Cetti's Warbler - Youlgrave

 A nice walk from Alport to Youlgrave yesterday along the river Bradford produced Kingfisher and Little Egret but the star bird was undoubtedly a Cetti's Warbler which was calling repeatedly and moving quickly upstream towards the road bridge at the bottom of the village. 

It showed well for a Cetti's Warbler but I wasn't quick enough with the camera, but did manage to record the distinctive call on my eBird checklist here.

Although I have had the long staying bird at Middleton this year this is the first for my 10km patch centered on Darley Dale.

Whooper Swans - Middleton Moor

 Went up to Middleton this morning without any great hopes as I assumed, correctly, that it would still be largely frozen. So I was surprised to see a nice herd of 10 Whoopers Swans in the small area of open water.

Whooper Swan

They departed east whilst calling loudly at 10:45, just as it started to rain. I managed a nice recording of the calls which is on my eBird checklist here.

It's remained warm so hopefully the ice will thaw quickly.

Hawfinch - St Helen's Church, Darley Dale

 Despite several searches in the early part of the winter it wasn't until 1st January that a single Hawfinch was seen briefly by Alan at St Helen's. 

I made several visits to the churchyard in the first week of January but didn't manage to see the hawfinch until yesterday when it perched up for a few seconds in a Sycamore before it dropped out of view in to the Darley Yew.

Today Simon saw three birds together so things are looking up. They have been scarce in the County so far this winter with up to 3 birds seen at Cromford but most reports have been of just a single bird.

Hawfinch

Generally its been a fairly quiet start to the year but I've seen Little Egrets at Chatsworth and Bakewell with one by the river at Ashford today. I also saw the Cetti's Warbler at Middleton Moor today but the lagoon is almost completely frozen at the moment.