Milton Keynes - Linford Lakes Nature Reserve Ringing Report 2025

  

 

Milton Keynes - Linford Lakes Nature Reserve Annual Ringing Report 2025

Summary

2025 was another highly successful year for bird ringing at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve. Despite a reduction in effort compared with recent years, with 26 ringing days completed compared to 30 in 2024, a total of 2,158 birds were processed, comprising 1,768 newly ringed birds and 390 retraps. This represents the third-highest annual total since ringing began at the site in 2014.

A total of 50 species were processed during the year, increasing the cumulative Linford ringing list to 73 species. New additions included Buzzard, Lapwing and Pied Wagtail. Other notable highlights included a record annual total of seven Lesser Whitethroats, the first confirmed breeding success from a Tawny Owl nest box installed near the Heronry Hide, and successful use of new catching techniques including whoosh netting and roost catching.

Although the exceptional siskin and redpoll influx experienced during 2024 did not recur, these were partially compensated by a nationally significant number of yellow wagtails. The results continue to demonstrate the importance of Linford Lakes as a breeding, migratory and post-breeding staging site for a wide range of wetland, woodland and farmland birds.

Three winter ringing sessions were also held in the community orchard at Woughton-on-the-Green. Although this report focuses on Linford Lakes as our main study site, the Community Orchard has become an increasingly useful supplementary ringing site, particularly during the winter months when activity at Linford Lakes can be quieter.

All data collected during 2025 contributes to long-term monitoring of bird populations at both local and national scales and provides a strong foundation for future work, including roost studies, tern monitoring, heronry monitoring and the development of additional trapping techniques.

Sunrise at Linford Lakes.

 

Ringing Sites

Linford Lakes Nature Reserve, managed by The Parks Trust, is one of Buckinghamshire's most important inland wetland sites, situated within the Great Ouse floodplain on the northern edge of Milton Keynes. Created from former gravel workings, the reserve now supports a diverse mosaic of open water, reedbed, wet woodland, scrub and grassland habitats that attract a rich community of breeding, wintering and migratory birds.

Since the 1970s, the site has developed a strong tradition of ornithological research, monitoring and conservation management. Today, under the stewardship of The Parks Trust, habitat management focuses on maintaining and enhancing the reserve's value for wildlife through reedbed restoration, scrub management, water-level control and species monitoring.

Regular bird ringing has taken place at Linford Lakes since the 1980s. In its current form, our group has been ringing at the reserve since 2014, contributing data to national monitoring schemes coordinated by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and helping to improve our understanding of bird populations, productivity, survival and migration.

    

The Community Orchard at Woughton-on-the-Green, also managed by The Parks Trust with support from the Mid Shires Orchard Group, was planted in 1976 by the Milton Keynes Development Corporation and provides an important mix of traditional orchard, rough grassland, hedgerow and scrub habitats.

Although relatively small, this is a true urban oasis supporting a diverse range of birds, invertebrates and mammals, while the mature fruit trees offer valuable nesting and foraging opportunities throughout the year. Its sheltered nature and abundance of berries, seeds and overwintering insects attract a range of woodland species, complementing the wetland-focused monitoring undertaken at Linford and providing valuable additional insights into the bird populations of the wider Milton Keynes. 

   

Linford Lakes 2025 Overview

Ringing activity at Linford Lakes during 2025 continued to operate at a high level, consolidating the site’s position as one of the most productive inland ringing locations in Buckinghamshire. Overall effort was slightly reduced with 26 ringing days compared to the recent best of 30 in 2024 and 38 in the covid-assisted peak of 2020. This was partly driven by weather, and partly due to lack of availability of the ringer-in-charge who had purposefully earmarked this year to maximize ringing opportunities farther afield. Despite this, ringing output, species diversity, and the ecological insights gained remained among the strongest on record.

Year on Year Summary

Review of the Year

2025 got off to a modest start in terms of numbers, reflecting the absence of the exceptional siskin and redpoll invasions that dominated early 2024. The early part of the year therefore saw us focus our efforts on the Community Orchard at Woughton which has traditionally been a good wintering site for Redwing and Fieldfare. The mild and wet conditions were not ideal for thrush species, but we did connect with four Ring-necked Parakeets from the locally established flock which presented a new extraction experience for the trainees present.

 

 

March saw us returning to Linford during the transitional period where wintering birds including snipe and redwing were departing and being replaced by summer migrants including our first chiffchaffs and blackcaps.

Spring highlights included the ringing of two Tawny Owl chicks which represented the first confirmed
breeding from a nest box installed two years previously, and the second brood to be ringed at Linford, providing a clear demonstration of the value of targeted nest box provision.

 

Late May saw us put some targeted effort into monitoring reed warbler nests and out of 20+ nests located, 6 contained chicks of a suitable size for ringing. In total 23 chicks were ringed providing valuable data including precise age and nesting locations.

 

 

Moving from May into June, we found ourselves back in peak Cuckoo season, and once again Linford proved itself as a hot spot for these elusive and declining birds. In total, seven individuals were
processed consisting of six new birds, and one which was originally ringed in 2022, retrapped twice in 2023, but not seen in 2024. Sadly, there was no sign of our oldest ringed cuckoo, DT04157, which was last seen in 2023. Our assumption is that he is no longer with us.

 

Once again, we encountered good numbers of common warblers, with Reed and Sedge Warbler totals continuing a strong upward trend year on year. This reflects the
conservation efforts to regenerate the reedbed on the bund and its importance for both breeding and passage birds. Moving forward it will be important to manage this reed bed sensitively to ensure that willows do not take over, while ensuring enough reed bed is preserved to provide adequate nesting habitat.

  

It was a record year for Lesser Whitethroat, with seven birds processed — the highest annual total recorded at the site to date. Blackcap and Willow Warbler numbers were down 52% and 24% year on year respectively; however, this can be attributed to the lack of ringing sessions during the peak Autumn migration period. In contrast, Chiffchaff numbers increased to 213 birds, representing the second-highest annual total recorded at Linford and continuing the strong upward trend observed over the last decade. Garden Warblers were slightly down, but overall, the numbers processed remained high at 62 while Whitethroat and Cetti’s Warbler numbers were around their long-term average. Grasshopper Warbler remains something of a rarity with the last one having been ringed in 2020.

Other species that seem to be doing well included Greenfinch, which continues to bounce back from the recent population crash due to the parasitic infection trichomonosis. Excluding the exceptional year of 2024 where the totals were likely boosted by an irruption from Scandinavia, 96 birds is more than double the next best year. Goldcrest numbers also increased, reaching 36 after dropping as low as 10, but not quite back to their peak of 49.

  

One species that had a challenging year was Wren which declined by 62% year on year. Wrens can fluctuate massively depending on winter survival so although this is quite a sharp drop, hopefully they will bounce back in future years.

 During late summer and early autumn, several experimental roost catch attempts were made — an approach not previously explored in depth at the site — and these proved spectacularly successful, resulting in 163 Swallows, 28 Sand Martins and an unprecedented 79 Yellow Wagtails. For context, there were 223 Yellow Wagtails ringed in the whole of the UK last year, making this very much a nationally significant total.

Such numbers underline the national value of targeted roost-catching for understanding post-breeding dispersal and movement in declining farmland and aerial insectivore species. Together, these results demonstrate the value of expanding the range of techniques employed at the site to better sample under-recorded species and behaviours.

 

Whoosh netting was another new technique successfully employed during the autumn, expanding the range of species caught and adding Lapwing and Pied Wagtail to the Linford ringing list, along with the first Moorhens to be ringed at the site in five years.

 

As we progressed through Autumn we had a modest passage of meadow pipits amounting to eight birds which was a bit lower than usual but likely due to a reduction in targeted effort. A single Tree Pipit was ringed which has been the norm for the past 3 years. A young sparrowhawk was the first since 2023.

   In October we started to record our first Redpolls and Siskins of the season. 15 Redpolls was a good number but obviously massively down from their 2024 invasion when we processed 115 birds. This drop was even more pronounced for Siskins which went from 126 last year to just 2. 2024 was truly an exceptional year for Siskin when, for the first time ever, it was the second most ringed species in the UK behind Blue Tit.

 

 Hampered by weather, only one full session was possible in December, but this final session brought another successful year to a close on a high with a young buzzard being ringed — another new species for the site, and further evidence that Linford Lakes continues to support a diverse ecosystem.

 

Taken together, the results from 2025 provide a strong platform for further targeted work in future years, particularly around roost catching, and the development of additional catching methods, including the provision of tern rafts, heronry monitoring, and duck decoys, to support the continued expansion of the diversity of species monitored. This will also provide training opportunities for future generations of ringers who may go on to develop their own studies.

 

The Sand Castle

Sadly no nesting activity was recorded in the Sand Martin nesting bank in 2025. We suspect that water was getting in through the roof and seeping into the nesting chambers. In an effort to curtail water ingress, the sand was removed from the roof to allow a new waterproof liner to be applied and secured round the edges. Finally the sand was replaced and so far it seems that the interior is staying dry. In addition to the roof improvements, an automatic bird caller was installed in an attempt to attract arriving or displaced birds during the 2026 season. Time will tell if these efforts produce better results in the coming year. Special thanks to Richard G for his help with this back-breaking job.

Recoveries and resightings

Although we had no overseas records this year, it was still a good year for ring recoveries and resightings. The longest time elapsed between ringing and resighting was from a Reed Warbler that was ringed at Linford, then had its ring read in the field by an eagle-eyed birder some 4 and a half years later in neighbouring Bradville. The furthest distance travelled was tied between a Reed Warbler and a Sedge Warbler, both moving 164km south east to East Sussex within a couple of weeks of being ringed.

 Full Species List

Looking Ahead

2026 is already shaping up to be another memorable and productive one. We have two new trainees, Tash and Emma, who have officially joined the team. We made our first visit to the heronry and ringed our first two heron chicks. Hopefully we will be able to make a return visit to ring a few little egrets in the coming weeks. Two tern rafts are currently under construction which we hope to be completed in the near future. While it may be a bit late for the current year, this should add an interesting new dimension to the 2027 breeding season. We also hope to see if we can repeat last year’s incredible roost catching success. We continue to have productive dialog with The Parks Trust and are confident that we have a strong plan moving forward that will support biodiversity, create new opportunities for breeding birds and further strengthen Linford’s position as a nationally important nature reserve.

Acknowledgements

A huge amount of hard work and dedication goes into the ongoing care of sites like Linford Lakes and the Community Orchard before ringing can even be considered, and with that in mind, I would like to thank Carla Boswell, Kyra Turner, Lewis Dickinson and everyone at the Parks Trust for everything they do and for their continued support with our ringing activities.

There are also an array of volunteer groups who contribute massively to making these sites so special, educating people as to the importance of creating spaces for wildlife, and helping to protect the sites for future generations to enjoy. These include Friends of Linford Lakes Nature Reserve https://fohescnews.blogspot.com/, Mid-Shires Orchard Group https://www.facebook.com/midshiresorchardgroup/?locale=en_GB, Milton Keynes Green Gym https://miltonkeynesgreengym.co.uk/, Milton Keynes Swan Rescue https://mkswanrescue.org/, Milton Keynes Natural History Society https://mknhs.org.uk/, Bucks Bird Club https://www.bucksbirdclub.co.uk/ , The Parks Trust https://www.theparkstrust.com/and almost certainly others that I have missed.

I would like to extend my gratitude to anyone who has ever bought a permit, attended an event, volunteered for a work party or simply stopped to pick up a piece of litter. Collectively all of these contributions make a massive difference.

Last but by no means least, these results are a direct result of countless hours of hard work from a dedicated and passionate group of ringers and helpers who give up many of their weekends (and most of their sleep) to come and help me drag gear through mosquito infested reed beds. Most casual observers have no idea of the time and energy that ringing requires and I continue to be humbled by the level of commitment from this incredible team.

Massive thanks to our chief scribe and net setter, Keith Gander. My wing man and all round bad influence, Richard Geary. Jasper Withnail whose continued ability to sleep on a folding chair despite his increasing dimensions genuinely inspires me. Helen Franklin for ensuring we behave and don’t starve. My trainees Michelle, Beth, Elliot, Sally, and Simon. Please keep coming back! And to everyone else who has popped in to lend a hand during 2025 – Neil McMahon, Miles Geary, Louise McCartney, Dave Willis, Toby Moran-Mylett, Penny Airs, Michelle Spinks, Olivia Neilson, Jane Neill, Otto Kyrieleis, Jake and Emma Thomas and anyone else I may have missed.