Linacre- WeBS Walk 17th July 2011

After being postponed yesterday because of the bad weather, I popped out this morning to carry out this month's Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS).  Good numbers of Mallard and Mandarin Duck were about and the first sign of winter was evident in the shape of 2 Cormorants!

Cormorant

Summer migrants that were still around were 2 singing Chiffchaffs, Swallow and 8 House Martins recorded. Counts for this month's WeBS walk were: Mallard (60), Tufted Duck (24), Little Grebe (2 adults, no sign of any juveniles), Coot (8), Moorhen (9), Mandarin Duck (20), Pied Wagtail (1), Grey Wagtail (2),

Linacre - 10th July 2011 Sandpipers Galore!!

A quiet walk this morning with the highlight being 2 Common Sandpipers that were flying around the middle reservoir. We had several sightings at the end of April, so these birds could be the same ones that have been around all summer. More likley though, is that these two are passage birds that have been attracted in by the abundance of mud available at the moment. Whatever the case, they are a great record and really nice to see. No photos of these birds, but here's one from earlier.

Common Sandpiper

Apart from these two birds, the reservoirs were pretty quiet with just Mallard (59), Tufted Duck (24), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1), Grey Wagtail (5), Swift (1), Mandarin (18), Coot (4) and Moorhen (5) recorded.

Maintenance work had begun on the middle reservoir, so here's an exciting photo of a building site!



Linacre - 2nd July 2011 Work begins and a male Pochard!!

The first visit of July provided a nice surprise when a male Pochard was found feeding on the middle reservoir with 23 Tufted Ducks.

Pochard (male)

This is my first ever summer record  at Linacre and in fact the first site record since  March 2009!! Not sure where it's come from, but its always great to add new birds to the list. The 2 juvenile  Little Grebes were still on the bottom reservoir, 2 Grey Herons were seen, including 1 on the nest(?), an amazing total of 7 Grey Wagtails were on the middle reservoir (my highest ever count), and Mallard numbers were quite high with 45 adults and 18 ducklings scattered around the site. There were also 2 broods of Mandarin Duck (6 and 3) and 2 female birds, but unfortunately, no sign of last week's baby Moorhens.

Away from the water 1 Meadow Brown was flying around and a Small Tortoiseshell was found warming up on the boardwalk.

Small Tortoiseshell

Smaller birds were present in good numbers with 8 Swallows, 2 juvenile Robins, Jay, singing Song Thrush and Wren, and a female Blackcap all being seen around the reservoirs.

As regular readers will know, the water levels in all three reservoirs have been dropped over the last few months to allow for essential maintenance work to be carried out. Well, it appears the work has now  begun with a new access road being built by the bottom reservoir. Here's the first pictures- lovely!!

Linacre -26th June 2011 Patch tick!!

This time of year can sometimes be a little dull bird wise at Linacre, so when I set off for a walk this morning I wasn't really expecting anything exciting to report. How wrong I was! As well as a lovely pair of Bullfinch feeding on some "weeds" sticking out of the dam wall and a Moorhen with a pair of chicks (first of the year) on the middle reservoir I also found a new bird for the site - a juvenile Little Ringed Plover!!!!

Little Ringed Plover

The bird was first spotted feeding along the muddy edge of the top reservoir and watched for a good fifteen minutes. At first I wasn't 100% sure which plover species it was, but looking in Collins, (the best field guide ever!) it was soon obviously a LRP, with its narrow,black beak, yellowy legs and small, yellow orbital ring around the eye. Brilliant record! Perhaps with so much mud exposed we might get a few more passage waders dropping in this year- fingers crossed.

Other birds spotted this morning were Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Mandarin (3 broods), Mallard (2 broods), Coot (2!), Swallow (10),Swift (1), House Martin (2), Great Crested Grebe (2), and Tufted Duck (15).

Other sightings of note were 5 Meadow Brown butterflies and a beautiful group of 100+ orchids, which, after a quick google search, appear to be Common spotted Orchid. Let me know if that's not right please.

Common spotted Orchid

Blackcap at Linacre- breeding confirmed!!

Just been on the website of the Sheffield Bird Study Group where there's a report of a male Blackcap visiting a nest with food. This is our first actual evidence of breeding, although its been presumed every year. Good record.

Also of note was a record of a juvenile Kingfisher, the first of this species this year. Kingfisher are usually reported in the summer months and I presume this individual will be a newly fledged bird from further down the valley. Again, great to see.

Kingfisher

Black-necked Grebes - beautiful birds!!!

Spent a few hours over at RSPB Old Moor in Barnsley as my Father's Day treat on Sunday. Unfortunately the weather wasn't playing, with grey clouds and a strongish wind. Despite this however, I managed to get some good birds (as always) and a new tick for me in the shape of a Tree Bumblebee!!

First up, birdwise, were the hundreds of Black-headed Gull chicks. They were everywhere!! Most were pretty well developed and spent most of the time sat around preening.

Juvenile Black-headed Gull

The next birds I saw were two stunning adult summer plumaged Black-necked Grebes swimming on The Mere from the Family Hide.These birds have been present for over a week now and can, at times, show really well. No photos of these birds, but here's one I took a few years ago in West Yorkshire.

Black-necked Grebe

As well as the young Black-headed Gulls, lots of other species were also in full breeding mode with juveniles of the following species seen: Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Little Grebe, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Gadwall and Pochard (my first ever!!). Other species still on eggs or feeding young included Lapwing and Sedge Warbler. Three species of wader were seen: Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover and Redshank, but no young were spotted. Avocets have bred successfully for the first time this year, but we didn't see them today! Don't know where they were! Swifts, Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins were all feeding over the water. The latter species was using the high tech Sand Martin nesting bank, bought with donations from many groups including our very own Chesterfield RSPB Group.

Sand Martin bank

On the way back to the car the sun had come out so I stopped off to look at some bees. I spotted one that I thought might be a Tree Bumblebee, so took a few shots, before it flew off. I uploaded the pictures to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust's website and they very kindly emailed me back to confirm the identification.

Tree Bumblebee

This bee is a relative newcomer to the UK having only arrived here for the first time in 2001, but has been spreading north ever since. It's quite easy to identify, so if you want to find one for yourself this summer have a look on the above link.

RSPB Farm Walk - 18th June 2011

This morning I carried out my third and final walk as part of  the RSPB's Volunteer and Farmer Alliance programme at the farm in Blyth, Nottinghamshire.The weather stayed dry, the poppies looked amazing and several new species were added to the list including evidence of breeding for the BTO's Bird Atlas.

Poppies

First up this morning were singing Chaffinch and a family party of Blue Tit. Walking around through the waist-high grass I also found several Whitethroat, which were alarm calling and probably had nests nearby. A pair of Reed Buntings was a new bird for this site, but the highlight of the morning,was the 3 Yellow Wagtails, which included one male complete with a beak full of food -  evidence of breeding!! Here's an awful shot of him perched up on a tree.

Yellow Wagtail

The Skylarks were still in good voice and on the way back at the end of the walk I was lucky enough to come across this beautiful young Roe Deer who had got split up from his mum and brother/sister, who were standing some distance away in the woods. I stood still on the path and he/she walked straight towards me until he was just 5m away!! I managed to get a decent shot before he realised I wasn't mum and hopped off into the woods!

Roe Deer