Linacre Year Tick - 11th December 2011

Even at this late stage of the year it's still possible to see new birds and so it was this morning when, during a short walk, I found a male Goldeneye swimming around on the middle reservoir. To be fair this bird had been reported on Birdguides on Thursday, so I didn't really discover it, but nonetheless, it was a great bird to see. The last report we have was way back in November 2009 when a redhead (female or juvenile bird) was present for a short while. Hopefully he'll hang around for a while. He's a crummy picture of him.

Goldeneye

As well as the Goldeneye there were excellent numbers of Mallard around (118- the highest count this year!), 4 Pied Wagtails were feeding on the bottom reservoir, 1 Grey Heron flew down the valley and  32 Mandarins, 29 Black-headed Gulls, 6 Moorhens, 19 Tufted Duck, 5 Coots, 1 Great-cretsed Grebe and 1 Little Grebe were also present.

The best was saved for last, however, when I spotted this gorgeous, pale Common Buzzard feeding in the "sheep fields" by the top most carpark. Quite often these magnificent birds of prey are seen feeding on the ground, presumably collecting earthworms and other insects. Today's bird was very confiding and I even managed to get a few photos. Enjoy. How anyone can want to harm these creatures is beyond me!

Common Buzzard

Linacre - 4th December 2011

Another weekend of wind and rain put pay to any ringing again (drat!), so I had another walk around Linacre to see how the works were coming on and to see if anything exciting had dropped in. The works are coming on fine, but unfortuntaely nothing unusual was spotted. Last week's amazing Pied Wagtail count wasn't repeated with just 2 birds seen and heard.

Other waterbirds recorded on the reservoirs were: Mallard (110), Coot (7), Moorhen (9), Tufted Duck (22), Mandarin (16), Grey Heron (1 fishing on the bottom reservoir), Great-crested Grebe (1 adult), Little Grebe (2 on middle reservoir), Grey Wagtail (1) and Black-headed Gull (40).

The woods were quite quiet this morning, but there were 2 Common Buzzards feeding in the fields by the main entrance, Bullfinch were heard, but not seen, a Willow Tit was heard briefly and a Great-spotted Woodpecker was seen.

Linacre -27th November 2011- Record breaking Wagtails!

No ringing this weekend due to the high winds, so I popped down to Linacre for a proper walk around all three reservoirs. It's two weeks since I was last here and the first thing that struck me was the very low water levels on the bottom reservoir, at least half what they were on my last visit.

Lower reservoir

Despite the lack of water I did spot a Grey Heron down here and, to my complete surprise, an enormous count of 14, yes 14 Pied Wagtails!! Before this year Pied Wagtail has been quite a rare bird here, but since the water levels dropped, we've had an increasing number, with today's count being the highest ever. Long may it continue.

Other waterbirds present this afternoon were Mandarin Duck (22), Tufted Duck (19), Great-crested Grebe (1 adult), Little Grebe (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Mallard (100), Coot (12), Moorhen (13) and Black-headed Gull (13).

Woodland birds were in short supply today, presumably due to the high winds, but I did record the usual tits (Blue, Great and Long tailed), along with a screeching Jay, singing Wren and calling Nuthatch.

The building works appear to be making good progress as can be seen in the pictures below. Hopefully we should be able to get around the site properly in the new year.

The new bridge and overflow on the middle reservoir.

New path to the bottom reservoir.

Linacre WeBS Walk - 19th November 2011

A quick post to let you know about this month's WeBS walk, carried out by four volunteers. Thanks you to you all.

This month's sightings were: Mallard (75), Great-crested Grebe (1), Little Grebe (2), Coot (12), Moorhen (5), Tufted Duck (19), Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Black-headed Gull (58) and Mandarin (1).

Apart from the Mandarin, numbers were pretty much "normal" for this time of the year. I'd love to know where they go. Any ideas?

Although the WeBS walk looks primarily at the water birds we also record any other wildlife seen including 2 very late Red Admiral butterflies, the usual woodland birds and Willow Tit, Goldcrest and Bullfinch.

New ringing ticks!

Another weekend and another morning's ringing with yet more ringing ticks in the shape of Coal Tit, Dunnock, Robin and House and Tree Sparrow.

This morning's ringing took place at a farm near Belper and, after a quiet start, we ended up with 61 birds ringed. My personal totals were: Coal Tit (1), Chaffinch (1 female), Blue Tit (3), Dunnock (1), House Sparrow (2; 1 male and 1 female), Tree Sparrow (2 new and 1 retrap), Robin (1) and Wren (1 retrap).
Here are afew pictures of the sparrows ringed this morning.

Tree Sparrow

Female House Sparrow

Male House Sparrow



Ringing at the Avenue - 13th November 2011

Wow, what a morning - 88 birds ringed including a Jay, a Redwing and a Great-spotted Woodpecker! To add to this I also got the chance to ring my first birds which was a great feeling!

Jay

My first ringing tick was this Great Tit, which was aged as an adult, male bird. Sorry about the picture quality, but it was still quite dark and dreary when I took the photo and the camera double flashed.

Great Tit

Other birds that I managed to ring today, and which therefore, are ringing ticks were; Greenfinch (4), Blue Tit (1 + 1 retrap), Goldfinch (3), Chaffinch (1), Bullfinch (1), Lotti (1 retrap), Yellowhammer (1), Robin (1) and  Blackbird (1).

My first Blackbird ready for ringing!

The Blackbird was really good, because it was the largest bird I've handled yet and when compared to the Blue Tits and finches I've been used to it felt enormous! As well as this the individual that I had was an absolutely gorgeous adult male - lovely bird!

Other birds ringed by the group today were; Redwing (1), Willow Tit (1), Reed Bunting (3) and Dunnock (2).

Linacre - 12th November 2011

Another hour long visit this morning was, on the whole, pretty quiet. There were however, 4 Teal on the middle reservoir, which could have been some of those seen earlier in the autumn, or possibly new birds. Whichever way, they seemed quite settled and will hopefully remain for some time yet. 2 Linnets were also spotted feeding on vegetation on the wall of the top reservoir, but didn't want to be photographed! Common Buzzard was heard, but not seen.

Other water birds seen today were; Mallard (81), Moorhen (5), Coot (8), Tufted Duck (17), Pied Wagtail (1), Grey Wagtail (1 heard), Black-headed Gull (5), Great-crested Grebe (1 adult), Little Grebe (1) and Mandarin (11).

Away from the birds, I managed to find a patch of Fly Agaric fungi and some other small fungi which I believe are Waxcaps.

Fly Agaric

Waxcap species