Common Scoter!

 I've only managed 3 visits to Linacre this year (!), so I was very keen to get down this morning. Honestly, I was hoping for some Whooper Swans, as March is usually the best month to get them here, as they drop in, on their journey back north. I didn't get them, but, I did get my first Chiffchaffs, 2 singing and at least 1 seen in the willows by the top reservoir, (111) of the year, and a drake Common Scoter (112) on the top reservoir, my first sighting here since 2017!

Common Scoter

The Scoter was obviously the highlight of today's visit, but I did also have a lot of singing species, and other early signs of breeding from the resident birds. Singing birds were: Song Thrush (3), Blackbird, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Great-spotted Woodpecker (3 drumming), Skylark (1st of the year) and Nuthatch. Other birds seen were: Blue, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Siskin, Pheasant, Carrion Crow, Raven (1 heard) and Jackdaw. 

Waterbirds seen were: Mallard (55), Tufted Duck (55), Coot (5), Moorhen (7), Grey Wagtail (1 heard), Canada Goose (2), Great-crested Grebe (5 birds: a pair each on the top and middle reservoirs, a and a single bird on the bottom reservoir, Little Grebe (1 on the bottom reservoir), Cormorant (2) and Mandarin Duck (52, the highest count for quite some time, including many birds paired up, flying around the woods and courting the females!.

Mandarin pair

Mandarin Duck

Other birds added to the Year List are: Woodcock (109) - 1 flew over our heads whilst ringing at Linacre on 1st March (!) and Yellowhammer (110) - a single male seen in Apperknowle on 3rd March.

American Wigeon and Iceland Gull

Whilst in Northumberland, enjoying the White-billed Diver, we also took the opportunity to see some other beautiful birds.

Our first stop was the Northumberland Wildlife Trust's Big Waters Reserve on the outskirts of Newcastle. We visited last year too, but didn't manage to catch up with the species we were after. Luckily, this year, we had much more luck, and had fantastic views of both a male American Wigeon (102) and an adult Iceland Gull (106). 

American Wigeon

Iceland Gull (asleep!)

Other species seen were: Tree Sparrow (103), Yellowhammer (104), Great Tit (105), Pintail (1 male), Wigeon (100+), Teal (10s), Common Gull, Black-headed Gull and  Herring Gull.

Our last species of the day was a Long-tailed Duck (107), that was seen on the River Tyne, whilst looking (unsuccessfully!) for a Ross's Gull.

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.

Year List Update - 2nd February 2019

It's been a while since I updated the 2019 Year List, and, as you can see, there are a few new additions.

The Song Thrush was heard singing at Linacre on 26th whilst the Water Rail was heard down at Holmebrook Valley Park.

The Raven and Dipper were both seen today, whilst walking through Monsal Dale, and the last four species, 108 - 111, were all seen on the feeders at Shilito Woods.

Year List update:
104 – Song Thrush
105 - Water Rail
106 – Raven
107 – Dipper
108 – Lesser Redpoll
109 – Brambling
110 – Reed Bunting
111 – Yellowhammer

How old??

How long do birds live? is a question we are often asked by members of the public at ringing demonstrations. I was asked this exact question whilst out ringing yesterday with Sorby Breck Ringing Group at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve. The bird in question was a Blue Tit that we'd just extracted from one of the nets and was found to be wearing a ring already.

David checked the ring number when he got home, and emailed the following details. The bird had originally been ringed at The Avenue on 28th March 2010 and aged as a 5M i.e. it had been born in 2009. It had only been re trapped once before today, on 27th February 2011, also at The Avenue. This means that this bird is now 7 years old (in its 8th calendar year), which is a pretty impressive age for such a small bird. A quick check of the BTO's Longevity Records , shows that the oldest Blue Tit on record was 10 years, 3 months and 10 days old when it was last recorded, so "our" bird still has a few years to go!

Other birds caught during yesterday's session were (new/retrap): Wren 0/1, Dunnock 2/1, Robin 3/0, Blackbird 5/0, Song Thrush 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 1/0, Blue Tit 0/4, Great Tit 3/1, Chaffinch 2/0, Goldfinch 1/0, Bullfinch 4/3, Yellowhammer 1/0, Reed Bunting 11/1.

New Year Ringing, Waxwings and Year Ticks

I know its not quite the new year now, but today was the first opportunity I had to get out ringing in 2017, hence the title of today's post.

This morning I was out with 4 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group visiting the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands Reserve in Chesterfield. We had a 3 and a half hour session, catching a super 104 birds of 15 species. Birds caught were (new/retrap): Wren 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Robin 3/0, Blackbird 1/0, Goldcrest 1/1, Long-tailed Tit 1/7, Willow Tit 1/0, Blue Tit 8/6, Great Tit 4/9, Chaffinch 4/4, Greenfinch 3/0, Goldfinch 36/1, Bullfinch 9/2, Yellowhammer 1/1 and Reed Bunting 3/0.

As you can see, we had  a very good selection of bird species today. The most notable were the excellent number of Goldfinch, followed closely by the new Willow Tit ( a species which seems to be declining quite quickly), the Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Bullfinch (all "year ticks" as well).

After ringing Jayne and I had a drive to Chesterfield to see a group of 18 Waxwings on Whittington Moor. We then had a drive out to Bakewell, where we had a spot of lunch and a walk by the river, adding Canada Goose to the "year list". Whilst here, we also spotted the Tufted Duck x Pochard hybrid duck, that is back on the river for the winter. Details of this bird can be found here.

Hybrid Duck

Year List update:
47 – Canada Goose
48 – Willow Tit
49 – Bullfinch
50 – Yellowhammer
51 – Reed Bunting

Linacre Nestboxes and Ducklings

There was no ringing this weekend due to wind and rain(!), so instead I popped down to Linacre to check the nestboxes. At this time of the year all the tit nests have finished, and, as part of the BTO's Nest Record Scheme,  we check to see how many of this year's birds have fledged successfully.

The good news is that all the Great Tits that we ringed (26) fledged from the boxes. The Pied Flycatchers (4) all fledged as well, and 99 of the 108 Blue Tits also fledged successfully. Hopefully, I'll be able to retrap some of the Tits over the winter, and who knows, perhaps see one of the Pied Flycatchers next year!

After checking the nestboxes I had a walk around the top and middle reservoirs to see what else was about. Great-crested Grebes are doing well this year, with 2 pairs both with chicks, a brood of 4 and 1. There were good numbers of Mallard about (50+), 1 juvenile Moorhen, 2 Coot broods (3 and 4), 5 Mandarin Duck broods (7, 3, 2, 4 and 2), and best of all, a Tufted Duck with 6 very young ducklings. This is the second brood of Tufted Ducks this year, following a brood of 9 back in June (see here).

Coot and chicks

Tufted Duck (female and 6 ducklings)

Tufted Duck duckling

No sign of the Shag today, but it was recorded on the 8th by Sheffield Bird Study Group, which means we've had at least one present for 9 months now! The last bird sightings of note were the singing Yellowhammer by the main entrance again, a Kingfisher on the middle reservoir, and singing Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

There weren't many insects/butterflies seen, as it was pretty grey and overcast, with several showers, but 3 Ringlets and 5 Meadow Browns did manage to flutter about!

Linacre June WeBS - ducklings everywhere!

I spent 2 hours at Linacre this morning with Luke walking around all three reservoirs. Whilst there, we saw 6 species of water birds with young, some for the first time this year. We also spotted a couple of Brown Hares, the first Meadow Brown butterfly of the year, and had a singing Yellowhammer on the hedge on the main drive (the first Linacre record since 2013).

Meadow Brown

Brown Hares

The water birds with young were: Mallard (73 birds; 43 adults and four broods of 6, 14, 5 and 10), Mandarin Duck (16 birds; 6 adults and 3 broods of 1,6 and 3), Moorhen (3 adults and 1 large, well-grown chick), Tufted Duck (14 adults and 1 brood of  9- first record of 2016), Coot (7 adults, 1 nest and 1 brood of 5) and Great-crested Grebe (2 pairs, both with young, minimum of 3 chicks seen).

Mallard

Tufted Duck

Mandarin ducklings

Great-crested Grebe and chick

Other birds seen were: Grey Heron (2), Swallow (1),Wren (singing), Chiffchaff (2 singing), Grey Wagtail (2) and the juvenile/2nd year Shag.

We checked the Pied Flycatcher nest, and were very pleased to find it empty and undisturbed, suggesting a successful fledging of the 4 chicks.

Derbyshire Red Kite

Last night, following a text from my nephew, Luke, I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours watching a Red Kite at a site in North Derbyshire. I won't say where it was, because, as we all now, there are many people out there who find the thought of any type of predator in the countryside a very unwelcome thing, and would be quite happy to see it gone! Suffice to say, the bird has been present in the same area for at least 3 days, perching on fence posts, walls and feeding on the ground. This is only my second ever Derbyshire record. Hopefully, there will be many more in the future.

The bird never came very close. It was about 500m away when I arrived, sitting on a fence, and only moved to about 300m in the 2 hours I was there. In fact, out of the 2 hours I was watching the bird, it spent about 1 3/4 hours sitting round, and about 15 minutes feeding. Here are a few, heavily cropped photos.

Red Kite

Other birds seen in the area included this Pied Wagtail, 2 Curlew, 2 Lapwing, Yellowhammer (male heard singing), and Linnets. The Red Kite record was sent to the Derbyshire Ornithological Society.

Pied Wagtail

Avenue Ringing - 7th February 2016

After a few weekends of wet and windy weather, I managed to get out with 4 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for a ringing session at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve in Chesterfield. We managed  nearly 3 hours and caught a very respectable 39 birds of 11 species (Jay, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Lesser Redpoll, Willow, Blue and Great Tit).

The first bird in the net was a Jay, which I get the "pleasure" of extracting. Over the next few hours we continued to extract and process the birds, with an amazing 17 Bullfinches, being the most numerous species of the day. We also had a couple of Yellowhammers, including an amazingly bright adult male, 4 Reed Buntings and a couple of Lesser Redpolls- nice!

3 of the species we caught today were "year ticks", which took me over the 100 mark for 2016.

Year List update:

99 – Jay

100 – Willow Tit

101 - Yellowhammer

Blackcap and Chiffchaff

Today's ringing session saw 5 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group down at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve in Chesterfield. The forecast wasn't great, so we got down nice and early to get a few hours in before the wind picked up. The ringing was slow, but we still got a single Chiffchaff and our first Blackcap of the year, a male bird born last year.

Blackcap

As well as these two species we also caught a couple of Reed Buntings, 2 Bullfinches, 2 Wrens, 2 Yellowhammers, 1 Blackbird, 1 Greenfinch , 1 Dunnock, 1 Long-tailed Tit and a few Blue and Great Tits.

The Blackcap was a "year tick" and we also had 3 Linnets flying around the site, which were also new for the year. A Barn Owl was seen just before I arrived, so this "tick" will have to wait for another day!

Year List update:
103 – Linnet
104 - Blackcap

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

Ringing tick

This weekend's ringing session took place at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands. There were just 3 of us from The Group, but we still managed to ring 63 birds of 11 different species, including a "ringing tick" for me; a Mistle Thrush.

Mistle Thrush

 

Other species ringed were: Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Blue, Great, Willow and Long-tailed Tit.

Avenue Ringing - 4th January 2015

After a blank month in December, when I didn't manage to get out ringing at all, I was very pleased to get out this morning. There was a hard frost, when we arrived at The Avenue Washlands, but we still managed an excellent start to the year with 122 birds of 14 species ringed (Blue, Great, Willow and Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Goldcrest, Jay and Wren).

My personal totals were (new/retrap): Long-tailed Tit 3/1, Blue Tit 3/2, Great Tit 1/2, Willow Tit 0/1, Chaffinch 1/0,Greenfinch 1/0, Bullfinch 1/2, Reed Bunting 1/0, Yellowhammer 1/0, Jay 1/0, Goldfinch 3/0, Goldcrest 0/1, Robin 0/1 and Wren 0/1.

We could have carried on ringing all day, as the birds were still coming thick and fast when we decided to pack up. Instead, we thought it best to give the birds some uninterrupted time to feed up on the feeders.

One of the Blue Tits we caught today was a "control", i.e. a bird that is caught away from the site it was originally ringed. Today's bird was one that had been originally ringed by our group 24km away at Blackburn Meadows in Sheffield in November 2014.

As well as the ringing, I also got a few "year ticks", bringing the total to 53 species so far:

46 - Greenfinch (garden)

47 – Sparrowhawk (over bypass)
48 – House Sparrow (garden)
49 – Reed Bunting
50 – Yellowhammer
51 – Willow Tit
52 – Green Woodpecker
53 - Jay

Avenue Ringing - 16th February 2014

Yesterday morning the weather was dry and still, so I managed to get out ringing with the Sorby Breck Group. We went back down to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's  Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield. We had a very productive few hours with 42 birds of 12 species ringed (Jay, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Dunnock, Blue, Great, Willow and Long-tailed Tit).

My totals were (new/retraps):
Song Thrush 1/0, Great Tit 0/3, Blue Tit 2/0, Dunnock 0/2, Reed Bunting 0/1, Yellowhammer 1/0.

In between net rounds we did some birding and the highlight for me was a "year tick"; Meadow Pipit. A flock of 12 appeared and perched on the fence. Grey Partridge were heard again.

Year List:
94- Meadow Pipit

Playing catch up

The weather last weekend was pretty awful, but I did manage to get out for one ringing session with the Group. We went down to The Avenue in Chesterfield, where, after a quiet start, we managed a respectable 32 birds of 10 species (Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Robin, Blue, Great, Willow and Long-tailed Tit).

My personal totals were (new/retrap):

Willow Tit 0/3, Great Tit 0/1, Yellowhammer 0/1, Chaffinch 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 0/1.

Yellowhammer

Avenue Ringing - 5th January 2014

After a four week break from ringing due to bad weather and Christmas I got out this morning with the group, visiting the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve near Chesterfield. This is one of our regular sites and today's visit will be the first of many this year I'm sure.

We arrived at 7.45am and during the next three and a half hours we caught and processed 61 birds. The first net round produced a small flock of Long-tailed Tits, most of which had already been ringed by us on previous visits. It's always good to retrap ringed birds, as this helps us learn more about their movements and longevity. Here's a picture of my first bird of 2014- a Long-tailed Tit.

Long-tailed Tit

Throughout the morning we carried on catching a good number of birds of many different species; Blue, Great and Willow Tit, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Chaffinch, Bullfinch and this beautiful male Greenfinch (1 of 5 birds).

Male Greenfinch

 

During net rounds we also like to do a bit of birding. Black-headed Gulls were flying over most of the morning along with a Jay, several Blackbirds and Robins. Sighting of the day, however was the small covey of 8/9 Grey Partridges that flew up from the site- a very good "year tick"

 

Year List update:

72 – Willow Tit

73 – Grey Partridge

74 – Reed Bunting

75 – Yellowhammer

Linacre ringing and a new species

Spent a few hours down at Linacre this morning with the Ringing Group. We thought it was going to be quiet, as the feeders had hardly been touched, but by the end of the session we were pleasantly surprised with 28 birds, including a summer migrant, a new species for Linacre, and some good records of  over flying birds (both summer and winter migrants!)

First up, the ringing. Today we caught a total of  7 species (Robin, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Blue, Great and Coal Tit).  We also had a Yellowhammer in the ringing site, which was a first for Linacre. My personal totals were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 0/1, Dunnock 2/1, Robin 1/0, Chaffinch 1/0 and Great Tit 1/0.

As well as the ringing we also recorded 4 Swallows (the latest Linacre record so far), a hunting Kestrel, 3 over-flying Skylarks (the first 2013 record), some Pink-footed Geese (heard by David, but unfortunately not seen, first record of 2013), Tawny Owl (heard "twit twooing" at 6.45am in woodlands below the ringing site) and c.50 Black-headed Gulls feeding in the fields on the way out (my first record of the winter period).

In between the net rounds I spent some time with my nephew, Luke, searching out some of the insect life at Linacre. I'll blog about the sightings later in the week, but I can say, there are some new species again!!

Avenue Ringing and Year List update

I managed to get out for a few hours this morning with the ringing group to The Avenue, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's reserve on the outskirts of Chesterfield. We spent 4 hours and managed a very respectable 35 birds of 10 different species (Blackbird, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Willow, Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tit).

My personal totals were (new.retrap): Long-tailed Tit 1/1, Blue Tit 1/0, Great Tit 1/1, Robin 0/1, Blackbird 1/0, Reed Bunting 1/0, Yellowhammer 1/0, and Dunnock 1/1.

In between net rounds we recorded other birds including three ,"year ticks"; Skylark, Yellowhammer and Green Woodpecker.

After the session I went out for a spot of lunch with my family and then dropped into Wraggs Quarry on Beeley Moor to have a look for the over-wintering Great Grey Shrike. Luckily it was sat up on the fence posts when we arrived and we managed to get brilliant views at it flew around hunting. Another Year tick!

Year List:
80 - Skylark
81 - Yellowhammer
82 - Green Woodpecker
83 - Great Grey Shrike

Sunday morning at The Avenue

I spent four hours on Sunday morning at The Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield with my nephew and other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group. A total of 35 birds were caught which include a "ringing tick" for me in the shape of a male Lesser Redpoll - very nice!

Male Lesser Redpoll

Other birds ringed by me were (new/retrap): Yellowhammer - a gorgeous male 1/0, Robin 0/1, Bullfinch 1/0 and Great Tit 1/1.

My nephew and his first Robin