Bank Vole - Flash Lane

Although I've seen Bank Voles occasionally before on Flash Lane, usually taking seed that has been left for the birds, today I had one out in the open in the sunshine. It looked surprisingly rufous in the sunshine having mostly watched them in the shadows.

Bank Vole

More Dark Green Fritillary caterpillars seen today, possibly another dozen in three different locations so surely there will be some adults on the wing in the summer. My first Emperor Moth of the year today and several Common Lizard enjoying the sunshine and a calling Cuckoo.

Smooth and Palmate Newts

I have a small garden pond which attracts both Smooth and Palmate Newts. Smooth Newts are the commonest but their identification is not easy, especially at the start of the breeding season. In the photo below the Smooth Newt is at the top. It lacks the fully webbed toes of the Palmate and it also lacks the thin filament on the tail end which is just visible in the lower photo. 
I presume both species occur widely in suitable ponds across the area and have also seen the Great Crested Newt locally but have yet to see one in my pond.

Smooth Newt (upper) and Palmate Newt (lower)

Dark Green Fritillary - caterpillar

The Dark Green Fritillary butterfly is common, sometimes very common during the summer at Longstone Edge and the dales of the White Peak where its food plant the Common Dog-violet is widespread but it is scarce on the gritstone moors. So it was a surprise today to find this caterpillar on top of one of the walls of Beeley Moor. 
The larva which will have emerged from an egg last summer and, having over wintered as a larva, will pupate late April/ early May emerging as a butterfly in mid-June.

Dark Green Fritillary caterpillar

Roe Deer - Beeley Moor

Brief view of a Roe Deer crossing Beeley Moor this morning and having to jump quite high to clear the heather. Only my fifth sighting in the area so still a rarity locally.

Roe Deer

Summer Snowflake - Clough Wood

At a chance meeting with Simon Roddis yesterday he told me about a flowering Summer Snowflake he had seen at Clough Wood that morning. I went along in the afternoon and soon located the single flowering plant which was new to me.

Summer Snowflake Leucojum aestivum

Simon had consulted The Flora of Derbyshire which listed only one prior record, at Williamthorpe in 2002. There are two subspecies; aestivum from southern England and pulchellum from the western Mediterranean and like the Williamthorpe record the example in Clough Wood is probably pulchellum which is cultivated as a garden plant. So it's impossible to say what its origins might be.
An interesting record all the same and I'll be looking for it next year.

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'.

Pied Flycatchers are back!

Several male Pied Flycatchers seen today in the Darley Dale area. The first bird was reported on the 13th April but these are the first I've seen. The males, like most migrant birds, arrive first and establish territories with the females expected in a few days time. Great to hear them singing in the woods again.

Pied Flycatcher - male

Dipper first juveniles on the wing

My first fledged Dipper of the year today on the River Wye north of Rowsley. Assuming around 17 days to incubate the egg and 22 days as a nestling and that this bird has recently fledged the egg would have been laid in the first week of March.

Dipper - juvenile

Average laying dates are late March so this is early, even by Dipper standards and probably reflects the mild winter and warm temperatures in March.

More migrant arrivals and signs of birds breeding

More Spring arrivals today with my first local Willow Warbler (I heard one at Carsington last week) and Tree Pipit in the Flash Lane area with House Martin a couple of days ago.
Evidence of the breeding season getting underway with drake Mandarins chasing a female over Rowsley and a female Siskin having a comical tussle with some Sheep's wool which it was struggling to remove from a Hawthorn bush.

Mandarin drakes chasing a duck

Siskin collecting nesting material

Off course other species are much further advanced with Mallard ducklings on the river already and I'm expecting juvenile Common Crossbills on the wing some time soon and had great views of a young male bird on the moors today.

Common Crossbill - presumed first summer male

Redstart - Rowsley

With cool SE winds over the past week the arrival of migrants has been slow but my first Common Redstart of the year today by the river at Rowsley is a welcome sign that spring is on its way. My first Swallow was also at Rowsley on the 3rd but there were 5 or 6 there today with a similar number of Sand Martin. An Osprey has been reported in the same area, seen on both the 7th and 8th but has eluded me so far.

Common Redstart - male

Caspian Gull new for the Darley Dale area

The recent heavy rains have caused flooding in some of the fields bordering the river Derwent and the Wye. Simon has been checking the area by Four Lane Ends opposite Milner 4x4 between Darley Dale and Darley Bridge today and found a 1st winter Caspian Gull. 
This area has always been good for gulls when high river levels cause flooding in the field but no one can remember seeing so many large gulls on the fields. Today there were at least 300 large gulls, mainly Lesser Black-backed but with many Herring also plus at least two 1st winter Great Black-backed Gulls which are the first I can recall seeing locally.
Inevitably the gulls are fairly distant so a telescope is needed to view them. Periodically they take to the air with much calling which I can here from my house!

The Caspian Gull is a scarce visitor to Derbyshire with around 50 records per year and mainly at the larger bodies of water where gulls roost during the winter months such as Ogston, Pools Brook and Carsington.

Caspian Gull 1st winter (centre bird on two upper photos and left hand bird on lower)

Identification of Caspian Gull is as much based on structure as it is on plumage features. Compared to Herring Gull it is longer legged, smaller headed and longer winged giving it a more elegant appearance. The bill is also generally longer and slimmer. In 1st winter plumage the head is white and the mantle generally looks paler the 1st winter Herring also the greater coverts are less spangled often looking darker than those of Herring.

Great Black-backed Gull 1st winter

Simon also thought he had seen an adult Caspian Gull so there could be other birds of interest amongst this flock. A great local find in any case and well picked out amongst the very similar Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

First Chiffchaff - Rowsley

Ken saw the first Chiffchaff of the year today at Rowsley which must be one of the earliest dates locally. 
The first Curlew was seen on the moor on 22nd February and I managed at least 4 birds on the 26th.
It definitely felt Spring like at the end of last week with day time temperatures of 17℃. 
I caught a Pine Beauty in the moth trap which has been very scarce in the last few years.

Chiffchaff (Ken Smith)

Doug Aston had a Cattle Egret on Harland Edge on 3rd February which was the first for the area as far as I'm aware but surely there will be more.

Expecting the first Wheatear next!

A decent day for raptors

With a clear sky for a change I spent most of the day in the hills and was rewarded with a superb Peregrine, which flew close past my viewpoint, but also the first signs of Sparrowhawk display with both a male and female circling with characteristic flickering wings. I've made a composite photo to show the orange throated male with the female.
Last, but not least a female Goshawk circled over the hillside looking decidedly meaner than the Sparrowhawks and offering a rare, for me, sight of the upperwing.

Peregrine

Sparrowhawk (female on left, male on right)

Goshawk adult female

First significant snowfall of the winter

There was not a flake of snow left on the A6 in Darley Dale this morning but just a 100m higher around Beeley Moor there was a good 6cm of fresh snow. Birds were few and far between but this Robin appreciated the food put out for him.
Still plenty of Common Crossbills on Flash Lane with a single flock of over 50 yesterday but I couldn't find them this morning. Several Brambling but the large flock on Bent Lane appears to have dispersed now.

Robin

Flash Lane in the snow

First Dipper of the New Year

Although New Years Day started off overcast and very windy the sky partially cleared late morning and I had decent views of a Dipper feeding on the River Wye north of Rowsley. A small party of Mandarin flew down the river with a single drake Goosander. 
At least a dozen Common Crossbill and several parties of Lesser Redpoll still on Flash Lane so not a bad start to the year.

Dipper