Red Knot - Middleton Moor

 Usually just referred to as Knot in the UK as it's the only Knot which regularly occurs here and the vast majority seen in Britain are in the grey none breeding plumage but this bird, which has been at Middleton Moor for a couple of days now, is in breeding plumage and you can see why it gets its name.

Knot

There are only a handful of records each year in Derbyshire so it's a rare visitor to the County. 

I also had a female Ring Ouzel there yesterday which is my first of the year and always great to see.

Ring Ouzel -female

Decent morning at Middleton Moor

I spent yesterday morning at Middleton Moor and certainly felt that I had got my monies worth by the time I left!

First thing, looking from the hide it was immediately obvious that there was a Great Black-backed Gull stood with the Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the edge of the lagoon. I've often wondered when looking through the gulls could I overlook a Great Black-backed and certainly when seen with Lessers the size difference is so obvious that the answer has to be no!.

I think this bird is in its 3rd summer, so not quite adult as can be seen from the brown feathers in the wing and the dark barring on the tail. There has recently been a sighting of the very similar Cape Gull, probably from South Africa, in West Yorkshire but that was an adult so this certainly isn't it.  The Great Black-backed Gull is a rare visitor to Middleton Moor and probably even scarcer now than it was in the past.

Great Black-backed Gull with two Lesser Black-backed

Great Black-backed Gull

Having watched the gull for a while I took a walk, eventually viewing the lagoon from the other side.

As well as the currently resident Little Ringed Plovers a single Ringed Plover was feeding on the shoreline and I noticed another bird landing that looked small for a Curlew and sure enough it was a Whimbrel a scarce but annual visitor.

Whimbrel

I scanned the shoreline again a little later and was very surprised to see another Wood Sandpiper, my third in a week for this very rare visitor which is on its way to breeding grounds in northern Scandinavia.

Wood Sandpiper

There was a lot of heat haze and the birds were distant, but the photos are just about good enough to see what they are.

What else will May produce?

Whinchat - Beeley Triangle

 I wasn't able to locate a Whinchat on Beeley Moor over the weekend. 

I blame the cold and the wind but it didn't stop Dave Griffin who photographed this male by Beeley Triangle on Sunday.

Whinchat - male © David Griffin

Migrant catchup

I was abroad for a month from late March so have spent the 10 days since I got home catching up on the common migrants that have arrived during my absence.

Migrants generally seem to be in good numbers with Blackcaps, Willow and Garden Warblers singing in all the usual locations. Pied Flycatchers were seen in Halldale Wood in the middle of April but then seem to have moved on but are easily found on the other side of the valley.

Pied Flycatcher - male

I usually see Wood Warbler between the 20th and 24th April but there was no sign by the end of April but finally there was a singing male this morning in Halldale Wood.

Wood Warbler

Common Whitethroats also seem plentiful and I've heard a single Lesser Whitethroat several times at Middleton Moor.

I've not been to Elton Common yet but a pair of Yellow Wagtail have been seen there.

I saw my first Cuckoo last weekend, but birds were reported around the 12th April, and I heard Grasshopper Warbler but I've yet to see Whinchat or Hobby but both have been seen in the Beeley Triangle area this week.

Middleton Moor has provided both Sedge and Reed Warblers and a few waders, the best of which were two Wood Sandpiper on 29th April but I saw both Ringed and Little Ringed Plover together there on 1st May.

Wood Sandpiper

Ringed Plover (foreground) and Little Ringed Plover

My first Common Swifts were over Darley Dale on the 30th and Swallow, Sand and House Martins are back at their usual nesting locations.

I've yet to see Spotted Flycatcher but a bird was reported from Hellbank Plantation today, and the Nightjars have yet to arrive.

 So still plenty of the regular migrants to look for and there's always the chance of something rarer.