Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
It was 21 degrees this afternoon, and pretty sunny, so Jayne and I had a walk around Redmires Reservoirs, near Sheffield.
The top two reservoirs were about half full, but, apart from quite a few Black-headed, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Mallards, a Pied Wagtail a family party of Stonechats and a winter plumaged Golden Plover, it was quite quiet.
The highlight, however, was a very obliging Kestrel (juvenile, I think), that Jayne spotted, perched beautifully, on a Rowan tree.
Today was this month's scheduled WeBS count, so I had a couple of hours (7am - 9am) down at Linacre. Unfortunately, all of last week's "goodies" had gone, but this did mean I could concentrate on the count, and not get distracted!
Numbers were: Mallard (54), Tufted Duck (21), Mandarin (13), Grey Wagtail (3), Pied Wagtail (1), Grey Heron (1), Moorhen (8; 6 adults and 2 juveniles), Coot (2), Cormorant (7) and Great-crested Grebe (1).
As you can see, numbers were quite low, due mainly to the very low water levels on the top and bottom reservoir (approximately one third full).
Other birds seen were: House Martin (5 overhead), Chiffchaff (at least 5 singing and 2 seen, in the willows, by the top reservoir), Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Buzzard, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Skylark (heard) and Woodpigeon.
News broke of not one, but two, juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers (196) at Carsington Water, Derbyshire, yesterday. Amazingly, I haven't seen this species since 2016, and never in Derbyshire, so Jayne and I drove across this morning to see them.
We parked up in the Visitors' Centre, just to hear that both birds had just been flushed, and has flown to the other end of the reservoir! We set off, along the dam wall, and 15 minutes later, were watching both birds feeding happily, about 90m away. Derbyshire tick! They continued to feed in the same area, so we settled down to get some photos and video.
Jayne and I had a trip over to RSPB Old Moor, on Saturday. We had a few hours there, and managed to add another couple of species to the Year List: Wood Sandpiper (194) and Caspian Gull (195).
The Wood Sandpiper was seen from Wath Ings hide, and was feeding close in with several Ruff and a Greenshank. Other birds seen from this hide included: Green Sandpiper (5), Lapwing (50+), Dunlin (3), Black-tailed Godwit (4), Grey Heron (1), Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Canada and Greylag Geese.
Our next stop was the Wader Scrape Hide, where we spotted a very confiding Common Sandpiper, Wigeon, Gadwall, Pied Wagtail, Mute Swan (2 ringed birds: Y848 and Y812) Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a single Caspian Gull. The Caspian Gull, a 2nd year bird, was ringed with the darvic number PY1X, and appears to be a Polish-ringed bird. I'll update, when I hear back from the ringers. The final bird species of note was Marsh Harrier. We saw two birds, a male and a "cream crown".
As well as the excitement of the Greenshank and Green Sandpiper at Linacre yesterday, I also had quite a few other good sightings to share.
First up was a Buzzard that was perching in a tree, by the bottom car park. I'm sure its a juvenile bird, due to the pale fringing on the feathers.
The ongoing works at Linacre mean that the top reservoir has a lot of exposed mud. A few days ago I had my first ever Green Sandpiper for the site, and today, when I got there, I found another new species, a juvenile Greenshank!!!! Both species had been "on my radar" as possible, but to find both, within a few days of each other, is an absolute dream. The Green Sandpiper was still present too.
Yesterday, whilst doing the weekly shop (!), I got a message from Luke that there was a Birdguides record of a juvenile/1st winter Red-backed Shrike (193) that had been spotted in The Avenue Washlands Country Park. Jayne and I went straight across, and found the bird feeding by a small pond.
It posed well, and even caught, impaled and then ate a Migrant Hawker whilst we were there. A later photo, not mine, unfortunately, also showed it eating a Lesser Emperor dragonfly!!! Here are a few photos (the last three slightly enhanced!).
