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

Stonechat - Beeley Moor

A single male Stonechat on the moor today, they have been in short supply recently although finding them in the winds of storms Ciara and Dennis was never going to be easy!
Two pairs of Common Crossbill in Whitesprings Plantation feeding in Larches with a large flock of around 200 Siskin was the only significant interest today but at least it was dry this morning. The number of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks are starting to increase and the first Curlew shouldn't be too far away now.
A Red Kite seen around Bakewell on Tuesday morning, reported by Bob Cleary, is the first I've heard of locally this year and hopefully is the first of many.

Stonechat - male

Stock Dove

I haven't seen many Stock Dove recently so was slightly surprised to see a fairly tight group of nine flying over the Farley Moor plantation today. A common resident they are more often heard than seen in the summer but flocks of a hundred or more can be seen locally in the winter although as noted above I haven't encountered any significant flocks this winter.

Stock Dove

Slow start to the New Year

It's been a rather slow start to the New Year, mainly due to the persistent mild, wet weather. I did make a reasonable start on the 1st though, with 65 species recorded but this included a visit to Carsington for the adult and juvenile Great Northern Divers plus a Jack Snipe, the regular Willow Tits there and an unseasonal Chiffchaff which is over wintering on Stones Island.

Chiffchaff

On the moors I've seen up to 23 Common Crossbill fairly regularly and one or two Red Grouse plus a regular pair of Stonechat and a mobile flock of up to 200 Brambling.
Today was a better day though as I came across an adult male Hen Harrier hunting over the moor which was a fantastic sight, albeit rather fleeting and distant as is so often the case.

Hen Harrier - male

Carrion Crow - Beeley Moor

A bird I haven't featured before on the blog but a common sight both around the parks and gardens and on the moor. In the past I have seen congregations of several hundred birds on the moors but numbers are much lower at present and they tend to been seen singley or in small groups of a dozen or so. 
Not easy to photograph being all black and therefore requiring decent light, to show the feathering, as it was this morning.

Carrion Crow

Sparrowhawk and Kestrel

Great to see some blue skies for a few days. 
I was photographing a hovering Kestrel today when suddenly another bird flashed in to the viewfinder and disappeared just as quickly. I pressed the shutter and got a few photos which captured the incomer, a male Sparrowhawk, quite nicely. 

Sparrowhawk and Kestrel

Long-tailed Skua - First for Carsington Water 7 October

I'm a bit late posting this, but better late than never!
Monday 7th October was one of those wet days we seem to have had a lot of recently where it's raining when you open the curtains first thing in the morning and it's still raining when the light fades in the evening. Fortunately I had no plans so was happy to stay indoors. Early afternoon I got a call from Simon Roddis to say he had a small skua on the water at Carsington and was I interested to come and have a look at it?
I was, and set off almost immediately marvelling at the dedication of Simon and other Carsington regulars who brave all weather in search of interesting birds, their efforts had been well rewarded recently with a brief Grey Phalarope and a longer staying Slavonian Grebe.
I arrived at the Sheepwash Car Park and set off for Brown Ale Bay the last reported location of the skua. I bumped in to Roy Frost on the way who was just leaving, unaware of the skua sighting but who was more than happy to tag along on the skua quest. 
The skua was just drifting out of view when we arrived and joined Simon and Roger Carrington my first thought was to try and get some record photos in case it disappeared altogether. I took a few photos in the poor light using the 500mm lens with a 2x converter, not ideal but the bird was some distance away. It then took off and landed another 100m away so I was glad I did.

Long-tailed Skua juvenile

Standing together with the bird now perhaps 400m away we discussed its identity and the unanimous view was that it was  an Arctic Skua and with the rain still falling we departed. 

A couple of photos were put on Twitter which resulted in several people questioning why it wasn't a Long-tailed Skua.
In the end the birds identity as a juvenile Long-tailed was clinched on the following points;

1. Evenly spaced broad buff barring on the under tail,
2. Lack of pale tips to the primaries,
3. On the upper wing only two white primary shafts, Arctic usually shows more,
4. Dark tip to bill covering about half of its length. In Arctic the dark tip is not so clearly demarcated. I had thought that the bill was rather long and thin but this appeared to be in the range for Long-tailed.

We quickly conceded that it was indeed a juvenile Long-tailed Skua and a first record for Carsington Water and only the 7th for Derbyshire.
Unfortunately it wasn't present the following day. 
It certainly proved a valuable lesson in assessing all of a birds features when making an identification and the value of obtaining photos of any unusual bird.

Whoopers and Pinks over Chatsworth

I've just returned from a birding trip to Azerbaijan and today was my first local trip out, after the deluge of the few days since I returned it was great to see some sunshine today. 
A party of ten Whooper Swan following the river south west by Chatsworth House was a pleasant surprise as was a skein of 65 Pink-footed Geese following a similar track. Three further Whoopers appeared 30 minutes after the first group so perhaps there has been a significant movement today. Otherwise I saw my first local Fieldfare of the autumn which have doubtless been around for several weeks now - nice to be back anyway.

Whooper Swans - part of a flock of ten

Pink-footed Geese

Willow Tit - Flash Lane

Over the past couple of weeks I've seen and heard what is presumably the same Willow Tit on two occasions and I managed a few photos today. The Willow Tit rare locally with occasional records from Clough Wood but can be seen fairly easily at Carsington Water.

Willow Tit - of note this bird has a pale spot on one side of the bill which is usually associated with Marsh Tit

With the on-set of autumn tits and other passerines are likely to be encountered in small mixed flocks and so it was today with a nice group of about 15 Long-tailed Tits with 7 or 8 Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff and a Treecreeper all in the same few bushes.

Long-tailed Tit

Goldcrest - female

Had my first Skylarks passing overhead and a group of 4 Common Crossbill which are the first I've seen for several weeks.
Meadow Pipits are migrating south now over the moors and I counted over 500 today in loose flocks.

Marsh Harrier - Harland Edge

Watched a cracking juvenile Marsh Harrier sparring with a Buzzard along Harland Edge yesterday. 
It's only about the 4th I've seen over the moor. It's a mystery to me why, when the number of Marsh Harrier have increased dramatically in England over the past 20 years, they are as scarce, if not scarcer on the moors now than two decades ago.

Marsh Harrier - juvenile

In search of Twite in Derbyshire

The Twite has probably never been a common bird on the Derbyshire uplands but changes to agricultural practices in the hay meadows bordering the moors has almost led to their extinction as a breeding bird in the County. The population in the southern Pennines is estimated to have decreased by 80 per cent between 1990 and 2000 according to the RSPB.
A seed-eater the Twite is reliant on seed from the traditional hay meadows to feed their young and it is thought that the loss of these food sources is one of the main reason for their decline.
A small population can still be found in the Doveholes area where birds are nesting in quarries and, through the support of the quarry operators and the RSPB, this small population is part of a long term study of the species. Since 2015 over 200 birds have been caught and fitted with a unique combination of coloured rings so that their movements can be monitored. This has shown that the majority move to the north Norfolk coast in the winter but some have gone to Wales and Northumberland.
I visited the area today and managed to see 8 individuals although according to Peter Walsh, one of the volunteers monitoring the population, this doesn't appear to have been a good breeding season with possibly only a single pair fledging young.
I've never seen Twite in the Beeley area although birds may cross the moor as they head to Norfolk. Three birds were seen in Wraggs Quarry last year so there is a chance of seeing them but would be easily overlooked unless the distinctive nasal call that gives the bird its name is heard.

Twite

Twite bearing colour rings

Osprey - Whitesprings Plantation

It's been a poor autumn for sightings of Osprey locally, both Ken and I have had just single sightings at Chatsworth and over Harland Edge last weekend but there have been birds present regularly at Ogston and Carr Vale with a few sightings at Carsington.
This morning a bird flew up from the Darley Dale direction to Whitesprings carrying a fish which it was doubtless planning to eat somewhere in the woodland. It was an adult and could be the same bird I saw doing the same thing last year in the same area. 
Whilst the likelihood of birds nesting locally is less than for the Red Kite it certainly wouldn't beyond the realms of possibility to see a pair nesting locally in the next few years which would be quite something.

Osprey over Whitesprings Plantation

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.

Night-flowering Catchfly - Darley Dale

The first record for the County of Derbyshire in 16 years of the Night-flowering Catchfly (Silene noctiflora) has been found at the recently opened Darley Dale Medical Centre by birdwatcher come botanist Mick Lacey. 
The plant has doubtless arrived in the re-seeding of the area around the car park. The site staff have kindly provided a protective cage so the plant is easily found on the left of the car park by the green electricity box.
As the name suggests the flowers are generally closed in the day time but open and release a scent at night to attract pollinating moths. 

Night-flowering Catchfly in its protective cage

Protective cage containing the Night-flowering Catchfly

Essex Skipper new for the area

Finally caught up with Essex Skipper at Whitesprings Plantation off Flash Lane today. 
A bit like the inevitability of Red Kites breeding locally it has always been a question of when, rather than if Essex Skipper would turn up locally, as they have continued to spread northwards through the county.
I think the elevation of the areas bordering the moors has perhaps been a barrier or at least delayed their occurrence here when they are recorded further north in lowland locations.
This is my first record in the Matlock/ Bakewell area and I daresay that other have recorded them locally before me, I would be interested to hear of other records.

Essex Skipper

The most obvious differences from Small Skipper are the black 'dipped in ink' tips to the underside of the antennae which are orange in Small Skipper and the shorter sex brand on the wing which runs parallel to the wing edge in Essex Skipper but is longer and runs towards the edge of the wing in Small Skipper (compare with photos below)

Small Skipper

Essex Skipper NBN Atlas distribution map