More information can also be found on the Protecting Linford Lakes Nature Reserve Facebook site:
Dear Members
It’s with regret and sadness that I have to inform you that Malcolm Stewart passed away on 14th April. He was in Milton Keynes Hospital, suffering from the effects of Prostate Cancer. He died surrounded by family.
Malcolm was a founder member of the Friends of Linford Lakes Nature Reserve (in those days we were The Friends of Hanson Environmental Study Centre), he loved the Nature reserve dearly and served as a Committee Member for many years.
Malcolm was a lovely man of great integrity, honesty and loyalty. He was smart, gentle, funny, interesting and very kind. He was very much loved and is remembered fondly. A rare example of a truly good gent!
We send our condolences to his family.
Hi all,
As predicted, we had a noticeable increase in bird numbers and species this week, largely due to the much more favourable weather conditions compared to recent weeks, and despite there being little in the way of new arrivals since the last session. Totals for the day amounted to 44 birds processed of 18 species, 27 of which were newly ringed.
In the warbler department we had 6 chiffchaffs, 6 blackcaps, 4 cetti's warblers, a willow warbler, and we said hello to our first reed warbler, sedge warbler and whitethroat of the year.
Representing the non-passerines were 2 kingfishers, one of which was newly ringed, and a rather interesting green woodpecker. This bird was originally ringed as an adult in 2015, making it at least 9 years old. It was retrapped last April and at the time, we noted an odd anomaly with its eye colour - one iris was deep red, while the other was a more normal silvery grey, but with flecks of red starting to appear. Comparing today's images with last April's, it shows the red flecks are spreading as the bird ages. The bird was otherwise healthy, and with the longevity record for green woodpecker standing at a smidge over 15 years, we'll hopefully continue to see him around for a few more years to see how the condition develops.
Other birds around the reserve included a great white egret, a raven, a peregrine, two snipe, an oystercatcher, a red kite, a buzzard, and at least two cuckoos. A steady stream of swallows and house martins were passing through and around 10 sand martins spent most of the morning circling the Sand Castle, with a couple seen venturing into the nest holes. Hopefully they liked what they saw and decide to stick around!
Non-avian records included our first grass snake of the year, 3 common shrews, a water shrew, a common newt and a common toad. Butterflies were on the wing with peacock, orange tip and speckled wood all taking advantage of the relatively calm and warm conditions.
Many thanks to Keith and Steve for their help with keeping things ticking over this week.
Cheers!
Kenny
REEBU (3)
CHIFF 2 (4)
BLACA 5 (1)
GRETI 3
ROBIN 1
CETWA 1 (3)
DUNNO 1
WREN 2 (1)
BLUTI 2 (2)
KINGF 1 (1)
WILWA (1)
GREWO (1)
GOLDF 3
SEDWA 1
REEWA 1
LOTTI 2
WHITE 1
MAGPI 1
Here's a suggestion put forward by Mal McGar at the last AGM
what3words – A better way to help all if there is an emergency
For those of you who do not know about this geocoding system app, I will briefly explain how it can help you all.
Go the website (https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app) and you will find a more detailed explanation of all that this FREE app has to offer. As long as you have a smartphone or other device able to log into the web, you can download this app and use it anywhere.
Basically the world has been divided into areas that need just THREE WORDS to denote a precise location. All the emergency services now use this system.
So how can it help you? For instance, you are at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve and you need medical help but you cannot move! Call the ambulance service and give them the ‘what3words’ location. Without it, it will be almost impossible for you to tell them exactly where you are. Saying you are between any two of the hides will mean nothing to them!
Also imagine you come upon an accident on a road you are not familiar with. By using the ‘what3words’ app you can give the emergency services the exact location. Also it can be used to arrange a meeting point if you do not know the area where you are. What if your car breaks down in a strange area? Both the AA and RAC use the app.
Please take the time to look at the website so you can fully understand the benefits of having the app on your phone. Let others know, family and friends, and help them to feel more safe out and about.
Recently I have found people give their news of an interesting bird’s location that seems a bit vague to me. Think how much more helpful if you post your exact position with ‘what3words’ and also give a location as to where you last observed the bird if it flew off.
A final point for thought. Do any of you carry a whistle and torch with you at all times when out birding? Think how that can help you in an emergency!
Mal McGar
I am delighted to advise that the planning application (21/02533/OUT Linford Lakes) submitted in respect of the land adjacent to the Nature Reserve has just been REFUSED by MK Planning Department.
Hi all,
It's hard to believe we have not run a "proper" ringing session at Linford for over a month and a half, but today we properly went for it and it's fair to say the results surpassed expectation!
Although we didn't manage to get all the nets up that we (or more accurately, I...) wanted to due to the essential gardening involved, we handled a total of 161 birds of 22 species, 152 of which were newly ringed.
Warblers led the charge with 30 blackcaps taking up the lion's share and the remainder of the warbler list comprising of 16 reed warblers, 21 chiffchaffs, 2 sedge warblers, 14 garden warbers, 3 lesser whitethroats, 7 common whitethroats, and a single willow warbler.
We also encountered a tit flock which boosted the totals by 16 blue tits, 11 long-tailed tits and 8 great tits with one of the long-tailed tits turning out to be a retrap of a juvenile ringed in 2018!
Other notable captures included 2 goldfinches, a treecreeper, a goldcrest, a green woodpecker and a kingfisher.
Catches of this size cannot be managed without an excellent, experienced and dedicated team, and today I was fortunate to have Keith, Helen, Nick W, Michelle, Beth, Nick C, Claire, Sue and Andrew on hand to assist with lifting, holding, carrying, extracting, ringing, scribing, chatting and generally keeping each other awake! I know Jasper was also sending his good luck vibes from afar, which is scientifically proven by the numbers. Heaven help us the next time he is actually here in person!
Cheers,
Kenny
Today's session can best be described as a mixture of frostbite and sunburn, with an icy start soon giving way to a warm and sunny day.
On the ringing front, we handled 59 birds with a nice mix of 18 species, 28 of which were newly ringed. Retraps may have outweighed the new birds this week but at this time of year, it is the retraps that provide the most valuable data, largely reflecting the migrants that have made it back to their breeding site after a long a perilous journey.
Unsurprisingly, this was a very warbler-centric day with seasonal firsts for willow warbler, sedge warbler, garden warbler, common whitethroat and our first ever adult lesser whitethroat. (Previously we have only caught 1st year birds.) In addition to these new arrivals were 15 blackcaps, 3 reed warblers and 3 cetti's warblers. Notable retraps included a returning blackcap which was ringed as an adult in 2019 and retrapped in each subsequent year, a male cetti's warbler which was ringed in 2020, and best of all, a sedge warbler which was ringed as a juvenile elsewhere in the UK in 2016, making it an impressive 6 years old! (The longevity record for sedge warbler currently stands at 8 years and 8 months).
Other birds of note included 5 reed buntings, one of which was a retrap from 2018, and 3 new greenfinches.
Today's star bird was a retrapped green woodpecker which was ringed way back in December 2015 and hadn't been encountered again until today. This bird is at least 8 years old which is impressive, but still some way short of beating the record of 15 years and 8 days! What was also unusual about this individual is that it had one mostly normal iris (whitish but with a few brown flecks), and one iris which was completely brown. Whether this is simply a sign of ageing, or perhaps some other condition, will require further study!
Birds seen around the reserve included 10 house martins, 3 swallows, 3 common terns, and singles of hobby, raven, cuckoo, barnacle goose, sparrowhawk and red kite.
On the non-avian front we had peacock, brimstone and orange tip butterflies, 3 grass snakes, 2 great crested newts, and a common toad. A probably hairy dragonfly was briefly in a net, but freed itself before a 100% ID could be made.
Huge thanks to Keith, Richard, Helen and Otto for all their help and for quickly adapting to the hot and cold conditions!
Kind regards
Kenny
