Linacre Update - 22nd May 2021

 May is a busy month for  ringing, especially the nestboxes, at Linacre, so a visit on Saturday with 2 other members of  Sorby Breck Ringing Group saw a total of 50 pulli (young birds) ringed. All birds were Blue or Great Tits. Unfortunately, the Coal Tit nest I found in one of the boxes had been predated. Better news was the Pied Flycatcher nest. When checked, the female bird was sitting tight, hopefully on a nice, full clutch of eggs.

After checking the main nest boxes, I went down to 23 new boxes that have been put up by the bottom reservoir - The Glade. 3 broods of Blue and Great Tits were ringed. Whilst checking the boxes, a female Leucozona lucorum hoverfly landed on my arm. This was the first record of this species at Linacre!!

Leucozona lucorum (female)

Linacre Nestboxes and Ringing - 15th and 16th May 2021

Two visits to Linacre this weekend, once to check on the nestboxes, and once to do some ringing.

The nestbox check took place on Saturday, but was cut short by heavy rain. I did, however, make sure I'd ringed the first brood of tits for 2021, a brood of 7 healthy Great Tits, and had checked on the progress of the Pied Flycatcher nest. Great new here, as the nest contained 2 eggs! Hopefully, this will increase to 6, 7 or even 8 over the next few days. I'm keeping everything crossed.

Pied Flycatcher nest

The ringing took place on Sunday between 6am and 9.30am. In total we caught and ringed 13 birds  of 6 species. The most impressive bird has to be the adult male Kestrel. This was only the second Kestrel ringed at Linacre, following a female back in February 2018.

Kestrel

Other birds ringed were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 0/1, Great Tit 4/1, Coal Tit 1/1, Goldcrest 2/0 and  Blackcap 1/1, including a female originally ringed in 2018 as a 5, i.e. born in 2017.

Other species seen around the site included a male Pied Wagtail by the main entrance on Saturday, and a new moth species, Green Carpet. Unfortunately, it flew off before I could get a photo.

The first damselfly of the year, a Large Red Damselfly, was noted today (17th) emerging from the pond by the workshop.

Linacre Nestboxes - An Update

 A lot can happen in a week, when it comes to the nestboxes at Linacre. This morning's check, showed that 3 had been predated - adult feathers and broken eggs (most likely some kind of rodent or mustelid), the chicks in one box were, thankfully, still going strong, and the pair of Pied Flycatchers had built a nest. Hopefully, they'll lay some eggs this week. The Mallard nest found last week was empty but undisturbed, so hopefully they've hatched.

Out on the water there were 80 Mallards (52 adults and 4 broods of 9, 6, 6 and 7), 5 Great-crested Grebes, 2 Grey Wagtails, 13 Moorhens (8 adults and 1 brood of 5), 29 Coots (12 adults and 3 broods of 7, 5 and 5), 9 male Mandarins and 25 adult Tufted Ducks.

Other birds seen were: 2 Swallows, 2 Yellowhammers (1 male and 1 female by the main entrance), 1 Skylark, singing by the top reservoir, 1 singing Mistle Thrush, 4 Chiffchaffs and 3 Blackcaps.

One species of insect was also seen, which is an Alderfly. There are three species in Great Britain, but they can only be identified to species level by genial dissection, so I think I'll leave it as Alderfly sp!! 

Alderfly sp

Linacre Nestboxes - 3rd May 2021

 It's been a couple of weeks since I last checked the nestboxes at Linacre, so I popped down for a couple of hours this morning, before the rain and wind started!!

It was a mixture of good news and bad news (as is always the case with every nestbox season). The bad news was that all three owl boxes, that had been used by Mandarins this year, appear to have failed. A quick check yesterday afternoon, revealed cold, uncovered eggs and no females. The better news, however, is that this morning's tit box check revealed a total of 32 active nests, the first chicks of the year (7 Great Tits, still naked and blind, so most likely very recently hatched),  my first ever record of a Coal Tit using a nestbox, and a pair of Pied Flycatchers entering a nestbox!! In addition, the Mallard's nest with 8 eggs was empty this morning (hopefully fledged successfully), and another nest, with 6 eggs this time, was found on the floor in the woods.

Pied Flycatcher

After checking the boxes, I walked around all three reservoirs, and spotted the following waterbirds: Mallard (72; 51 adults and 21 ducklings from 4 broods of 8, 1, 5 and 7), Coot (12; 7 adults and 1 brood of 5 - first of the year), Moorhen 14; 9 adults and 1 brood of 5 - first of the year), Mandarin (7 males), Tufted Duck (30),  Canada Goose (5; 3 flew over and 2 on the top reservoir), Greylag Goose (2 on the top reservoir -  second record of the year), Great-crested Grebe (4 adults), Grey Wagtail (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 adult) and  a 1st summer/2nd calendar year (born 2020) Black-headed Gull - only my second May record of this species. 2 Swallows were also seen over the top reservoir.

Black-headed Gull

Whilst on site, I also had a short time on the ringing site, where I saw a pair of Bullfinch (first Linacre record of the year!), a singing Song Thrush, 1 singing Willow Warbler, and, best of all, my first Whitethroat of the year. 

Year List update:

139 - Whitethroat

RSPB Frampton Marsh - 1st May 2021

 Jayne and I had our near annual trip to RSPB Frampton Marsh today. Because of lockdown, there are quite a few common species missing from my "year list", so today's trip added a whopping 24 species!!

The day started well, with our first Swift of the year, followed closely by Reed, Sedge and Garden Warbler. As always, this site held lots of waders, the best of which was a male Dotterel. Unfortunately, it was slightly too distant for a photo, unlikely a very "showy" Jack Snipe and Wood Sandpiper.

Jack Snipe

Wood Sandpiper

The total number of "new" species seen were:

114 - Reed Warbler

115 - Sedge Warbler

116 - Garden Warbler

117 - Greenshank

118 - Yellow Wagtail

119 - Shelduck

120 - Shoveler

121 - Swift

122 - Wigeon

123 - Teal

124 - Brent Goose (Dark-bellied)

125 - Wood Sandpiper

126 - Dunlin

127 - Ringed Plover

128 - Dotterel

129 - Black-tailed Godwit

130 - Bar-tailed Godwit

131 - Whimbrel

132 - Goldeneye

133 - Common Tern (4)

134 - Little Egret

135 - Avocet

136 - Golden Plover

137 - Jack Snipe

138 - Ruff

In addition, there was a male Ring-necked Duck on the reserve. We managed to see it, asleep(!), but later reports suggested that it was a Tufted x Ring-necked Duck hybrid, so it won't go down on the list.