Linacre - 8th September 2024

 It rained hard last night, so I decided to have a look at Linacre this morning, on the off chance that something exciting had dropped in. Guess what...? It hadn't!!!

When I go there (9am) it was dry, so I set off up to the top reservoir. On arrival, I heard Grey Wagtail ( 4 were seen) and saw the first of 94 Mallards. I then spotted a Cormorant, that very quickly turned into 2, 3, 4 and 5 ( the highest count of the year)! 

Cormorants ( distant and in the pouring rain!)

Other birds seen, before it began to rain very heavily, were: Coot (2 adults), Moorhen (7 adults and 1 juvenile), Mandarin (42), wheeting Chiffchaffs and a single Swallow.

Linacre WeBS - 19th November 2023

 Today was the day for this month's WeBS walk around Linacre. I had a couple of hours, walking around all three reservoirs, recording just shy of 400 waterbirds of  9 species.

Counts were: Mallard (154), Mandarin Duck (153), Coot (10), Moorhen (19), Tufted Duck (47), Kingfisher (1), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (3) and Black-headed Gull (13).

Mandarin Ducks

Other birds seen/heard were: Raven (2), Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Nuthatch, Wren, Robin, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit and Redwing.

Welcome Back P519!

 It's been a couple of weeks since my last visit to Rufford, and I'm very pleased to say that this time there were Black-headed Gulls, and rings to be seen!! In total, I saw 7 of "our" green-ringed gulls, P519, a Lithuanian bird ringed in April 2010, as an adult, and first seen here in January 2018, and a new Finnish metal-ringed bird ST340.623.

The green-ringed birds were: 258A, 273A (the first sighting since October 2022), 293A, 272B (the first sighting this winter), 280B (ringed by me in November 2022, as a 4, and the first sighting this winter), 202C (last seen on 12th March 2023) and 207C (third sighting this winter).

280B

The two other ringed birds were P519 - the first sighting since 5th February 2023, and the new Finnish-ringed bird, an adult.

P519

ST340.623

Other birds present today were: 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 1 Cormorant, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 2 Goosander (1 male and 1 female), c.50 Canada Geese,(no rings) 6 Greylag Geese (no rigs) and 2 unringed Mute Swans (Broken Beak and a female bird).

"Broken Beak"

Linacre WeBS Count - 8th October 2022

 This morning I carried out October's WeBS count at Linacre. It was a perfect autumnal morning, with dry, bright, still conditions and just 7 degrees - lovely!!

Waterfowl numbers have started to increase again, along with the first returning Black-headed Gulls (5). The highlight, however, was the sight of 7 Cormorants, all feeding together on the top reservoir! This was my third highest ever count, beaten only by 8 birds in September 2014 and January 2016.

Other records from today were: 93 Mallard, 14 Moorhens (8 adults and 6 juveniles), 35 Tufted Ducks, 63 Mandarin Ducks, 9 Coots (8 adults and 1 juvenile), 4 Grey Wagtails, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Great-crested Grebes (2 adults and 1 juvenile) and 1 Canada Goose. 

Linacre WeBS - 11th July 2020

On Saturday, I walked around all three reservoirs for this moth's WeBS count. Highlights for me were a pair of Great-crested Grebes with 4 well grown youngsters (and another pair on a nest), and my first Linacre Oystercatcher record since 2018, when 2 flew over the top reservoir calling.

Great-crested Grebe and chicks

Totals for all waterfowl were: Mallard (72), Moorhen (11; 8 adults and 3 juveniles), Coot (5; 3 adults and 2 juveniles), Tufted Duck (17; all adults), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 adult), Grey Wagtail (4), Cormorant (1) and Mandarin (19; 15 adults and 1 brood of 4 ducklings).

Other birds seen and heard were: Swallow (12), House Martin (2), Stock Dove (heard), Chiffchaff (4 singing) and Blackcap (1 singing).

After the WeBS walk, I had an hour in the ringing site, where I saw 1 Ringlet, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Tree Wasp, a Marmalade Hoverfly, a Sphaerophoria scripta (Hoverfly) and 1 Meadow Brown. The first Cinnabar Moth caterpillars of the year were on Ragwort by the top reservoir.

Cinnabar Moth caterpillar

Linacre WeBS - 23rd November 2019

For the first time this month here's a blog that actually involves Linacre Reservoirs, and not too many Black-headed Gulls!!

I spent an hour and a half down at Linacre this morning (in the rain), carrying out this month's WeBS walk. It was very quiet with the following birds recorded: Mallard (65), Mandarin Duck (5), Tufted Duck ( just 4!), Coot (2), Moorhen (10), Great-crested Grebe (1), Cormorant (2) and Black-headed Gull (40).

The woods were pretty quiet too, with a few Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits about. The highlight, however, was a single "wheeting" Chiffchaff seen in the willows by the middle reservoir.

Linacre WeBS - 27th October 2019

Ringing at Linacre was cancelled this morning dur to strong winds, so instead, Sarah, Robin and I walked around all three reservoirs and carried out this month's WeBS count.

No real surprises this month, but the Mandarin Ducks (48) looked very smart in their newly moulted breeding finery. Also, it was nice to see my first Linacre Black-headed Gulls of the winter, with 24 seen (no rings though).

Other birds seen were: Mallard (87), Tufted Duck (22), Coot (5), Moorhen (13), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (1) and Little Grebe (1).

Linacre WeBS - 28th September 2019

I was down at Linacre birdwatching for the first time this month (!) and carried out the monthly WeBS count. It was quite quiet, but, as always, at this time of the year, the Mandarins were in good form, looking very smart, and giving me my highest count of the year... so far.

Birds seen were: Mallard (104), Mandarin Duck (72), Tufted Duck (21), Coot (5), Moorhen (17), Grey Heron (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Cormorant (1) Great-crested Grebe (2) and Little Grebe (1). At least 2 Chiffchaffs were also heard singing around the top and middle reservoirs.

Tufted Duck

Farne Islands

I last visited the Farne Islands in 2011 (see here), so, when deciding where to go away this year, Jayne and I decided to visit this group of islands off the Northumberland coast at the height of the breeding season. We visited on Friday 31st May, and, despite heavy rain for most of the visit (!), had an amazing time seeing all the birds at such close quarters.

We went across to the islands and spent about one and a half hours travelling around them (seeing Fulmar and Gannets), before landing on Inner Farne for an hour long visit. Whilst on the island we walked up through the Arctic Tern colony, passing the nesting birds (and being pecked by them). We also saw nesting Sandwich Terns, Eider Ducks, Black-headed Gulls, Shag, Guillemot, Razorbill and Puffin, all within touching distance of the paths - fantastic!!

Arctic Tern

Eider Duck

Razorbill

Guillemot (including a bridled individual)

Puffins

Black-headed Gull (and chick)

Year List update:

178 – Kittiwake

179 – Puffin

180 – Arctic Tern

Linacre Bird News - 7th April 2019

Luke and I were at Linacre this morning for a walk around all 3 reservoirs. We recorded the following waterbirds: Mallard (37), Tufted Duck (46), Mandarin (14), Great-crested Grebe (5 - including 1 pair displaying), Cormorant (2), Grey Wagtail (1 heard), Black-headed Gull (3 - unusual in April), Coot (9), Moorhen (7, including 1 sat tightly on a nest).

Moorhen

Whilst walking around the reservoirs we also recorded at least 9 singing Chiffchaffs, 2 Blackcaps and the first Willow Warbler of the year. Other signs of breeding included both Mistle Thrush and Chaffinch seen carrying nesting material.

Blackcap

Interestingly, Luke managed to spot 4 Bramblings by the top reservoir, an excellent record!

Linacre WeBS - February 2019

This month's WeBS count took place yesterday morning, and the following birds were counted; Mallard 64, Mandarin Duck 28, Tufted Duck 27, Coot 7, Moorhen 10, Cormorant 2, Goosander 4; 2 males and 2 females - my first Linacre record since January 2018!), Great-crested Grebe 6; including 1 pair displaying, Black-headed Gull 70 and Kingfisher 1. In amongst the Mallards was this single, all white duck, first seen last month.

The woods were full of birds enjoying the 8 degree warmth and sunshine with many species recorded singing including Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song and Mistle Thrush, Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Coal Tit. There were also at least 3 Great-spotted Woodpeckers drumming, a large flock of Siskin in the Larches by the middle reservoir and my first Stock Dove record for Linacre in 2019.

Linacre WeBS - 10th November 2018

During last month's WeBS walk, Luke and I found 2 "female type" Teal. This morning we were down at Linacre again, to carry out this month's count, and one of the first birds we saw was a male Teal. We managed to get quite close and got a decent photo. Later in the morning we found this same bird, and a female, together on the other side of the middle reservoir. We can't be sure, but it would be nice to think that this morning's birds were the same two as last month, and that the male bird has come out of eclipse plumage. This species is less than annual at Linacre, so hopefully, they'll stay around for the rest of the winter, and perhaps into 2019.

Teal (male)

Mandarin Duck numbers were still pretty good, with 88 seen (113 last month). Other birds seen were: Tufted Duck (34), Mallard (70), Coot (4), Moorhen (21, the highest count of the year), Grey Wagtail (2), Pied Wagtail (1, the first record of 2018), Black-headed Gull (47) and Cormorant (2).

Away from the water, there were at least 6 Redwings, 1 Mistle Thrush and several Blackbirds feeding on a Hawthorn bush by the top reservoir, where we also had a Raven fly over, and a confiding Robin.

Robin

Linacre Ringing and Nestboxes- 21st April 2018

I was down at Linacre yesterday morning with Luke and 5 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for a ringing session. We also had time to check the owl boxes, and recorded 2 new breeding species using the boxes!

The first species that we found in one of the boxes was Stock Dove. This is an under recorded species at Linacre, so it was really nice to find it breeding. One bird flew out of the box as we approached. A quick look, found 2 eggs.

Stock Dove nest

The second new species was Tawny Owl. A sitting bird was found as we checked the other boxes. She didn't come off the nest, so, although we couldn't confirm breeding (yet), it looks as though she might well have eggs or small chicks underneath here. 

Tawny Owl

Two other boxes were checked, and both contained Mandarin Ducks. One box had a sitting female and 13 eggs. The other box didn't have a female bird, but it did have 12 cold eggs. Hopefully, the female will come back and continue to incubate them.

Mandarin Duck

All 3 nests will be monitored for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. 

As well as checking the nestboxes, we also managed to ring the female Mandarin Duck and had a mist net ringing session ringing the following birds (new/retrap): Mandarin Duck 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Blackcap 4/1, Chiffchaff 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 0/4, Nuthatch 0/3 and Bullfinch 1/0.

It's always great to hear, see and catch the first warblers of the year. Especially nice, however, was the fact that the retrap Blackcap was a bird we'd ringed at Linacre as a juvenile on 11th June 2017, showing site fidelity. Hopefully it'll stay and breed and we'll retrap it again later in the year.

Blackcap

The Chiffchaff was also a bird we'd ringed previously at Linacre. This bird, however, was a little older, having been ringed as an adult male on 17th April 2016. Interestingly, the Chiffchaff hasn't been re trapped at Linacre since 2016. Was it here last year, or did it go somewhere else? Does it stay to breed or move somewhere else? As always, lots more questions than answers!!!

Another male Blackcap was seen and heard singing. Luke managed to get a photo, showing it wearing a ring! Unfortunately we didn't catch this bird, so we don't yet know whether it was ringed by us or elsewhere. Again, let's hope we can catch it later in the year to find out more information about it.

Blackcap

Other sightings from Linacre today included a Common Sandpiper on the bottom reservoir, the second record of the year (thanks Luke!), Green Woodpecker (heard), Sparrowhawk (1 over), Cormorant (3 over) and the first Butterfly of the year, a Small Tortoiseshell. 

Common Sandpiper

Linacre - 4th March 2018

Last Sunday, when the worst of the snowy weather from the "Beast from The East" was over I popped down to Linacre for a couple of hours. It was still only 1 degree and there was snow on the ground and ice covering about a quarter of the bottom reservoir.

Snow on the top reservoir

Robin

It was quite quiet on the water, but the following birds were seen: Mallard (36), Tufted Duck (23), Moorhen (9), Coot (10), Cormorant (1), Great-crested Grebe (1), Black-headed Gull (1), Grey Wagtail (1) and Mandarin Duck (25). 1 Fieldfare (my first Linacre record of 2018), 1 Buzzard and several Siskin were also heard.

Moorhen

Linacre WeBS and Nestboxes - 20th February 2018

I was down at Linacre this morning, with 2 jobs to do. The first job was to replace a few of the nestboxes that had been damaged by Grey Squirrels last year, just in time for the BTO's National Nestbox Week. In total 6 boxes were replaced, and a few others were picked up off the floor!! Thanks to Chesterfield RSPB Group for providing the boxes. It'll be another couple of months before the first nests will be built, and I can begin to new Nest Record Cards for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme, so I'll report back then.

New nestbox

The second job was this months WeBS count. Numbers were average for the time of year: Mallard 51, Tufted Duck 27, Coot 5, Moorhen 6, Great-crested Grebe 4; 2 pairs, 1 on the top reservoir and 1 on the middle reservoir, Little Grebe 1 breeding plumaged bird, Mandarin Duck 2, Black-headed Gull 18 and Cormorant 6.

Cormorant

The temperature today was 10 degrees and it was quite sunny, so several of the woodland birds were singing, including 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Coal and Great Tit, Robin and Dunnock. A drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker was heard, as was a "yaffling" Green Woodpecker.

The Snowdrops were looking very nice in the woods by the top car park too.

Snowdrops

Linacre WeBs - January 2018

Luke and I were down at Linacre this morning to carry out the first BTO WeBS walk of 2018. We walked around all 3 reservoirs and recorded the following waterbirds: Mallard 55, Tufted Duck 24, Mandarin Duck 25, Moorhen 11, Coot 3, Great-crested Grebe 1, in full breeding plumage, Black-headed Gull 28, Cormorant 4 and Grey Wagtail 2.

Other birds seen and heard this morning were: Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Treecreeper (2), Great-spotted Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush (2), Common Buzzard ( 1 being mobbed by a Crow) and Robin. Here's a photo Luke took of one of the very confiding birds.

Robin

Grey Wagtail was an addition to the "year list", as was Lesser Redpoll, which was 1 of 4 seen on the feeders at home.

Lesser Redpoll

Year List update:
70 - Grey Wagtail
71 - Lesser Redpoll

Linacre - 1st January 2018

Last Monday I had my first walk of 2018 around Linacre Reservoirs. I was on site for one and a half hours and recorded 25 species, including my first Goosander (1 male bird on the middle reservoir) since March 2017, my first Linacre Raven ( a singe bird "cronking" loudly from the top of a tree by the top reservoir) since 2016 and an excellent count of 7 Cormorants, all roosting in the trees by the bottom reservoir.

Raven

Other waterbirds seen were: Mallard (57), Tufted Duck (20), Mandarin Duck (22), Moorhen (13), Coot (2), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1) and Black-headed Gull (35).

Linacre Ringing - 25th November 2017

Last Saturday saw 5 members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group down at Linacre for a ringing session. The weather was a bit blustery, with a few rain/sleet showers and a temperature of just 4 degrees, so, as you can guess, the ringing was slow. After 3 hours we'd caught just 9 birds of 5 species, namely (new/retrap): Blue Tit (3/1), Great Tit (1/0), Coal Tit (1/0), Goldcrest (2/0) and Dunnock (0/1).

Other birds recorded on the ringing site were: Redwing (20+ over), Fieldfare (12, the first of the winter), Long-tailed Tit, Bullfinch (heard), Chaffinch, Jay (2 seen), Magpie (1), Blackbird, Song Thrush (1 seen) and Kestrel ( 1 hunting over the site).

Whilst there, my nephew, Luke had a quick walk around the bottom and middle reservoirs were he recorded: c.20 Black-headed Gulls, 12 Mandarin Ducks, Mallard, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 2 Cormorants.

Linacre Sightings - 1st October 2017

I'm afraid to say that I haven't been for a walk around Linacre since 1st September, so, with a few spare hours and some nice weather yesterday afternoon, Jayne and I had a quick walk around all three reservoirs.

The woods themselves were quite quiet, with just a few tits, a singing Robin, a few Blackbirds and a couple of Grey Squirrels for company. Out on the water there were a few wildfowl about, namely: Mallard (50), Mandarin Duck (47), Great-crested Grebe (3; 1 adult and 2 stripy- headed juveniles), Tufted Duck (23), Moorhen (10; 7 adults and 3 well grown juveniles), Cormorant (2) and 1 Grey Wagtail. Surprisingly, there weren't any Coots at all, very unusual!!

Great-crested Grebe (juvenile)

Linacre Birds - 7th August 2017

It's been just over a month since I last blogged about Linacre Reservoirs here, so, after a 3 hour visit on Monday, I thought I'd better post something!

The trip started off in grey, windy, overcast conditions. This time of year can be quiet, but I was able to record the following waterbirds: Mallard (48 birds, all moulting), Tufted Duck (25; 19 adults and a brood of 6 ducklings, the second brood of the year), Mandarin Duck (22 birds, again all moulting), Coot (7 birds; 5 adults and 2 well grown young), Moorhen (14 birds; 7 adults and 7 juveniles), Great-crested Grebe (6 birds; 4 adults and 2 juveniles), Cormorant (1), Grey Wagtail (4 juveniles), Kingfisher (1 heard on the middle reservoir), a Teal (1 female/juvenile bird on the top reservoir, which is my first ever August record for this species) and, perhaps the best bird of the day, a juvenile Common Sandpiper, which was feeding on the overflow on the middle reservoir. Click here to see a short video of it feeding.

Common Sandpiper

Other birds seen around the site included: Swift (1), Swallow (3), House Martin (10), Kestrel (1), Buzzard (1),  Chiffchaff (2 singing, and several feeding in and around the willows by the top reservoir), Blackcap (2; 1 male and 1 "browncap" in the ringing area), Robin (juvenile) and Treecreeper (1).

There was also another report of Common Scoter on Birdguides when I got home, but, unfortunately, I didn't see it!!!