Loyalty pays dividends.

On Sunday morning I had a decision to make, should I go "twitching" to see a Lesser Scaup at Ogston or be loyal to the local patch (Linacre) and go on the search for some early summer migrants. In the end I made the right decision and went to Linacre where I didn't record any Chiffchaffs ( far too cold still), but I did manage to find a few " firsts" for the year and gather further evidence of possible breeding of the Little Owls.

Firstly the Little Owls. There has been a bird in the same tree for the last few weeks and yesterday morning there were a pair- hurrah! According to my book on nest monitoring (see here), a pair will often sit in the tree where they intend to nest, at the start of the season, so I'll be keeping an eye on this pair to see how they get on. Hopefully they'll nest and I'll be able to record the outcome of the nest for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme, and ring the young later in the season.

Other birds of note this morning were my first Green Woodpecker at Linacre this year, as well as my first Stock Dove (also a year tick) and a very rare bird in Linacre terms, a male Wigeon that was found on the top reservoir. I have only ever recorded Wigeon on 2 previous occassions the last back in 2011, so I was very pleased to see this bird.

Wigeon

The hybrid goose recorded last week was still around, as were another 6 Canada Geese and the usual water birds: Mallard (33), Cormorant (3; 1 juvenile and 2 adults), Coot (12- highest count this year), Moorhen (5), Goosander (7; 5 males and 2 females), Tufted Duck (13), Grey Wagtail (3), Mandarin Duck (1 female flying up the valley), Great-crested Grebe (1 breeding plumaged bird) and Black-headed Gulls (18).

If you're still reading and wondering what happened with the Lesser Scaup at Ogston, luckily it wasn't reported today, so I didn't waste time looking for it.

Year List update:
96 - Stock Dove