Lockdown day 23 - garden lockdown gold Osprey

Whilst the number of new birds seen in the garden has almost dried up there are still birds that can make the time spent looking worthwhile and today was one when an Osprey drifted over the garden at 11:00 this morning heading north.
Over the years I think it's the fourth I've seen from the garden and it appears that when migrating north, rather than looking for a meal in the river, they seem to follow the edge of the valley rather than the centre over the river which probably gives them the benefit of some uplift. 
I did another coordinated count today with Alan and Simon with further input from Roger and Ken. Between us we managed 70 species in the Darley Dale area, quite impressive with both migrant birds and us benefitting from the beautiful weather.
I also walked up to the moor this evening for my first roding Woodcock of the year.

Grey Wagtail - one of the characteristic birds of the river

Chatsworth in the sunshine

A beautiful sunny day today with no wind and I spent the morning walking around Chatsworth. I called in at St Helen's Church as I left Darley Dale and soon found two Hawfinch but couldn't locate any others, there were 9 there yesterday!
On the river I came across the hybrid male Tufted Duck x Pochard just below Chatsworth House. This is the first time I've seen it since January when it was at Bakewell. The Pink-footed Goose was still with the flock of around 50 Canada Geese.

Male Tufted Duck x Pochard hybrid

Not much else seen but a female Grey Wagtail showed well in the sunshine.

Grey Wagtail - female

Grey Wagtail - just out of the nest

This Grey Wagtail at Rowsley must have just left the nest I think.

Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail feeding young

I have just returned from co-leading a birdwatching trip to SW Turkey with Roger Barnes for Bird Holidays. It was a fantastic trip and I have started to upload photos on my Flikr site here.
Returning to the UK after an absence of just 10 days and the season has already moved on with many more leaves on the trees and birds already feeding young. Whilst I was away Martin Derbyshire e-mailed to say he had seen a brood of Gooseander in Bakewell and a trip to Chatsworth this afternoon produced Grey Wagtail feeding young.

Grey Wagtail feeding young

Grey Wagtail - Rowsley

Plenty of activity along the river this morning with singing Dipper and several Grey Wagtail. I photographed this bird just as another flew over calling causing this one to adopt a flat backed posture. This looks like an adult male judging by the extent of yellow on the breast but still lacking the black throat of summer.

Grey Wagtail - male

Grey Wagtail

The 1st April, it's snowing lightly outside and there is no sign, or prospect at the moment, of any spring migrants. I can't ever remember having got to April without hearing at least one Chiffchaff. A quick trip over the moor produced the Great Grey Shrike and several Curlew but there is still a lot of snow on the ground higher up so very few Meadow Pipit.
On the river I had two pairs of Grey Wagtail, one at Rowsley and the other at Darley Bridge, always nice to see. They make an interesting photographic challenge, the tail is so long you really need it pointing backwards to get a decent image of the bird. The top two are of the male with his black throat with the female below.

Grey Wagtail