Middleton Moor Update

 Considering we are moving towards mid-summer, and the high temperatures have not been conducive to spending a lot of time out doors, I've had a pretty good run this week.

I started the week with a superb Black-tailed Godwit on the 4th and then had several sightings of both adult and juvenile Water Rail, which confirmed that they had bred there.

Black-tailed Godwit

Water Rail - juvenile

On the  8th I saw two juvenile Little Egrets which, perhaps surprisingly, were the first records for the year but only stayed a day.

Little Egret

Yesterday I was surprised to first hear, then see an adult Wood Sandpiper and a little later a Greenshank put in an appearance.

Wood Sandpiper

So I'm hoping the second half of July is just a productive, and hopefully a little cooler!

Decent wader passage at Middleton

 The first real signs of autumn wader passage getting underway today at Middleton Moor with Wood Sandpiper, Dunlin and 4 Ringed Plover. The Ringed Plover and Dunlin departed high NW but the Wood Sandpiper was then joined by 3 Redshank and a Ruff.

On the 14th I had a Green Sandpiper at Middleton so the photos taken today of the Wood Sandpiper make a nice comparison with the Green, both are juveniles.

Wood Sandpiper juvenile

Green Sandpiper juvenile

Ruff juvenile

Ringed Plover, Wood Sandpiper and Dunlin

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?

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.

Wood Sandpiper - new for the area at Chatsworth Park

 I was very surprised this morning when i saw a medium sized wader by the waters edge at Chatsworth. I thought it would be a Green Sandpiper, which I have seen once before here and is a regular visitor to both Carsington and Ogston in the late summer and autumn. However, as soon as I got my binoculars on it I realised it was its somewhat rarer cousin the Wood Sandpiper. Paler brown on the upper parts with a distinct supercilium, pale underwing and finely barred tail are all distinguishing features from Green Sandpiper. 

This bird looked to be a juvenile with no signs of wing moult and heavily spotted upper parts it was probably born in Scandinavia so it's already completed quite a journey to Chatsworth and will continue south to sub-saharan Africa for the winter.

Wood Sandpiper