2), Greylag Goose (1 - the first year tick), Lesser Black-backed Gulls (3 adults - the second year tick), Little Grebe (1 breeding plumaged bird on the bottom reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (4 birds, a pair on the bottom reservoir and a pair on the middle reservoir, displaying to each other), Coot (8 birds, including a pair fighting), Moorhen (4) and Grey Wagtail (3 birds, including a singing bird, and a pair).

Whilst walking around, I tried very hard to locate a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker ( no luck!), but I did hear at least 3 drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker, 3 singing Chiffchaffs, Stock Dove (heard singing - third year tick), Mistle Thrush (1 singing bird - fourth year tick), Treecreeper (1- fifth year tick), Sparrowhawk (1 male bird). On the drive out, I stopped at the "muck heap" by the main entrance and saw 2 Pied Wagtails (sixth year tick), and 3 Meadow Pipits (seventh year tick).

Rufford - Site Tick!

Yesterday (17th), I went across to Rufford for an early start. I arrived at 8am (not that early!) and spent some time at the Abbey end of the park, before heading over to the mill for a look at the gulls.

I was there early on to look for Hawfinch. Whilst waiting, I picked up two "year ticks", Great-spotted Woodpecker (99) and Treecreeper (100).  Shortly after, one Hawfinch (101) flew in and posed beautifully, against the beautiful blue sky, for a minute or two.

Hawfinch (female?)

After enjoying the Hawfinch, I headed across the park to the Mill end to look at the gulls. I'll blog about that later. As it was still quite early, there weren't many people about, so I managed to see a species that I've never seen there before, a Great White Egret (102)! The bird flew the length of the lake, before landing and fishing just by the path. I walked across, and managed to get this back-lit image. A lovely addition to the site's birds.

Great White Egret

Linacre Ringing - 13th July 2025

Yesterday, we had a fantastic ringing session down at Linacre, where we ringed 54 birds of 11 species, including 4 summer migrants.

Birds ringed were (new/retrap): Blackcap 15/0, 9 of which were juveniles, Chiffchaff 7/0, including 6 juveniles, Willow Warbler 1/0 (adult), Garden Warbler 1/1 ( 1 juvenile and a retrap adult, first caught at Linacre in May 2023), Blue Tit 12/1 (all juveniles, the retrap having been ringed in Box 1a on 18th May), Great Tit 9/2 ( 9 juveniles, including 1 from Box G2, ringed on 11th May), Treecreeper 1/0 (juvenile), Nuthatch 1/0 (adult), Bullfinch 1/0 (adult), Wren 1/0 (juvenile) and Robin 1/0 (juvenile).

Linacre - 2nd December 2023

 Last Saturday, I had a few hours down at Linacre. It was a relatively quiet walk, until the end, when I spotted 80 Teal on the middle reservoir! This is the highest count since January 2023, when 49 were seen.

Other birds seen were: 137 Mallard, 39 Mandarin Duck,  5 Tufted Duck, 18 Moorhen, 9 Coot, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 33 Black-headed Gull, 1 Little Grebe and 2 Grey Wagtail.

Woodland birds seen were: Blue, Great and Coal Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Jackdaw, Crow, Chaffinch, Nuthatch and Treecreeper. 

Linacre - 5th November 2023

 I had my first visit of the new month to Linacre this morning. I spent a couple of hours walking around all three reservoirs, and recorded some good numbers of waterfowl.

Birds seen were: Mandarin Duck (170 - my highest count of the year so far, and my third highest ever), Mallard (119), Tufted Duck (67 - the highest count of the year), Moorhen (11), Coot (10), Black-headed Gull (22), Lesser Black-backed Gull (6 over), Goosander (3 females- the first of the winter), Grey Wagtail (1) and Pied Wagtail (1).

Pied Wagtail

Other species of note were: Redwing (2 over) Fieldfare (4 over), Siskin (heard), 1 juvenile Woodpigeon and Treecreeper (1 seen).

Linacre Ringing - 2nd October 2022

 Last Saturday I was down at Linacre with two other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for our first ringing session there, since March!!!

The day started well, with a Goldcrest the first bird out of the nets. It continued right up to the end of the session, nearly 5 hours later, by which time we'd ringed 61 birds of 12 species!

Totals were (new/re trap): Goldcrest 4/0, Great Tit 10/0, Blue Tit 24/0, Long-tailed Tit 9/2, Coal Tit 1/0, Robin 2/0, Dunnock 2/0, Treecreeper 1/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Blackbird 1/0, Chiffchaff 3/0 and Bullfinch 1/0.

The two re trap Long-tailed Tits had been ringed together, at Linacre, on 14th November 2021.

Linacre - 27th March 2021

 Last Saturday morning, I spent a couple of hours at Linacre. It was five degrees, windy, with a few hail showers!

Water bird numbers had begun to fall, but there were still reasonable numbers around: 52 Mallard, 73 Tufted Duck, 13 Mandarin, 4 Great-crested Grebe, 3 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Canada Geese, 1 Cormorant, 12 Coots and 11 Moorhens, including 1 sitting on a nest.

In addition, there were 5 singing Chiffchaffs, 3 drumming Great-spotted Woodpeckers (no Lessers!!), a singing Mistle Thrush, a Chaffinch with nesting material, a male Siskin by the top reservoir again, my first Linacre Treecreeper of the year, 2 Stock Doves in the bottom car park, a Brown Hare by the main entrance and, best of all, a female Yellowhammer, also by main entrance.

Linacre Ringing - 11th October 2020

 Last Sunday, 4 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group were down at Linacre for a ringing session. It was quite quiet, with just 19 birds of  8 species ringed, but 2 Lesser Redpolls were very nice.

Bird numbers were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 3/0, Robin 1/0, Dunnock 4/0, Goldcrest 2/1, Blackbird 2/0, Treecreeper 2/0, Chaffinch 2/0 and Lesser Redpoll 2/0. 

The retrap Goldcrest, was one that we had ringed in September 2020.

Linacre - 5th January 2020

Luke and I had our first visit to Linacre on Sunday morning, and it turned out to be a very good trip with some really interesting records.

First up the water bird numbers: Mallard (122 - a very good total), Tufted Duck (16), Mandarin Duck (28), Moorhen (17), Coot (4), Little Grebe (3), Great-crested Grebe (1), Grey Wagtail (2), Pied Wagtail (1, we only had 1 record in the whole of 2019, so this is a pretty good start to the year), Greylag Goose (2, again a very good record for the start of the year), Canada Goose (2 flying over), Black-headed Gull (28), Kingfisher (1, seen by Luke, but not by me!) and Goosander (1 female).

Away from the water, there were lots of small birds around including: Mistle Thrush, Bullfinch, Siskin, Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Treecreeper.

The most interesting sighting of the morning, however, came as we were walking through the woods by the middle reservoir. We noticed a bird on the ground, and soon realised it was a male Sparrowhawk. As we walked towards it, it took off and we noticed it had left some prey behind, a still-warm Woodcock!!! The Sparrowhawk had started to eat its meal, so, after taking a few photos, we left the bird where we'd found it, and hopefully it came back to finish it off when we'd gone.

Woodcock (deceased)

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

Rother Valley Smew

On Thursday 3rd I popped across to Rother Valley CP to see if I could catch up with a female Smew that had been reported on the Nature Reserve Lake. I got lucky and managed to see it straight away. As you can see from the "year list" below, there were several other species present in the area.

The Pheasant and Treecreeper were recorded layer in the day on the Monsal Trail.

Year List update:
47 – Smew
48 – Pochard
49 – Gadwall
50 – Goldeneye
51 – Little Egret
52 – Mute Swan
53 – Canada Goose
54 – Wigeon
55 – Grey Heron
56 – Pheasant
57 - Treecreeper

Linacre Ringing - 22nd September 2018

This morning I was down at Linacre with 4 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. We had 4 hours on site and caught 38 birds (new/retrap): Robin 2/0, Chiffchaff 7/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 8/0, Blue Tit 11/1, Great Tit 6/0 and Treecreeper 1/0.

Treecreeper

Whilst there, we set a net for Meadow Pipits, and, although they came down, none found their way into the nets.

Also seen during the ringing session were: House Martin (c.30 overhead), Green Woodpecker (1 heard), Kestrel (1), Sparrowhawk (1), Bullfinch (1) and Great-spotted Woodpecker (1).

Linacre WeBS - 16th December 2017

This month's WeBS walk should have been last weekend, but I couldn't get down, so instead, I went down yesterday morning. It was just 1 degree when I arrived and I spent one and a half hours on site recording the following waterbirds: Mallard (81, the 2nd highest count of the year), Mandarin Duck (25), Tufted Duck (20), Teal (1 flew up the top reservoir), Black-headed Gull (24), Moorhen (17), Coot (2), Great-crested Grebe (1), Grey Wagtail (1) and Pied Wagtail (1 - my first Linacre record since April 2015!!)

Pied Wagtail

The woods were quite quiet, but the resident tits (Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed) were all seen, along with Jay, Crow, Goldcrest, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Dunnock, Buzzard, Goldcrest, Blackbird, Redwing, Siskin, Wren and Robin.

Enjoying some free seed

Frozen Leaves

Linacre WeBS - 18th February 2017

Luke and I were down at Linacre this morning to carry out this month's WeBS count. It was a grey, overcast morning, but it was also quite mild at 5 degrees. As we drove onto the site, we were met by an amazing flock of c.400 Starling flying over. What a start!

We were on site for just over two hours, and recorded the following birds: Mallard (63), Tufted Duck (24), Mandarin (5), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (4), Moorhen (16), Coot (15), Black-headed Gull (17), Grey Wagtail (1), Cormorant (2) and Goosander (2 redheads).

For Luke and me, the highlight was the 2 Goosander. These were our first of the year at Linacre, and are always nice to see. Other birds seen in the surrounding woodland included 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Treecreepers, a male Sparrowhawk, a male Bullfinch, 1 Buzzard, Siskin (heard), 5 singing Song Thrushes and 4 drumming Great-spotted Woodpeckers.

Linacre Herring Gull - 29th January 2017

Herring Gull is a species that I very rarely see at Linacre. In fact, since I started recording the birds there in 2006, I've only had 3 previous records. I was very pleased therefore, when Luke and I picked one up, loafing on the top reservoir this morning. It decided to stay in the centre of the water, and was surprisingly wary, but I managed to get a record shot.

Herring Gull

When we arrived at 7.45am, it was dry, and bright, but only 1 degree. We walked around the bottom and middle reservoirs recording decent numbers of the common waterbirds: Mallard (76), Mandarin (24), Tufted Duck (23), Coot (7), Moorhen (6), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1 in breeding plumage), Cormorant (2), Kingfisher (1 - first 2017 record), Black-headed Gull (32) and Grey Wagtail (1). Unfortunately, when we got to the top reservoir, a heavy fog descended on the valley, meaning that we couldn't record the birds up there!

Top reservoir in fog!

We decided to walk back to the car, and spent a good twenty minutes watching, and trying to photograph, a group of c.15 Long-tailed Tits, 3 Treecreepers and at least 4 Goldcrests. Here's my best effort.

Goldcrest

Year List update:

73 - Kingfisher

Linacre Sightings and Chesterfield Waxwings

It was a cold (2 degrees), grey and miserable morning when I arrived at Linacre this morning with Luke. We had an hour and a half walking around the middle and top reservoirs before heading off to Chesterfield to look at a flock of Waxwings that had been reported earlier in the week.

Waterbirds seen at Linacre today were: Mallard (63), Tufted Duck (13), Mandarin Duck (18), Coot (6), Moorhen (11), Black-headed Gull (40), Cormorant (1), Little Grebe (2; 1 on the top and 1 on the middle reservoir) and Great-crested Grebe (1, showing partial breeding plumage).

Great-crested Grebe (courtesy of Luke)

The woods were quite quiet, but we did hear 1 Song Thrush singing, and recorded a drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Mistle Thrush (by the top reservoir), 2 Treecreepers (1st Linacre record of 2017), 1 Magpie, 2 Common Buzzard, a couple of Goldcrests and several Robins coming to seed again.

Robin (courtesy of Luke again)

After looking around Linacre, we drove down to St Helen's Street in Newbold to look for some Waxwings. We saw them as soon as we arrived, and got a couple of shots before the entire group (c.100 birds), were spooked by a Sparrowhawk and disappeared.

Waxwings

Linacre WeBS - January 2016

We had the first snow of the winter here in Derbyshire yesterday, so I was looking forward to see a white Linacre this morning when I popped down for this month's WeBS walk. Unfortunately, most of the snow had gone, but there were a few patches left here and there.

Snow by the top reservoir

Birds were present in reasonable numbers for the time of year with the following recorded: Mallard (108), Mandarin Duck (26), Tufted Duck (26), Moorhen (15), Coot (4), Little Grebe (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Black-headed Gull (17) and Teal (3; 1 male and 2 females).

Mallard enjoying some sunflower hearts!

The woods were quite lively this morning too with Song Thrush, Wren, Robin, Woodpigeon, Blue and Great Tit all singing. Great-spotted Woodpeckers were drumming, and Mistle Thrush, Siskin and Fieldfare were also seen.

Year List update:
53 – Tawny Owl (heard calling in Chesterfield on 13th January)
54 – Song Thrush
55 – Fieldfare
56 – Mistle Thrush
57 - Treecreeper (seen at Fairholmes, Ladybower this afternoon)

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.

Ringing News- 27th February 2016

I was out ringing yesterday morning with 4 members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group. We were at the private garden site in Sheffield, an in 3 hours, we managed to ring 33 birds of 9 species (Song Thrush, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin, Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Blue, Long-tailed and Great Tit).


My totals were (new/retrap): Robin 1/0, Dunnock 1/1, Great Tit 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 4/1 and Blue Tit 0/1.


On the drive to the site I was lucky enough to see a Barn Owl flying over the road in Jordanthorpe- very nice!

Firecrest!

After a morning's ringing session (more about that later) I drove out to Silkstone near Barnsley, with Jayne, to "twitch" a Firecrest that has been present at the sewage works fora few weeks.

We arrived just before midday, and spotted a small group of birders, so headed in their direction. After about 10 minutes, and lots of false starts (pesky Goldcrests!!!), we managed to spot the bird, and watched it for about 10 seconds before it disappeared. We had another 10 -15 minute wait, before the bird was found again, and this time it hung around for about 1 minute, and gave some reasonable views. A great bird, and my first since at least 2010. I didn't manage to get a photo, but here's a link to a great shot on the Bird Guides website.

While looking for the Firecrest, we spotted a few other birds, namely: Treecreeper, Long-tailed Tit, Blackbird, Song Thrush and Pied and Grey Wagtails on the neraby sewage words.

This bird was, of course, a "year tick", and it's the second of the week, following a Red-legged Partridge that I saw stood on the top of a farm building in Apperknowle on Thursday. I was a bit taken aback to see it on the top of a building as I've only ever seen this species on the ground before!

Year List update:
118 - Red-legged Partridge
119 - Firecrest