An Osprey at Chatsworth and more migrant arrivals

 After the unseasonally warm weather at the end of March it looked like spring migrants would be flooding in with Willow Warbler at the end of that month, as noted below, and a Common Redstart at Carsington and Swallows also at several locations. Since then however it has been very cold with some frosty nights and snow falling on the hills which has slowed, if not quite stopped migration in to the area.

House Martins have been noted at several locations but only the odd one or two so far whilst Sand Martins and Swallows have continued to increase in numbers, returning to their favoured locations.

The most unexpected arrival however was a Wood Warbler in Darley Dale on the 6th April. Checking in the Birds Of Derbyshire there is just one earlier record on the 5th April 1995. It's certainly the earliest I've ever seen by about 2 weeks! 

Wood Warbler

I was lucky to see an Osprey this morning circling over Chatsworth and carrying half a fish. It looked like it was searching for a place to land but slowly drifted north.

Osprey with fish

With cool weather forecast for the next few days it looks like arrivals will be slow, but at least the penetrating cold wind has gone so it should be easier to look for migrants.