Common Pochard - Bakewell

 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.

Common Pochard - probably juvenile/1st winter male

For the record, this is the first winter Herring Gull, taken with my phone.

Herring Gull

Little Grebe breeding success on the Lathkill

 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.

Little Grebe

A Common Quail at Elton Common on 6th June is fairly typical date for them to arrive, two males were calling there yesterday so hopefully they will be here for the summer.

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.

Herring Gull

More of a surprise was an adult Pink-footed Goose with the breeding Greylags at Ashford Lake on 6th June and I presume its one of the birds that wintered with the Greylags at Youlgrave but it's my first summer record.

Pink-footed Goose

As of yesterday I have seen 100 species locally since the start of the month which shows how diverse the birdlife is locally!

New Year - highlights so far

I got off to a reasonable start on the 1st with the Little Egret still present at Harthill Pond, Youlgrave, where there were also 3 Goosander, and a Water Rail giving its squealing call by the River Wye just south of Bakewell. It was very windy on the moors and I struggled to find either Stonechat or Reed Bunting but a flock of 339 Lapwing on Screetham Lane was a record count and I had 18 Yellowhammer in the same area.

A group of 18 Herring Gulls at the stables on Longside Road above Holymoorside was another record count and included a first winter bird that looked like a Herring Gull x Caspian Gull hybrid with pale head and rather long bill, sloping forehead, barring on the scapulars and clean white base to the tail.

First winter Herring Gull left and presumed hybrid Herring x Caspian Gull (right)

I didn't do much yesterday but added some of the commoner birds like Bullfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker plus another 2 drake Goosander close to Chatsworth which I saw again today.

Goosander - drakes

Today's highlight was a pair of Gadwall on Emperor Lake, I had a pair there last spring and wondered if they might be attempting to breed but never saw them after the spring but I'm guessing that this may be the same pair.

Gadwall - pair

There were at least 8 Teal and 4 Mandarin, the latter have now largely disappeared from the area now but will start to return to the rivers in the next couple of months.

I'm still missing a few common birds but have recorded 66 species on the first 3 days of the year, I made it to 80 in December so thats a reasonable target.

With ongoing travel issues associated with COVID and concern over the impact of travel on global warming there are more birdwatchers adopting local patches. This is the 8km (5 mile) radius from Darley Dale where I do most of my birdwatching.

But, I still do a few trips further afield, some of which I include on here and I made it to Carsington on the 31st December to see the Red-necked Grebe which is still there today.

Red-necked Grebe

Lesser Black-back Gulls at Elton Common

 I've been abroad in France for several weeks but before I left I checked several times on gull numbers around Elton Common/ Pike Hall and there were generally around 100 birds loafing around in early August. Checking there today I estimated around 2000 birds were present as the fields were ploughed at Elton Common today (a few days ago Simon counted 8.8k at Carsington so there must be plenty of other groups around)

Lesser Black-backed Gulls following the tractor

There are almost 400 birds in the photo above and there was a second tractor with a similar number of birds in attendance with large numbers sat in the neighbouring fields.

There were several darker backed 'intermedius' type birds along with a few Herring Gulls and several Black-headed Gulls plus at least one Common Gull.

Lesser Black-backed Gulls with a darker intermedius type (centre) and Herring (right)

Earlier I had a Ringed Plover fly over Beeley Triangle, calling and my first local Northern Wheatear of the autumn. 

There was an Osprey over the moor on Saturday, but too distant for photos, and what may be the same bird was seen again yesterday.

No sign of any Pink-footed Geese yet or winter thrushes but that will hopefully change before the month end.

More snow and return of the hybrid Tufted Duck

 A bit more snow fell overnight but the forecast is for more in the next 24 hrs. There was very little in the valley bottom but 2 or 3cm was present higher up. It's always nice to see birds with a snowy background and a took a few photos of some of our commoner birds.

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Robin

The hybrid drake Tufted x Pochard has returned to Bakewell, I first saw this bird on 2 February 2014 so it's at least 11 years old. Recently I think it has been at Ogston Reservoir but it's nice to see it back in Bakewell. It sometimes gets reported as a drake Scaup but which would be very rare locally.

Tufted x Pochard hybrid

There are still groups of gulls, mainly Black-headed with a few Common on the flooded fields but an adult Herring Gull put in an appearance yesterday in the fields between Darley Dale and Darley Bridge. 

Generally the Herring Gull is a rare winter visitor to the area, often just seen flying over the valley.

Herring Gull

First Red Kite of the year and a stray Pink-footed Goose

Had a decent day today with a small passage of Skylark over the moor and both Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gulls plus roosting Barn Owl and Little Owl. Followed by my first Red Kite of the year over Alport. 

It was actually September 2020 when I last saw one locally and it looks like they are absent in the Darley Dale area during the winter (late September to February).

At Youlgrave I counted 107 Greylag Geese, and with them a lone Pink-footed Goose, also had 3 drake Goosander and a Water Rail there.

Red Kite

Pink- footed Goose (juvenile) with Greylags

Herring Gull - Beeley Moor

As I have previously mentioned the Herring Gull is not particularly common locally and there is still a group of about 30 feeding on the flooded field by the Chesterfield Road so this is probably as good a chance as any to get one on the blog.

Herring Gull - adult