I've made several visits to Middleton Moor recently in the hope of seeing something a little different and yesterday I was rewarded with a lone Knot stood amongst the Lapwings. Plentiful on our coastal estuaries it's a scarce bird inland but unfortunately it didn't stay long. The Lapwing were disturbed and it left high to the south with them.
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| Knot with Lapwing |
The persistent low cloud curtailed my trip to the moor this morning so I had a look around Darley Dale and was very surprised to see a pair of Goldeneye on the Whitworth Pond. I have never heard of a sighting there before and it's only about my fourth for the local area with the last at Chatsworth in 2013!
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| Common Goldeneye - male and female |
The long staying female Teal was still present a couple of days ago but I didn't really look for it this morning, the photo below is from the end of October.
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| Eurasian Teal - female |
More birds have been arriving with good numbers of Fieldfare joining the Redwing in the last week. My first Water Rail of the autumn was calling at Long Meadows (by the Care Home) in Darley Dale at the end of October.
There has been a widespread influx of Hawfinch, particularly to southern Britain but there were two over Beeley Moor on 26th October and a single there on 1st November with up to 9 at Brackenfield Church by Ogston and several at Carsington so it's a bird to look out for.
I saw my first Brambling of the autumn on Monday (14th ) at Middleton Moor but since then I have seen several more. After a day of rain on Wednesday there was a large movement of Redwing over Beeley Moor on Thursday with over 3,000 birds counted in the morning and with them were several Brambling as well as small groups of Lesser Redpoll, which have been scarce recently. This morning I had three more Brambling on Bent Lane whilst looking for a Ring Ouzel which had been seen there yesterday, unfortunately it was misty so the photos are not the best.
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| Brambling male and female |
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| Caspian Gull - adult |
My first Whooper Swan of the autumn dropped on to Middleton Moor this morning but didn't stay long before flying off to the west.
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| Whooper Swan |
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| Goosander |
Hot on the heels of Great White Egrets at Chatsworth and Middleton Moor, Pam and I came across another at Harthill Pond (New Dam) at Youlgrave today. They are definitely on the move and a record count of 8 at Audenshaw Reservoir, Manchester at the weekend suggests it might be to the North West.
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| Great White Egret |
More thrushes about today with at least 80 in conifers in Matlock Forest and the flock included my first Fieldfare of the autumn. There was also a nice group of 10 Common Crossbill, which are the first I've seen for several weeks.
For those concerned about the potential development of Matlock Forest there is a meeting of the Save Matlock Forest Group on 22nd October at the Whitworth at 7pm. They have also produced a website with details about the campaign to stop the construction of 75 holiday lodges in Farley Moor which you can find here.
There was a decent passage of birds moving up the Cathole by Harewood Moor at the weekend with Wood Pigeons, Redwings and finches on the move. The number of birds attracted some predators with both adult and juvenile Goshawk and my first Merlin of the year, which showed several times as it chased Meadow Pipits.
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| Eurasian Goshawk - adult female |
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| Merlin - rather distant female |
A had a single Red Grouse on the Triangle yesterday and then saw two flying near Wraggs Quarry and I thni three birds is now the total for Beeley Moor with perhaps a couple of pairs on East Moor. I think the bird in the photograph below is a juvenile with its rather dark plumage and lack of pale edges to the flanks. So the positive news is that they are still breeding, but raising a single yougster is unlikely to sustain the population. I have seen them crossing Harland Edge so there is some interchange with the East Moor birds.
A recent taxanomic decision by the International Ornithological Congress has elevated the Red Grouse back to full species status Lagopus scotica from its previous position as a race of Willow Grouse, Lagopus lagopus. With the likely future treatment of Scottish Crossbill as a race of Common Crossbill it will be the Uk's only endemic species.
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| Red Grouse |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Great White Egret |
Another cool morning witnessed the arrival of small numbers of thrushes and finches over Beeley Moor coming up the Cathole from Holymoorside.
At least 7 Redwing were seen but there were also Song Thrushes moving as well which made identification difficult in very overcast conditions. Fortunately some of the thrushes were calling and we were able to confirm our identification with sonograms from the recordings.
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| Redwing (upper) and Song Thrush over Beeley Moor |
Walking along the river towards Chatsworth this morning a heron sized bird flew past towards Beeley and I was surprised to see that it was a Great White Egret. It circled over Beeley Village, gaining height, then drifted off towards Rowsley. I was even more surprised therefore 45 minutes later to see either the same bird, or possibly another sat in the conifer tree just south of Chatsworth House.
It looked like it was feeding in the channel running from the bottom of the cascade steps as it flew down several times before returning to the same tree and with a Grey Heron on one occasion.
We saw two Little Egrets along the river so two species of egret in the Peak District is still good going despite numbers of both species continuing to increase in the south of the County.
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| Great White Egret - Chatsworth - top right in the upper photo |
Yesterday I had seen a juvenile Herring Gull with the Black-headed Gulls in Bakewell, which is a scarce bird locally, but hadn't got my camera with me si I returned this morning hoping it had come back with the other gulls. There was no sign although the gulls often turn up late morning, so it may still appear.
There was however a Common Pochard with three Tufted Duck which made the journey worthwhile, This is only my second record of Common Pochard although they can get several hundred at Carsington in the winter.
It has a very pale mantle which is suggestive of a male but lacks the adult males red head and eye and black chest so probably a juvenile male.
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| Common Pochard - probably juvenile/1st winter male |
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| Herring Gull |
Belated news of a juvenile Red-backed Shrike photographed (below) in a Bakewell Garden on 13th September confirms that migrant birds can, and do, turn up in unlikely locations! The bird was looked for in the following days but wasn't seen again.
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| Red-backed Shrike - juvenile |
Since then there was one recorded at Lumsdale in July in 1951, Masson Hill in August 1960 and Taddington in October 1976 so it could be a while before the next record.
Having been abroad for almost a month it was good to get back to the moors yesterday and Chatsworth today. With another inversion, the day started misty at Chatsworth but I hadn't walked far before I heard the sound of Pink-footed Geese overhead, my first of the autumn and always great to hear. Unfortunately I couldn't see them due to the mist but I did see another skein later.
I was surprised and pleased to see a Little Egret still present by the river below the House but the bird of the day was a female Shoveler which flew up with a small group of Teal when a Grey Heron disturbed them from the pool they had been feeding on.
My last record locally was at Chatsworth in November 2015 and it's only about my sixth for the Patch so a scarce visitor here.
Northern Shoveler female (top right) with Eurasian Teal
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| Little Egret |
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| Pink-footed Geese |
A nice surprise this morning when a Common Greenshank flew south down the river in front of Chatsworth House. Typically it was the distinctive call that got me on to it, and if it hadn't called I would probably have missed it. There was a bird at Middleton Moor yesterday so it could have been that bird continuing south.
It's only my fourth record for the area with one on Flash Lane on 7 August last year, 2 over Beeley Moor on 23rd May 2023 and another at Chatsworth on 10th August 2020.
Still two Little Egret at Chatsworth although one flew off heading south.
Common Greenshank
I've been back to look at the gulls in the Elton Common area and yesterday they were on and around the Y-Not Festival site. Talking to the people doing the clean up after the festival it seems the gulls have been finding plenty to scavenge around the site.
I counted at least 700 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and found 7 adult type and a single juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls. I would love to know where they are from, and there must be a chance of finding one with a colour ring one day, perhaps the French Atlantic or even Mediterranean coast.
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| Yellow-legged Gulls -top two adults, bottom juvenile |
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| Roe Deer - buck |
The breeding season is drawing to a close now and many birds have already departed their breeding sites. Wood Warblers and Pied Flycatchers have left the woodlands and Curlew and Snipe have already left the moors.
Today I was able to confirm that the Kingfisher has bred locally again with an adult and two juveniles at Chatsworth where I also had a Spotted Flycatcher feeding fledged young.
Common Kingfisher adult and two juveniles
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| Spotted Flycatcher adult |
A late afternoon visit to Beeley Moor proved better than expected when an adult female Hen Harrier flew across the moor from Fallinge to Harland Edge. It was very distant but managed a record shot.
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| Hen Harrier - adult female |
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| Little Egret |
A male Whinchat held territory on Beeley Moor from late May in to June and I had hoped that it would breed, but despite several searches I have not been unable to find any juveniles and suspect the male either remained unpaired or the attempt failed. However, I did find an adult female on the fence line above Harthill Pond in Youlgrave earlier this week.
Coincidentally, there were also records from Carr Vale and Ogston Reservoir on the same day, all the records were of adults and perhaps signals a departure of the adults from their breeding grounds.
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| Whinchat - adult female |
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| Hobby - second calendar year bird, lacking the red undertail and already moulting some primary feathers |
I perhaps haven't looked too hard this year and the weather was very poor in June but still it's very late for my first of the year. Hopefully I'll see more in the coming months as I usually record them through to mid-September.
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| Common Lizard |
The number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls has been steadily increasing in the recently mown cereal fields in the Elton Common area and today I saw at least two adult Yellow-legged Gulls with them, just beyond Pikehall.
The Yellow-legged Gulls breed on the continent and disperse north, post breeding, arriving on the Channel coast in early July with some continuing north. Most of my records are adult or sub-adult birds but it may be that younger birds are overlooked amongst the similar looking Lesser Black-backs.
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| Yellow-legged Gull - adult |
In the last few days I've seen a couple of broods of Tufted Ducks in the Bakewell area. Both looked to have 3 ducklings, at Bakewell Bridge and Ashford Lake.
Tufted Duck female with duckling
A Common Sandpiper at Bakewell was the first I've seen there and nice to see a juvenile Dipper.
This year has been one of the best I can recall for Common Cuckoo records on the moors with as many as six males being present. I had wondered if I might manage to see a juvenile this year, and today I did.
I think I must have seen the odd juvenile in the past, but I can't recall having done so, and they are certainly scarce. I think they head south soon after fledging, following the adults, which have mostly departed already, to Africa.
Todays bird seemed to be attached to a Meadow Pipit which was presumably the foster parent and I was a little sad to think that this might well be the last cuckoo I see this year.
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| Common Cuckoo - juvenile |
A male Lesser Whitethroat, almost certainly one of a pair was singing between Winster and Birchover during the week. Although I see, or hear, odd Lesser Whitethroats elsewhere this is the only area where they breed with any regularity and it's difficult to understand why as similar habitat is fairly widespread in the White Peak.
On a similar vein I caught up with Yellow Wagtail today at Pikehall. Most years I get a pair at Elton Common but I could not find them there this year although there were one or two reported. So I went a little further and came across a singing male with a female so presumably breeding.
The Common Quail was calling there again today but no sign of any on Bonsall Moor this year.
Yellow Wagtail - male
Another very scarce breeding bird was encountered yesterday at Chatsworth when Pam and I flushed a Green Woodpecker from the grass by the river. I've seen or heard them several times during April and May so again presumably breeding in the area.
Green Woodpecker
At least one pair of Little Grebes have successfully hatched young on the River Lathkill. I usually have a couple of pairs at Chatsworth but, although I see one or two adults I've not seen any sign of nesting this year.
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| Little Grebe |
Gulls are starting to appear on the upland fields where grass cutting has commenced. I counted 70 Lesser Black-backed at Pike Hall recently and 40 on the fields by the Alicehead crossroads has an adult Herring Gull with them. Hopefully we'll get a few Yellow-legged as the summer progresses.
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| Herring Gull |
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| Pink-footed Goose |