Welcome to my blog all about my birdwatching, wild bird ringing activities and moth recording at Linacre Reservoirs, Derbyshire; in Great Britain and abroad.
I wasn't able to get down to Linacre earlier this month for the WeBS walk, so Jayne and I popped down on 27th to do it.
It was a grey, overcast morning and just 7 degrees, but we recorded the following birds: Mallard (73), Tufted Duck (68), Mandarin Duck (36), Coot (7), Moorhen (3), Grey Wagtail (1), Cormorant (2), Goosander (4; 2 males and 2 females), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (2) and Black-headed Gull (92 - the highest count of the year).
It hasn't been a great summer for butterflies so far, but a walk around Linacre this morning got me two new species for the year, along with a new moth and a record count of Common Sandpipers.
The two new butterflies were: Meadow Brown and Ringlet, with 2 of each species seen, on the dam banks and the ringing site respectively.
Yesterday saw me down at Linacre for my first visit of March. It was a chilly 3 degrees, with a mixture of rain and sleet, but the sight of the Mute Swan 6Y24, first found last week, warmed me up!!
The Mute Swan had moved from the middle reservoir, down on to the bottom reservoir, and, when I arrived, was having a lovely preen, showing off her darvic ring beautifully.
A little later on, with the help of some more seed, she came up to the dam wall, where I grabbed a photo of her metal ring,W52824. Checking on the BTO website showed me that she was a second year bird, as thought,, having been ringed, as a juvenile, on 14th August 2023. Hopefully, she'll find Linacre to her liking, and hang around for a while.
Other birds seen were: Tufted Duck (21), Mallard (83), Mandarin Duck (20), Coot (7), Moorhen (11), Great-crested Grebe (2 - a pair on the middle reservoir), Little Grebe (1), Black-headed Gull (27), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 - the first record of 2024), Canada Goose (2 flew along the valley calling), Kingfisher (1 on the middle reservoir), c.50 Jackdaws, 1 Magpie, 2 singing Song Thrushes and singing Dunnock, Wren, Robin, Blue, Coal and Great Tits.
During our last few days in Northumberland, we managed to add a few more birds to the "Year List", with trips to Alnmouth and Queen Elizabeth II Country Park.
The first new addition, heard by our accommodation in Shilbottle, was Skylark (87). Whilst in Alnmouth, we added Little Egret (88) and Bar-tailed Godwit (89), on the estuary, along with 10 Ringed Plover, Curlew, Lapwing, Dunlin, Grey Heron, Shag and Herring and Black-headed Gulls.
Last Saturday, I had a few hours down at Linacre. It was a relatively quiet walk, until the end, when I spotted 80 Teal on the middle reservoir! This is the highest count since January 2023, when 49 were seen.
Other birds seen were: 137 Mallard, 39 Mandarin Duck, 5 Tufted Duck, 18 Moorhen, 9 Coot, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 33 Black-headed Gull, 1 Little Grebe and 2 Grey Wagtail.
Woodland birds seen were: Blue, Great and Coal Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Jackdaw, Crow, Chaffinch, Nuthatch and Treecreeper.
I was down at Linacre yesterday morning for this month's WeBS count. I had a good walk around all three reservoirs, and recorded some good numbers of returning waterbirds.
Birds seen were: Mallard (124 - my highest September count), Mandarin Duck (157 - also my highest ever September count), Tufted Duck (13 - still quite low numbers), Moorhen (23; 17 adults and 6 juveniles), Coot (9; 6 adults and 3 juveniles), Little Grebe (1 adult on the bottom reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (3; 2 adults and 1 juvenile on the middle reservoir), Kingfisher (2 on the bottom reservoir), Grey Heron (10) and Grey Wagtail (2).
Walking around, I also had 5 species of corvid (Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Jay, Magpie and Raven), along with 2 singing Chiffchaffs, 1 Mistle Thrush, Blue/Great and Long-tailed Tits, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Woodpigeon.
It stopped raining for an hour this afternoon (!), so I popped down to Linacre to see what was about. I only walked around the bottom reservoir, before the rain started again, but I did manage to spot a few insects and birds.
Insects seen were: Meadow Brown (3), Green-veined White (1), Marmalade Hoverfly, Volucella pellucens (3), Cinnabar Moth caterpillars, Silver Y moth (2), Soldier Beetles , White-tailed, Common Carder and Red-tailed Bumblebees, and Common Blue Damselfly (1m).
After a week of ice and snowy conditions (maximum temperature of 3 degrees) I went down to Linacre yesterday morning (17th) to carry out this month's WeBS count. I had expected the reservoirs to be frozen, but, apart from a little ice ( c.10 %) on the bottom reservoir, the other two reservoirs were completely ice-free.
I walked around all three reservoirs and recorded the following numbers: 231 Mallard (highest count of the year), 114 Mandarin Duck, 72 Tufted Duck, 16 Moorhen, 8 Coot, c.50 Black-headed Gull, 5 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 Little Grebe.
Other birds seen around the site included: 1 Tawny Owl, Siskin (3, the first of the winter), Magpie, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Wren, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Fieldfare (heard) and Redwing (10 over).
UPDATE: A report on Derbyshire Facebook Page from 18th recorded 119 Teal (!!!), 2 Gadwall, 1 male Shoveler, 104 Tufted Duck, 8 Goosander, 3 Cormorants and 19 Lapwing!!!
It was a bright, sunny and calm morning this morning, with a temperature of just 1 degree at 7am, as I arrived at Linacre. I spent 2 hours walking around all three reservoirs, by which time the temperature had risen to 5 degrees.
The first birds seen were a flock of at least 30 Redwing (first Linacre record of 2021) feeding in the fields by the main entrance. The woods were alive with bird song, including 2 Mistle Thrushes, 1 Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Green Woodpecker and 2 drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker. No Lesser-spotted Woodpecker or Chiffchaff, despite much searching and listening!
Out on the water, waterfowl numbers were still pretty good, with 111 Tufted Duck, 106 Mallard, 79 Mandarin Duck, 4 Canada Geese, 4 Great-crested Grebe, 4 Little Grebe, 3 Goosander (1m and 2fm), 32 Black-headed Gull, 14 Coots (excellent count!) and 5 Moorhens.
I did a nestbox check on 17th February. I only checked the tit boxes, as I didn't have the ladders for the owl boxes. Most were okay, after the winter, and 1 contained a Shrew species, most likely a Common Shrew.
This month's WeBS walk at Linacre Reservoirs took place yesterday. Following a week of very cold temperatures (+2 maximum) and snow there was a lot of ice covering all three reservoirs (c.40%), which made counting easier, and also lead to some excellent records.
First up, the waterfowl counts: 148 Mallard, 105 Tufted Duck (my highest ever count, possibly cold weather movement?), 102 Mandarin Duck, 12 Moorhen, 9 Coot, 1 Cormorant (in full breeding plumage), 4 Little Grebe, 10 Goosander (4 males and 6 females), 168 (minimum, most likely 200+) Black-headed Gull (including 2 metal-ringed birds and a darvic-ringed bird), 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (both adult-type, returning breeders from Chesterfield?), 1 Herring Gull (flew over the top reservoir for 5 minutes - only my sixth record since 2006!), 1 adult Common Gull, only my third ever Linacre record, previous records being in 2014 and 2016 and 2 Grey Wagtail.
As you can see, the number of Black-headed Gulls was fantastic, probably due to me being on site until 2.00pm, and because of the icy conditions elsewhere, as were the Herring and Common Gull records. Lesser Black-backed Gull sightings have increased in the last few years, as they have established themselves as a breeding species in Chesterfield (first confirmed breeding in 2018 I think) and will continue to grow as the breeding population increases. The same may happen for Herring Gull, as they too, have become a breeding species in Chesterfield too.
Whilst scanning through the Black-headed Gulls, I spotted 2 metal-ringed birds and 1 darvic-ringed bird. Unfortunately, I couldn't read the metal rings (too far away), but I did manage to get a distant photo of the darvic-ringed bird, and saw that it was 2T46. This was a bird that my nephew, Luke, saw at nearby Holmebrook Valley CP, on 6th November 2020, and had been ringed in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, on 19th September 2020. The first photo is this bird in November, whilst the second is from yesterday. Luke's photo was taken much nearer (!), whilst my photo shows how the bird's breeding plumage brown hood is developing.
I was down at Linacre yesterday morning to carry out this month's WeBS walk. It was one of the best walks I've done all year, with record counts for both Mallard and Mandarin Duck.
Totals seen were: 181 Mallard, 179 Mandarin Duck, 69 Tufted Duck, 10 Moorhen, 5 Coot, 48 Black-headed Gull, 9 Goosander (5 males and 4 females, including birds displaying), 2 Grey Wagtail and 2 Little Grebes.
The woodlands were quite quiet, but I was quite surprised to hear a singing Song Thrush on arrival! The final bird of note was Fieldfare, which was heard flying over.
This month's WeBS walk was my first visit to Linacre in November. As is usual at this tine of the year, there were good numbers of waterfowl present, along with a singing Wren, Blackbirds, Jay, Crows, Woodpigeons, Goldcrest, Long-tailed, Blue, Coal and Great Tit, 2 Magpies, 1 Sparrowhawk and a fly over Raven.
Waterfowl counts were: 115 Mallard, 80 Mandarin Duck, 48 Tufted Duck, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Cormorant, 29 Black-headed Gulls, 2 "redhead" Goosander, 11 Moorhens, 4 Coots, 1 Kingfisher and 1 Grey Wagtail.
