Red Kites - adult and juvenile

I've speculated before about food sources for Red Kites and I think they'll eat any carrion they can find. Today I saw an adult Red Kite swoop down over a field where it was lost to view for a few seconds. When it reappeared it was carrying a dead rat. It flew off with a noisy crow chasing it. 

Moments later another Red Kite appeared from the same field. This second bird was clearly a juvenile, lacking the red body and black breast streaking of an adult, although one or two darker feathers can be seen around the upper breast which must be recently acquired.

I'm fairly certain the adult Red Kite wouldn't have had time to catch and kill the rat whilst it was briefly out of view and suspect the adult came across the juvenile which was feeding on the rat and the adult stole it from the juvenile.

Red Kites - adult with crow and juvenile below

Red Kite = Chatsworth

I've mentioned previously that Red Kites are generally absent locally from October to February, but this year I have seen single birds in each of the winter months so far. Today there was a bird at Chatsworth and I've had further reports of birds in the Bakewell, Beeley, Baslow area so it looks like one or two birds have remained here over the winter. This is presumably related to the very mild weather we have experienced for most of this period.

Red Kite

I called in to see the Waxwings at Hassop Station and there were still around a hundred birds in the area, with a similar number reported today. It can't be long until all the berries are gone and it will be interesting to see where they go next. 

Autumn giving way to winter

 After the excitement of the Woodpigeon movements last week with a record count of just under 188k from Ramsley on the 4th it has been much quieter this week, the pigeon numbers are back to a few hundred a day. Although there are still the occasional skeins of Pink-footed Geese it feels like autumn is well and truly over. 

The only thing that stops it feeling like winter is the temperature which is still hitting the late teens during the day and staying above ten at night. 

For the past few years Red Kites have largely disappeared from the area by late September and don't start to be seen regularly again until February but this year I'm still seeing them more or less daily as we approach the middle of November. Not sure if this is weather related but I can only assume it's to do with food availability.

Red Kite carrying a food item

The river levels have risen to a more usual level and I'm starting to hear the song of the Dipper more regularly as they have established their winter territories. 

Dipper

There is still a chance of something interesting turning up and Red-flanked Bluetail on the Cromford just north of Ambergate on 4th November was a reminder of how unpredictable birdwatching can be. Sadly, it has not been seen since but could reappear.

A perched Red Kite and my first Yellow-legged Gull of the year

 Two adult Red Kites perched at Rowsley, close to where I saw the Osprey was a nice surprise. I haven't seen any juveniles this summer so I suspect it has not been a good breeding season for them locally. 

I see them perched very infrequently and usually hidden by foliage so this made a nice change.

Red Kite - adult

Early we been walking in Youlgrave, as we approached the village several parties of Mandarin Duck flew down the valley, in the end we counted 39 birds which was unusual for that location, perhaps they had roosted on the small lake.

Close to the lake I counted 350 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and, after checking them carefully, a single adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Most years I check to Lesser Black-backs which favour the fields between Winster and Newhaven but they have only been present in small numbers so far so I was pleased to find this Yellow-legged. 

Yellow-legged Gull - lower foreground with Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Adult Yellow-legged Gull showing the pale upper and underwing compared to Lesser

The Green Sandpipers at Chatsworth increased to three but weren't there yesterday when I checked and a Hobby this evening on Beeley Moor made a brief appearance this evening.

Return of the Red Kite

From my records it's starting to look like the Red Kite is absent from the Peak District for several months during the winter. My last sighting in 2021 was on the 26th September and I saw my first bird this year on 25th January. In 2020 my last sighting was at the end of August with no further sightings until 3rd February 2021. Just a dozen miles away at Carsington Water sightings look to continue through the winter so it is perhaps a very localised movement away from the Peak District presumably related to the availability of food.

Today I watched a pair displaying which, compared to some birds of prey, was a rather tame affair with the birds high circling and occasionally passing close to each other and periodically chasing whilst dropping in to the trees. Several times during the circling one of the birds was carrying a small branch, once it its talons and once in its bill.

Still a scarce bird locally each year I expect the numbers to increase but it has been slow progress so far.

Red Kite

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

Kites, moths and butterflies but no Red-foot

I went out early yesterday to look for a female Red-footed Falcon that had been seen on Saturday evening at Upper Loads. The Red-footed Falcon is a very rare visitor to Derbyshire last recorded on Beeley Moor in 1979! 
There was no sign of the falcon but a Red Kite put on a fantastic display over a recently mown silage field. It felt like it was almost flying close enough to touch at times as it slowly quartered the field. I'm sure this is set to become a much commoner sight in the future.

Red Kite

I've seen my first Forester moths of the spring at a new location on the Cathole as well as at the regular site on Flash Lane.

The Forester

The warm weather is good for butterflies and I have seen several Wall around the edge of the moor so hopefully they will have a good year.

Wall

Red Kite back in the Peak District

Following last weeks sighting of a Red Kite at Bakewell I was pleased to see one this morning in a similar area to where they bred last year. So fingers crossed for this years breeding season. In the very strong winds today it appeared to be quite happy just to sit in the tree.

Red Kite

Red Kite born and bred in the Peak District

I've speculated previously that the return of the Red Kite as a breeding bird in the Peak District has only been a question of when not if, and I can finally confirm that a pair has successfully fledged at least two young this summer. The photos below were taken today which is the first time I've seen them in the air.
It was probably around 1860 that the Red Kite finally became extinct as a breeding bird in the Peak District but since the late 1990's and the successful reintroduction programmes in England and Scotland the number recorded annually in Derbyshire has increased dramatically and birdwatchers have long speculated about its return as a breeding species in Derbyshire which, as previously reported, finally occurred last year at Kedleston Hall. 
I suspect, and hope that we will now see an upsurge in number locally with more pairs breeding in the future. 

Red Kite juvenile

Red Kite juveniles

Red Kite adult

Compared to the adult Red Kite the juvenile looks slightly shorter in both the wings and tail. All the feathers are the same age in the juvenile and have a very fresh appearance. Compare with the adult (above) which is moulting several inner primaries and central tail feathers giving it a rather tatty appearance.

Return of the Red Kite

There have been several local sightings of Red Kite in the past few weeks and I finally managed some decent views today.

Red Kite mobbed by Raven

The Red Kite was lost as a breeding bird in Derbyshire in the middle of the 19th Century prior to then it was postulated that the kite's Derbyshire headquarters were 'in the wooded portions of the Peak, the common Buzzard taking its place in the lower parts of the county' according to FB Whitlock who published the first Birds of Derbyshire in 1893.
The loss of the Red Kite in Derbyshire was mirrored throughout England with the only population in the UK restricted to a small area in central Wales. I can still vividly recall my first sighting of a Red Kite at the age of 19 having hitch hiked from Leeds to Wales in April 1976, I still have my notebook in which I recorded the event!

My notebook entry for April 1976 - not a great drawing but at least I used a red pen!

In 1989 the RSPB and Natural Englands predecessor instigated a reintroduction programme. Starting in the Chilterns and followed by Rockingham Forest in the East Midlands and then Harewood Estate in Yorkshire. The programme has been a great success and the number of sightings in Derbyshire has increased dramatically since the turn of the Century with over 200 records in 2017 compared with just six records in the period 1900 - 1977. 
Finally a pair bred successfully in Derbyshire in 2018 raising one youngster at Kedleston Hall and it can only be a matter of time before they are breeding again in Whitlock's 'wooded portions of the Peak'.

Record sighting of Red Kite

I've just seen 4 Red Kite together over the woods at the back of my garden in Darley Dale, a record count locally for me. It looks like they were heading towards Matlock but then turned towards Oaker. 
They all look like moulting adults, so could be failed breeders for one of the populations to the north or south of Derbyshire.

Red Kite

Red Kite over Harewood Moor

My second Red Kite of the week, or possibly the same bird as this one seen briefly over Whitesprings plantation on Tuesday. This bird drifted over Harewood Moor towards Chesterfield this afternoon.
It surely can't be long before they are breeding in Derbyshire, if indeed they are not already doing so, or even locally for that matter. This bird looks like an adult with an inner primaries on each wing lost to moult.

Red Kite

Red Kite and more Spring migrants

Given the breeding numbers of Red Kite both to the north and south of Derbyshire it is surprising that it is still a relatively scarce bird in the County or at least in the Peak District. Most of my sightings are distant specs over the Derwent Valley or Beeley Moor so it was a real treat this morning to get very close views of a bird hunting around Flash Dam. It did catch something as you can see in one of the photos and I suspect it was a frog.

Red Kite - second calendar year

I've aged it as a second calendar year as it has very little black streaking on the upper breast and pale tips to the greater coverts.
In the Flash Lane area I also had a Ring Ouzel and my first Willow Warblers of the Spring.
Also a decent night for moths with Tawny Pinion, Yellow Horned, and 4 Oak Beauty amongst a good crop of commoner species.

Red Kite - Haddon Hall

With the persistent dull, cloudy weather I have not been taking many photos, or for that matter seeing many birds! So, it made a nice change today to catch this Red Kite sailing over Haddon Hall. 
Red Kites have been in very short supply over the winter, but there have been one or two records north of Derby in the last week or so and perhaps this is the same wandering individual.

Red Kite

Red Kite - Harland Edge, Beeley Moor

A Red Kite flew over me at around 09:15 this morning as I was walking down the Cathole. It came from the Chesterfield direction and followed Harland Edge before gaining height over Bunkers Hill Wood before being lost to view. 
Not entirely sure on its age but I think second calendar year with the pale tips to the greater underwing coverts and the state of moult, having already lost 4 inner primaries on each wing.

Red Kite

Red Kite juvenile - Flash Lane

A superb juvenile Red Kite flew over Flash Lane this morning and it was in sunshine for a change. This bird will have fledged during July so it would be very interesting to know how far it has flown from its nest.

Red Kite juvenile

Red Kite - Rowsley

A cool start to the day with a strong NW wind but what would have been rather a quiet morning was improved significantly by another Red Kite sighting. It drifted down the valley from Beeley, circled over Rowsley then carried on down the valley on the eastern side following a similar route to the bird seen in early June.
Looks like the Curlews have left the moor now so it is much quieter up there.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth briefly in the garden early afternoon was my first for the year.

Red Kite

Red Kite - Beeley Moor

A distant view of a Red Kite which crossed Beeley Moor this morning with Longstone Edge in the background. My third record of Red Kite in the past week with one over Rowsley last Thursday then one from the garden on Saturday. Could be several birds in the area at the moment.

Red Kite

Red Kite over Stanton Moor

James was on Stanton Moor late yesterday afternoon taking some scenery photos when this Red Kite flew over. Consequently this photos was taken with a 40mm lens so it was close! He called me and I managed to see it from my garden circling over Clough Wood and Wensley. 
It had been seen a couple of times earlier in the week. On Wednesday over Beeley Moor and Thursday over the Enthoven works so may still be in the area. It's quite distinctive with several inner primaries missing.

Red Kite