Not birds this time, but my first Forester and Latticed Heath moths and Common Lizard. The two moths are probably only just emerging now but the lizards will have been out since the spring, but I've only just managed to find one. All on Flash Lane this morning.
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| Forester |
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| Latticed Heath |
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| Common Lizard |
Nice to see some juvenile Redstarts starting to appear. With the prolonged spell of warm settled weather from early May to early June it looks like it will have been a good breeding season for many of our woodland birds.
Common Redstart- juvenile
Fantastic views of an Osprey fishing below the first weir at Chatsworth this morning, it took two dives to catch a fairly small fish which it carried off towards Beeley Moor to eat. There have been several reports of Osprey at Chatsworth during the past week and they presumably relate to the same bird. It looks much more worn than the bird seen at Ogston recently.
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| Osprey |
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| Dipper feeding juvenile |
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| Dipper - wet juvenile |
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| Pied Flycatcher juvenile |
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| Pied Flycatcher female |
Although the Mute Swan is relatively easy to see locally with one or two birds usually present in the centre of Bakewell and at Caudwells Mill, Rowsley I think there are only one or two breeding pairs in the area.
One pair nested on the banks of the River Lathkill this year but only have one cygnet. They typically lay 5-8 eggs, but mortality is high with 50% failing to survive beyond 3 months old, but just one surviving cygnet now is not a good outcome for them.
The total number of birds in the area doesn't seem to vary much so I suspect one or two youngsters surviving to adulthood is probably typically, resulting in just 7 or 8 birds in the area most of the year.
Mute Swan - female with cygnet
Pleased to see at least one recently fledged Whinchat at Beeley Triangle yesterday. It's a very scarce breeding bird around Beeley Moor with breeding birds more likely to be encountered a little further north around Big Moor, but juveniles often pass through Beeley in the autumn. As far as I can recall this is the first confirmed locally bred bird since 2014.
Since first posting this blog Doug Aston has been in touch to let me know that a pair bred below Fallinge Edge in 2016 so maybe some pairs have been missed, which is quite likely.
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| Whinchat juvenile |
I watched this adult female Hen Harrier for over 30 minutes hunting above and below Harland Edge this morning. At the end of this period it climbed until it was a dot in the sky and did two steep swoops, the classic 'sky dance' for which the male Hen Harrier is well known, before drifting off west.
An occasional breeding bird in Derbyshire it has suffered from persecution in many parts of its former range in England and there are typically less than 20 pairs nesting in northern England each year.
Why a lone adult female would be on Beeley Moor in June is a good question. It is perhaps an unpaired bird or a failed breeder from further north.
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| Hen Harrier - female |
Whinchat have been in short supply this spring so I was pleased to find a female close to Beeley Triangle this morning. I was even more pleased when the female was joined by a male.
I saw no evidence that they were breeding but it seems highly likely at this time of year so I left them to it.
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| Whinchat - male upper |
A pair of Greylag Geese with three goslings in front of Chatsworth House this morning is the first time I've confirmed breeding in the Darley Dale area. I suspect numbers will rival those of Canada Geese in a few years time.
Postscript: After publishing this post I went to Bakewell on 10th June and counted 55 Greylag Geese by the river and lake just north of the Thornbridge Brewery. At least half of the birds were juveniles so the number of birds in the area is going up rapidly!
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| Greylag Geese |
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| House Martin |
Walking through Halldale Wood this morning I noticed a movement in the very top of an Ash tree, i though it would be a Great Spotted Woodpecker which I could hear calling and was very surprised when it finally showed enough of itself to see that it was a male Hawfinch.
In the late 1990's when I first moved to Darley Dale Hawfinch sightings were fairly regular and I even saw them from the garden several times flying across the woods below Hallmoor Road, Gradually the frequency of sightings decreased until by 2010 they appeared to be lost as a breeding bird in the area.
In the winter small numbers are still recorded at Cromford but numbers have also declined there with just one or two birds present the last couple of winters.
In December 2017 there was an influx of Hawfinch in to Britain from the Continent and a single bird was found in the Whitworth Park in December which increased to 7 by the end of the year. In the New Year birds were seen at St Helens Church which were present in to March with a peak count of 51 birds. Hopes were high that some of these birds would stay to breed but all departed during the early Spring of 2018.
This mornings record of a male is therefore very interesting and is hopefully an indication that there is still at least one breeding pair in the area. Fingers crossed anyway.
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| Hawfinch flying in the tree canopy - not a great photo but good enough as a record |
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| Pied Flycatcher female, I've inverted the ring in the inset image |
Making the most of the sunshine I spent the morning with Pam orchid hunting in the Via Gellia. There were plenty of Early Purple and a few Common Spotted Orchids but most of the former were now past their best, but my main target were the rarer species.
In one area I found a good number of Burnt-tip Orchids and nearby, rarest of them all in Derbyshire, just five spikes of the Green-winged.
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| Green-winged Orchid |
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| Burn-tip Orchid |
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| Fly Orchid |
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.
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| Lesser Whitethroat (upper) v Common Whitethroat |
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.
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| Barn Owl |
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
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.
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| Whimbrel |
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.
A Yellow Wagtail, a scarce bird locally, was feeding along the edge of the river and at least one pair of Common Sandpiper.
Black Swan 
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!
