Osprey at Chatsworth

 Definite autumn feeling as I set out this morning with a fresh NE wind blowing. I decided to have a look at Chatsworth before heading to the moor and was rewarded with an Osprey sat on a dead tree by the river with what looked like a small fish. There is a lot of water flowing down the river at the moment, consequently the water is very brown so the Osprey did well to catch something.

It wasn't happy to stay by the river with walkers passing but flew a short distance to the tree by the house to finish its meal.

Osprey

A party of 5 juvenile Goosander was a welcome sight and perhaps an indication that there has been some breeding success locally. The usual flock of Mandarin (32) feeding on the grass and a single Sand Martin still visiting a nest burrow which is very late but quite a few House Martin and Swallows were more expected.

Goosander - the white area between the eye and gape indicating that they are juveniles

Up on the moor a party of 8 Stonechat had a Winchat with them and my first group of 7 Snipe heading up on to the moor for the winter.

Whinchat

Mixed feeding flocks

With the breeding season over and very few birds now singing the local woodlands can appear almost birdless at times. Most of the small woodland birds, passerines, are now in mixed feeding flocks so unless you come across one of these groups you're not likely to see many birds.

The benefits of mixed feeding flocks are thought to be two fold, there is better protection against  predators with so many birds on the lookout and listening, and each bird can afford to be less vigilant and focus more on feeding. Secondly their feeding is more efficient as the flock is more likely to encounter a good feeding area but because they are in mixed flocks the competition for the same food type is reduced compared with a single species flock.

Spotted Flycatcher

Over the past few weeks I've encountered some large mixed flocks, some numbering several hundred birds with a mix of finches, mainly Siskin and Chaffinch, and warblers, predominantly Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers but also Blackcap, and tits, with Blue, Great and Coal plus a few Long-tailed. Other species mixed with the flocks include Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldcrest and even Tree Pipit.

Tree Pipit - juvenile

So if you come across a mixed feeding flock its worth stopping for a while to see what species are in it. Each winter several rarities are found that have become attached to one of these mixed feeding flocks.

Red Grouse - GOING, GOING, almost GONE

There could be no glorious (or inglorious!) 12th on Beeley or the Eastern Moors with the Red Grouse perilously close to disappearing altogether. This year I've seen just two pairs on Beeley Moor, which I visit regularly and only a single pair on East Moor. There could be one or two more birds on East Moor which I tend to visit a little less frequently than Beeley and don't cover all areas.

Red Grouse - male

One pair I have seen regularly on Beeley and they should have grown young by now but I last saw them on 20th July with no sign of any young birds then. 

Why the numbers have declined so seriously is a mystery to me. Twenty years ago I regularly saw groups of 15 to 20 birds and in the 60's and 70's I have been told of flocks of a 100 birds.

It must be at least 10 years since there was any shooting on the moor and it's an achievement to see one now let alone shoot one. 

There are foxes and badgers around the moor but I have not noticed any significant increase in number over the last couple of decades.

Raven numbers continue to increase in the area but they are still only present in small numbers around the moor. A few years ago a large group of Carrion Crow numbering over a hundred birds were seen regularly on the moor and whilst there are still large numbers around they appear to spend most of their time around the fields on Screetham Lane and only venture on to the moors in small numbers.

Is it climate change? Climatic changes over the last few decades have been put forward as a reason for the reduction in Merlin numbers in parts of Yorkshire with nesting records showing that the Merlins were gradually moving to higher altitudes and could explain why the Merlin has disappeared from both Beeley and East Moor where there is no opportunity to seek out significantly higher ground.

The moorlands themselves are changing with a decrease in heather and increase in bracken, and birch trees are taking hold in many areas perhaps in part due to dryer conditions.

The Red Grouse can still be found in good numbers a short distance to the north in the High Peak. In many of these areas the moorlands are still managed for grouse shooting and the numbers in some of these areas may be unnaturally high, partly through the removal of all predators, sadly including the illegal killing of birds of prey, but I have even fewer sightings of harriers and other raptors over the moors than I do of Red Grouse.

The thought of Beeley and East Moor without Red Grouse is like fish without chips or salt without pepper, the moors and grouse belong together but I am pessimistic that it will remain so for much longer. I hope I'm wrong.

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

Osprey again at Rowsley

Better view of the Osprey today. thanks to a phone call from Ken. It was sat on a dead tree by the Congrieve turn off north of Rowsley. It's definitely been in the area since 14th July and possibly since the 8th so quite a long stay.

No sign of any rings so no way of knowing its origins, it looks like an adult or at least 2nd calendar year, quite small so possibly a male. 

It did a brief fly around before landing in the trees closer to Rowsley.

Osprey (© Ken Smith)

Osprey and Willow Tit

An interesting day today as the weather finally started to improve and the temperature rose to 25°C this afternoon. I spent the morning around Stannage Edge looking out for the Bearded Vulture. Although there were reports from Chatsworth and Grindleford yesterday I'm not convinced that it's still in the area.

This afternoon a visit to Clough Wood produced the expected Marbled White butterflies and an unexpected Willow Tit, one of two which Simon had seen earlier in the day. I was heading for Rowsley to look for Hobby which have proved very elusive since the spate of records in May and early June. I was unsuccessful but was more than compensated by distant views of an adult Osprey over Haddon Hall. There have been several sightings of Osprey by fishermen in the Rowsley area recently so this could be the same bird.

Marbled White

Willow Tit

Osprey

Locally both Osprey and Willow Tit are very scarce but I see fewer Willow Tits than Osprey each year .

Little Grebe nesting success at Chatsworth

I've seen one, and sometimes two Little Grebes regularly at Chatsworth and suspected they might be breeding although it felt like it was getting a little late in the season. Today I struck lucky though and managed a photo of an adult with two tiny youngsters.
Locally the Little Grebe is a very scarce breeding bird, the only other pair I've come across in the summer is at Conksbury Bridge but there are usually a few more around on the rivers during the winter months.

Little Grebe with chicks

White Wagtail déjà vu on Beeley Moor

Having seen a completely unexpected White Wagtail on Beeley Moor at this time last year I have a habit of closely scrutinising all the wagtails I get a decent view of. I was still very surprised to come across another pale backed 'alba' wagtail and even more so to see it in the same place as last year on the edge of Beeley Moor. In fact, I think it is too much of a coincidence and am inclined to the view that it is the same bird, a year older.

White Wagtail - adult male

Last year I decided that the bird was in it's first summer as both juvenile, post juvenile and pre-breeding greater coverts could be identified in the wing. This bird looks like an adult with just two ages of feather in the median and greater coverts which is typical of an adult bird. As last year, this bird looks like a male with a sharp division between the black of the nape and the grey of the mantle. 

It appeared to be with a female Pied Wagtail and both birds were collecting and flying off with food so obviously feeding young nearby. Last year the female was also rather pale backed but this year the female looks to be a typical Pied.

Pied Wagtail - adult female

I'm calling the bird a White Wagtail but it's impossible to be certain, it could be a hybrid but must surely have some White Wagtail in it.

Another interesting feature when comparing these two birds was that the Pied shows black sides to the upper breast in the shoulder area giving a continuous black breast band whereas the White had white sides to the breast, with some black spotting so the breast band is more isolated appearing as a bib rather than a continuous band.

Pied Wagtail female v White Wagtail male

Summer gulls

Every year the cutting of the hay meadows for silage attracts hundreds of gulls, mainly Lesser Black-backed Gulls, to the fields between Winster and Newhaven. 
The gulls seem to be particularly attracted to the field after the grass has been cut and just removed, presumably revealing lots of insects that have been left behind, so they move around the fields quite a bit as they are cut. 
There are a lot of fields, many of which are not close to roads,  and when they are near the roads they can be busy so you need to find the fields that are reasonable accessible at the right time.
Today I counted over 350 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, predominantly of the British race graellsii but also a few of the darker backed race intermedius which breeds in northern Denmark, southern and central Norway.
Many of these birds will be heading to the Iberian peninsula or Morocco for the winter.
I also counted 9 of the paler backed Yellow-legged Gulls which have spread in to southern Britain from the French and Portuguese Atlantic coasts and the Mediterranean over the past couple of decades and are now regular on Midland lakes and reservoirs in the late summer and autumn.

Lesser Black-backed Gull - graellsii adult

Lesser Black-backed Gull - graellsii 1st summer 

Lesser Black-backed Gulles - graellsii foreground with intermedius behind

Lesser Black-backed Gull - intermedius adult

Yellow-legged Gull - 3rd summer

Yellow-legged Gull - 2nd summer

Juveniles - the class of 2020

Lots of juveniles around at the moment, here are four of my favourites; Stonechat, Common Redstart, Wheatear and Long-tailed Tit. All seen around Beeley Moor.

A wild vulture chase in the Peak District

Very occasionally in the birding world there is a record that takes everyone by surprise. Such was the case when the news broke of a Bearded Vulture photographed above Balsall Common in the West Midlands on 26th June. Later the same day it was seen in Derbyshire airspace, seen by one lucky observer as it crossed the A50 near Foston. 
There were no more sightings until the 30th June when it was reported over Minninglow and then Hassop in the early afternoon then later that evening between Edale and Castleton and possibly also in the Goyt Valley. 
Local birdwatchers, including me, spent the next few days looking skywards but there were no further reports until it was filmed over Peter's Stone in Cressbrook Dale and then later over Frogatt Edge when it was heading north towards Stannage Edge. 
I spent the following day, which was heavily overcast with persistent drizzle, in the Stannage area but without success but it was then reported twice over Big Moor and then over Gardom's Edge east of Baslow. 

It was very difficult to know where to look as the bird wandered around the area but this changed on 10th July when it was seen just east of Derwent Reservoir in South Yorkshire and over Abbey Valley where it was seen going to roost on a small cliff at Howden Edge.

The unprecedented sight of a Bearded Vulture against the hillside on the Yorks/ Derbys border

Bearded Vulture ready to leave its roost at 05:40 this morning

On each of the subsequent days up to today it has roosted on this same cliff and I finally caught up with it today.
The bird is a youngster in its second calendar year so looks rather drab compared with the adult bird. It is thought to be the off-spring of birds that have been reintroduced in to either the French Alps or the Pyrenees.

Bearded Vulture

Birdwatchers on the hillside

This particular bird which can be identified by its markings and feather damage (it also lost some tail feathers along the way) was first reported this spring on Alderney in the Channel Islands on 20 -21 May before flying north to Borger in the Netherlands near the border with Germany on 30th May.  It was then reported from Nijmegen and Utrecht in the Netherlands on 11th and 13th June respectively before heading in to Belgium where it was seen around Bruges on 18th June and the Ghent area on the 19th and 20th.
The first British record of the Bearded Vulture was in May 2016 and this is now the second record. In 2016 the bird, also a second calendar years was seen in Belgium before turning up in Kent and touring around the SW. 
The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC) announced that this first record of the  Bearded Vulture has been placed in Category E of the British list. This category lists introductions, human-assisted transportees or escapees from captivity, as well as species whose breeding populations (if any) are not considered self-sustaining, and species included in it do not form part of the British list (unless they are also included in Categories A, B or C). It was around the question of self sustaining breeding populations that resulted in the first record be placed in Category E. Whilst there are still birds being released in both France and the Pyrenees birds have been breeding successfully in the wild for more than two decades, which I know from personal experience as I have watched birds in the Aravis mountains over this time period so it will be interesting to see if they treat this second record any differently.
The Bearded Vulture can live up to 20 years in the wild so who knows, the bird up at Howden Moor could be around for some time to come. I'm still hoping to see it over Harland Edge!
Whatever its origins it's certainly a spectacular bird to be able to see in the Peak District!

I walked along the Kings Road parking at the start on Mortimer Road near Strines which is about 5km of gentle up hill with about 1km of rough ground and stream crossings to get to the viewing point at GPS 53.431 -1.700.

Oystercatcher and Mandarin at Chatsworth

A shame that the nesting attempt by the Oystercatchers was unsuccessful this year, I think that the nest was unintentionally disturbed during the tidying up of the river bank prior to the gardens opening up again. Both birds are still present and the scene looks almost coastal with them stood on the rocks below the weir.
I counted 35 Mandarin duck between the single arch bridge and the house which included several family parties. Many of the young are fully feathered and independent of their parents but some are still small and downy and are perhaps second broods. 
A few Redstart along the river bank and still a pair of Spotted Flycatcher but it felt almost autumnal in the cooler wet weather.

Oystercatcher

Mandarin - female with ducklings

Barn Owl - Beeley Moor

Watched a Barn Owl hunting on the edge of the moor last night just before the rain started. 
With the recent spell of mild winters the local Barn Owls appear to be doing OK at the moment and there was plenty of food available for this bird.

Barn Owl

A change in the weather

Since my last post the weather has gone rapidly down hill, and stayed there! To be fair there have been some bright spells and during one I drove up to Elton Common and heard and actually managed to see my first Common Quail of the year. I had two birds but there have been reports of up to three, this must be one of the most reliable sites in the County to at least hear them.
The Quail was my 98th species seen locally this month which is pretty good going I think. Local for me is an 8km (5mile) radius of Darley Dale which gets me as far North as Bakewell and Chatsworth, just takes in Elton Common to the West, and Holymoorside/ Ashover to the East.
I have been out to check on the Wood Warblers, the pair I had originally photographed have fledged 6 young as I had hoped and I found another recently fledged juvenile from another nest which was just about able to fly. It looked a bit damp after all the rain but looked to be doing OK otherwise.

Wood Warbler - recently fledged trying to attract its parents attention

I've also been across to Clough Wood but couldn't find any Pied Flycatchers, its amazing how quickly they leave the nest area once the young fledge. I did come across another Tawny Owl which was a nice surprise but there was no sign of any Marbled White butterflies yet, although its usually early July before they are flying.

Tawny Owl - not sure about its age?

Separating adult Tree and Meadow Pipits

If only Tree Pipits stuck to trees, and Meadow Pipits to moors and meadows their identification would be easy. Fortunately only the Meadow Pipit is likely to be encountered on the open moors but around the fringes the Meadow Pipit may be found in trees and bushes and the Tree Pipit spends a fair bit of time feeding on the ground where Meadow Pipits may also be found.
The Tree Pipit is a true migrant leaving the local area in September for sub-Saharan Africa and returning in mid-April. Most of our Meadow Pipits are also migrants heading to southern France and Iberia but a small number remain throughout the winter, usually in low land meadows, with the bulk returning, and many passing through the area, from mid-March through April.
In spring and summer their songs are the easiest way to separate them and the Chaffinch like rattle of Tree which usually precedes the zee-zee-zee phrase as the bird parachutes back on to a tree are often the first indications that Tree Pipits have returned to the local forestry clearings. The Meadow Pipit song is also given in flight with rising tinkling notes followed by a trill as it descends back to land.

Tree Pipit (left) v Meadow Pipit (right)

In direct comparison the Tree is a longer slimmer bird than the Meadow and has a stouter thicker based bill but this is difficult to judge when faced with a lone bird. In general colouration the Tree is a paler, brighter looking bird with warmer brown tones and whiter underparts compared with the more olive brown tones of Meadow. In a close view the short curved hind claw of Tree  is diagnostic, Meadow has a much longer less curved hind claw. 
The single most important plumage characteristic is the flank streaking which is fine on Tree and can be almost invisible at a distance so the pale lower breast contrasts with the dark streaking of the upper breast whereas on Meadow the broad dark streaks of the upper breast continue down the flanks.
On the upper breast the dark malar stripe of Meadow tends to coalesce into a dark splodge on Meadow below the cheek, which is absent in Tree.
The pale tips to the median coverts contrast with the dark feather centres on tree giving a distinct black and white bar on the wing which is more subdued and less contrasting in Meadow but lighting can affect this, on a dull overcast day the Tree looks less contrasty than in bright sunlight.

Tree Pipit (left) in subdued light v Meadow Pipit (right) in bright light

Tree Pipit has a pale supercilium, most obvious behind the eye and often shows a pale spot on the ear coverts similar to the much rarer Olive-backed Pipit. On Meadow the supercilium is indistinct producing a rather bland head pattern where the most noticeable feature is the pale eye ring.

The Meadow Pipit will often call when disturbed giving a distinctive sip-sip-sip whereas the Tree tends not to call much on the breeding grounds but delivers a characteristic rasping seep call on migration.

Behaviour wise, other than habitat preferences mentioned at the start of this post the Tree Pipit has a tendency to wag its tail when moving in a tree which is not something I've seen the Meadow Pipit do which tend to remain stationary having  landed in a tree or bush.