New species for Linacre.

Four hours of ringing at Linacre this morning resulted in a total of 61 birds of 11 species. On any day this would have been more than satisfactory. However, with one of those species being Meadow Pipit ( a new species for Linacre and ringing tick for me), I was a very happy person indeed.

The morning started well when one of the first birds out of the net was a juvenile Chiffchaff. This was quickly followed by several Blue and Great Tits, a Robin, a Nuthatch and a Wren. Other birds including a Blackbird, a couple of juvenile Goldfinch, a Chaffinch and a Coal Tit soon followed. The highlight of the morning, however, was the arrival of not one ...not two.... but SIX Meadow Pipits. All the birds were identified as juveniles and, as mentioned before, were a new species for Linacre and a ringing tick for me! Unfortunately, no photos, as guess what, I'd left my camera at home! Thanks a lot to Dave, for putting the nets in the correct place.

Other birds noted during the morning were: Sparrowhawk x 1, Kestrel x 1 (very near the nest box, that they've never used), Common Buzzard x 2, House Martin x 2, Swallow x 2 and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

As the weather was really warm and sunny there were several insects about including a 7 spot Ladybird, 2 Red Admirals, 2 Small Tortoiseshells, 1 Small Copper, 1 Meadow Brown and a Comma, my first of the year.

Comma

All in all an excellent start to the weekend.

 

Lovely bird!

I spend a lot of time looking at bird blogs from around the world. I know, how boring am I?!

Anyway, the other day I cam across this great blog post about a leusistic Willow Warbler that had been caught during August on Hilbre Island in North West England. I was really impressed with the colouration of this bird and so I thought I'd share it with a few more people. Hope you like it.

Follow this link to the post of 18th August 2012.

200th post!

Hello and welcome to my 200th post! I was out again yesterday morning with the Sorby Breck Ringing Group at our regular site in Sheffield. The morning started very well with a Swallow the first bird in the nets, followed by 61 other birds of 13 species.

I personally ringed 13 birds today: Goldfinch - 1 juvenile, Chiffchaff - 1 juvenile, Great Tit - 2, House Sparrow 1 juvenile, Blue Tit - 2 and 2 retraps, Swallow - 1 juvenile, Blackbird - 2 juveniles and Dunnock - 1 juvenile.

At this time of year a lot of the birds are moulting  which can make them look quite different, such as this juvenile Blackbird.

Blackbird

Other birds seen but not ringed today were a Sparrowhawk which was hunting around the site and a Kestrel which was spotted hunting nearby.

Old Moor - 31st August 2012

News of a Red-necked Phalarope at RSPB Old Moor yesterday got my "twitching instinct" going and so I drove over for a few hours this morning. Unfortunately the bird had departed overnight, so no new tick this time!

Instead of looking at the phalarope I spent time scanning the hundreds of Lapwings to see what I could see. 4 Black-tailed Godwits were feeding from Wath Ings hide along with 2 Ruff, 12 Golden Plover (many still in summer plumage), 7 Green Sandpipers and 1 Greenshank. A few more waders were present over on Wader Scrape Hide, namely Common Sandpiper and Ringed Plover.

Away from the birds I managed to see and photo a few nice insects: Common Darter, Ruddy Darter and Meadow Brown.

Meadow Brown

 

Common Darter pair

 

Ruddy Darter (note the black legs and waisted abdomen)

 

 

Linacre WeBS Walks - July and August 2012

I was just looking at the blog when I suddenly realised I hadn't put on the results of the July and August WeBS walks. I was away for the walk itself, but other members of the Chesterfield RSPB group carried it out with the following results: Mallard (40), Coot (13), Moorhen (4), Little Grebe (1 adult and 2 juveniles), Great crested Grebe (2 adults and 3 juveniles), Grey Wagtail (1 adult and 1 juvenile), Tufted Duck (12) and Mandarin Duck (7).

The juvenile Grey Wagtail and Little and Great-crested Grebes was the best records for July. As the weather was really good on the day of the count a good number of butterflies were also recorded: Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Small Skipper.

Small Skipper

I was back for the August walk so here are the results: Mallard (30), Coot (7 adults and 2 juveniles), Moorhen (2 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult), Great crested Grebe ( 2 adults and 3 juveniles), Grey Wagtail (1 adult and 2 juveniles), Mandarin Duck (5), Tufted Duck (28), Grey Heron (1 flying up the valley), Cormorant (4 juveniles), Kingfisher (1 carrying a fish) and Little Owl (1).

The Cormorant, Little Owl and Kingfisher sightings were the highlights of the morning. There have been a lot of Kingfisher sightings this year and the fact that one was seen with a fish could well mean it has a nest nearby! Similarly, the Little Owl has been seen in the same spot three times now, so the chances of this being the nest site seem pretty high. Hopefully I'll be able to give you some good news on both these sightings in the future. 4 Cormorants is the highest count we've ever had at Linacre, so it'll be interesting to see if they all hang around for the winter.

Away from the water things were quite quiet with the only summer migrant seen being a Willow Warbler in the trees around the top reservoir.

Linacre Ringing - 18th August 2012

Saturday morning's ringing session took place at Linacre Reservoirs in a mixture of sunshine and showers. After four hours we managed 35 birds of 9 species, new birds first and retraps in brackets; Blue Tit - 9, Great Tit - 9 (1), Coal Tit- 3, Dunnock - (1), Robin- 4, Bullfinch - 1, Jay- 1, Blackcap - 4 including 3 juveniles and Wren - 2.

As well as the ringing we heard Tawny Owls "hooting",  saw a Kestrel hunting, a late Swift and a Sparrowhawk being mobbed by about 20 House Martins.

Butterflies on site include Green veined White, Meadow Brown and Holly Blue.

Holly Blue

Swallow roost and Year Tick

Following on from last week's successful ringing session at the swallow roost at The Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield, we returned again on Thursday night for another go.

From the outset it was obvious that there were much fewer birds around. but by the end of the night we had ringed another 33 Swallows. Added to this we also caught 4 Pied Wagtails, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Reed Warbler and 1 Blackbird.


Friday saw me head down the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water with my nephew. We spent a few hours looking around the stalls and then went off to the Lyndon Reserve to see the nesting Ospreys. A pair have nested in Manton Bay again this year raising 2 chicks. All 4 birds, the adults and their chicks, were seen around the nest site. Lovely!

Year List:

152: Osprey