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