Common Whitethroat v Lesser Whitethroat

 I finally caught up with the Lesser Whitethroat today with a pair just north of Winster. It is very thinly distributed in the Darley Dale area and almost exclusively in the limestone dales. On the other hand its cousin the Common Whitethroat is very widely distributed and can be found in almost any scrub type habitat from Beeley Moor, the river valleys and the limestone plateau.

Both species are usually heard first with the Lesser Whitethroat delivering a rather dry rattle whilst the Common Whitethroat delivers a mix of scratchy notes often during a display flight.

Lesser Whitethroat (upper) v Common Whitethroat

The first returning Nightjar was churring in one of the clear fell areas adjacent to Beeley Moor this evening. Not as early as last year when I recorded my first of the year on 9th May but still a fairly early date. 

There were several rodding Woodcock and earlier in the evening a Hobby over East Moor, I saw my first Hobby of the year yesterday over Farley.

An evening with a Barn Owl

The Barn Owl appears to be doing well locally, particular in the valleys and on the limestone plateau where the mixed silage and cereal crops, with plenty of abandoned stone barns, seem to suit them. 

This bird was hunting along the side of the road and I'm surprised we don't see more road casualties as cars passed within a few feet of it.

Barn Owl

First Turtle Dove Survey

 I completed my first Turtle Dove Survey this morning and was rewarded with both hearing and seeing a single male. It is the same bird I heard on 29th April and that I first saw in 2018. 

As far as I can tell it has been unable to attract a mate, although there is still time this year, so fingers crossed.

Turtle Dove

Whimbrel - Gladwin's Mark

 I had better views of the Whimbrel today, albeit in rather wet and overcast conditions, as they were feeding much closer to the road.

I assume that these are a pair, although they cannot be reliably sexed without catching them. Typically the female is slightly larger and longer billed and it looks like the rear bird of the two together may have a longer bill.

Whimbrel

First Yellow Wagtail and Whinchat and a stray Black Swan at Chatsworth

 Made an early visit to Chatworth to avoid the inevitable crowds on a Bank Holiday weekend. A Black Swan on the river in front of the house was a complete surprise. 

A native of Australia they are widely held in wildfowl collections and have established a small breeding population in the UK, mainly in the warmer south. In the most recent figures I could find the population was estimated at around 50 birds with a small number of pairs actually breeding. There have been several sightings at Carsington over the winter and there are perhaps several feral birds in Derbyshire.

Black Swan

A Yellow Wagtail, a scarce bird locally, was feeding along the edge of the river and at least one pair of Common Sandpiper.

Yellow Wagtail

Up on the moor the lone Whimbrel has been joined by a second bird and I had distant views of my first Whinchat of the year.

Whinchat, almost lost in the haze

I finished April with 106 species which is my highest monthly total for the Darley Dale area. Starting again today but may not try quite so hard!

First Common Swift over Darley Dale

 Although Common Swifts were first seen at Carsington Water on Monday I saw my first today flying directly over the garden in Darley Dale. Traditionally I would look out for swifts from the first week of May and often it would be into the second week before I saw one here but, in common with many other species, migrants are arriving earlier now.

I also added Garden Warbler and Turtle Dove to my April list today. 

Common Swift

I'm taking part in the National Turtle Dove survey this year organised by the RSPB and BTO so I was particular pleased to hear a bird calling today and will be visiting several sites where they have occurred in the past in the coming weeks. I'd also be very interested to hear of any other local records this year.

I've previously mentioned the plight of the Turtle Dove and their rapid decline in Europe, so I was saddened to hear in the last few days that the Italian Government has sanctioned further shooting of these beautiful birds this autumn. With 500,000 licensed hunters allowed to shoot 15 birds each the total birds killed could run in to the millions.

Here's a photo I took in Croatia in spring 2019.

Turtle Dove in Croatia

Whimbrel on Beeley Moor

I enjoyed distant views of my first Whimbrel of the year this morning on the large grass field in front of Clover (formerly Screetham) House. It was presumably the same bird seen by Doug Aston on Monday in the same area.

The last few years we have usually managed one or two Whimbrel spending a few days on the fields adjoining the moors before continuing the journey north, perhaps to Iceland or northern Scandinavia.

Whimbrel

Later in the day I had another surprise when I went in to the garden to scan for an early Swift when I picked up a high circling Great White Egret which then headed north up the valley. 

Having only seen my first for the area last October it was a very unexpected addition to my garden list and perhaps they will become a regular visitor although it smaller cousin the Little Egret has remained rare.

Great White Egret heading up the Derwent Valley

An unusual Chiffchaff in Farley

An unusual Chiffchaff has been present in Farley wood since at least last Sunday when it was found by Steve Mann. The song is quite unlike that of the familiar Common Chiffchaff and the bird has a number of features which point to its identity as Iberian Chiffchaff, a rare visitor to Britain.

In bright sunlight the bird has white under parts flecked with yellow across the chest and on the flanks. The bill looks long and pointed compared to Common Chiffchaff and the lower mandible is orange fading darker towards the tip.

The legs and feet are dark, looking dark red in bright sunshine.

Silky white underparts flecked with yellow in bright sunlight and orange base to the bill

When singing the bird has a habit of fluffing its breast feathers and lowering its body on to the branch whilst raising its rump feathers

The primary projection and spacing is slightly different in the two species but is not clear on the photos I've obtained so far

It often sits with the rump feathers raised, you may just be able to see the primary tips on this photo

What may be a critical clue to the birds identity can be seen on the spread wing when the bird is caught in flight. It looks like the outer 6 primaries are all fresh with unworn tips whilst the visible primaries 7 and 8 have worn tips which indicates that these and presumably 9 and 10, which are not clearly visible in the photo, are older feathers. The bird has therefore completed a partial moult which has included these feathers in its winter quarters, only Iberian Chiffchaff is known to do this. This would age the bird as in its first summer as adult Iberian Chiffchaffs moult all their primaries at the same time.

In Common Chiffchaff it is usual for all the primaries to be moulted together. Better photos, are needed to confirm this feature or actually trapping the bird. 

Primaries 7 and 8 look to have worn tips compared to primaries 1 to 6

Unfortunately the song is not typical of Iberian Chiffchaff although the notes that are present look to be typical of the notes used by Iberian Chiffchaff but there are notes missing from its typical song. The sonogram is shown below;

Sonogram for one 4 second phrase

I've posted a link to the sound recording below which should work if you use Google Chrome as your browser, I'm not sure about other browsers and you may need to download the sound file. 

Behaviour wise in addition to fluffing its breast and raising its rump feathers it does not flick the tail down as frequently as Common Chiffchaff.

It sings mostly high in the canopy but comes down to lower bushes to feed where it does short sallies for insects.

There are directions and further comments on the bird on Steve Mann's website.

I'm unable to embed the sound file so here is a link to it for now.

I'm happy to conclude that this bird is not Common Chiffchaff and its appearance is consitant with Iberian but I'm not sure about the song. It switches to a more Common Chiffchaff type song regularly although I have read that Iberian may do this.

Hybrids between the two species do occur and that must be a possibility although its appearance looks good for Iberian I think.

It's an interesting bird!

Hopefully the bird will remain for some time and we can confirm its identification.

More migrant arrivals

Since my last post I have added Common Sandpiper at Chatsworth and a male Ring Ouzel on Flash Lane taking my April list for the Darley Dale area to 101 species which is a record for me. 

With still almost a week to go there is a good chance I can add one or two more species to the monthly total.

Common Sandpiper 

Ring Ouzel - male if you can find it, with thanks to Richard Lowe for pointing it out

First Common Whitethroat back on Beeley Moor

 Ten days later than the first bird last year on 12th April but a Common Whitethroat has returned to Beeley Moor. Not the most cooperative of birds it barely sang and sat in the middle of a bush before flying out on to the moor. 

Still, nice to have the first bird back and I'm sure we'll soon be hearing more of their scratchy songs.

Common Whitethroat

Grasshopper Warbler - Beeley Moor

 The first returning Grasshopper Warblers could be heard giving their distinctive reeling songs on Beeley Moor this morning. At least two birds were present and I managed to see one of them. The cold nights seem to be holding back migrants although Willow Warblers are abundant around the moors now delivering their lovely simple song.

Grasshopper Warbler

Return of the Cuckoo

 I heard my first Cuckoo on the 15th April on Beeley Moor, heard another calling at Chatsworth on the 16th and managed to see the Beeley bird again this morning as it crossed the moor,

Common Cuckoo

The first Tree Pipit were singing at Whitesprings and Sitches Plantations on 14th April.

Tree Pipit in song

Stock Dove 'driving' behaviour

I watched a small group of Stock Dove today on the edge of Halldale Wood. Two birds, sometimes three, repeatedly flew in the air with what I assume was the male (in several photos you can see that the upper bird has a puffed out chest, usually associated with a displaying male) chasing the female and flying very close and sometimes coming in to contact as they flew. 

This behaviour was first described as 'driving' by Derek Goodwin in 1956 in an article in the BTO journal Bird Study. He described the behaviour as the male 'driving' the female away from other males and said it took place both on the ground and in these short flights and occurred shortly before egg laying.

Stock Dove male upper chasing female

I watched at least 10 of these flights today and concluded that the male was not 'driving' her away but was chasing the female and was attempting to force her to land so that they could mate. On one occasion I was able to watch the birds after the male had followed her in to the trees where they appeared to mate.

Male Stock Dove attempting to mate with female at the end of a 'driving' flight

First of the returning Pied Flycatchers

 I have been looking for the first of the returning Pied Flycatchers for the past week and finally got lucky this morning. As many of our resident birds have already started nest building I have often wondered how the migrant birds were able to secure their favoured sites and this morning I witnessed something of how this is achieved.

A male Pied Flycatcher was calling repeatedly close to an area where they sometimes breed. The bird was giving a repeated, Wren like 'tec' call not the usual metallic 'pic' and was repeatedly flicking it's wings. I saw it enter a nest hole several times and then after it moved away a Great Tit entered the same hole. As the Great Tit left the hole and moved in to near by trees the Pied Flycatcher swooped down and chased it away. It then sat infant of the nest hole calling and flicking its wings and occasionally giving short bursts of song. 

The pair of Great Tits returned and the Pied Flycatcher repeatedly drove them away, given that there were two Great Tits and that on average they are about 20% larger and 20% heavier this is quite surprising. This process was repeated several times with the Pied Flycatcher going in and out of the nest hole but the Great Tits did not manage to re-enter it and I can only assume that they had been evicted.

Pied Flycatcher male - upper photos showing threat display

Norweigian Fallow Deer - Birchover

A nice herd of 45 Norweigian Fallow Deer resting in the fields below Birchover this morning. I have received various reports of these Fallow Deer closer to Matlock and in the woods above Rowsley and they are continuing to expanding their range slowly. 

Fallow Deer of the melanistic form often referred to as Norweigian