Curlews return to Beeley Moor

 Ken noted the first returning Curlew on Screetham Lane yesterday and there were two there this morning - Spring is on its way!

Eurasian Curlew

There were two Hawfinch at St Helen's Church in Darley Dale yesterday but again I failed to locate them this morning.

Pink-footed Goose - Youlgreave

 Following the Pink-footed Goose movement on the 21st January I've seen no more, apart from the lone Pink-footed Goose that spends its time with the Greylags at Youlgreave. It may be the same bird that spent last winter with them but wasn't present in the summer months so hopefully it returns to Iceland.

Pink-foot with Greylag Geese

I saw two Hawfinch yesterday at Cromford and Alan has seen the single bird at St Helen's in Darley Dale but it eludes me.

I had distant views of a juvenile Goshawk as it crossed Beeley Moor this afternoon which is always a welcome sight as it proves breeding was successful somewhere locally.

Northern Goshawk - juvenile

Cattle Egret - Old Brampton

Slightly outside my usual area but a Cattle Egret at Old Brampton, which was first seen on 24 January, proved too much of an attraction today so I cycled over this morning. Cutting across past the Triangle then down through Holymoorside on to Westwick Lane. I could see the white dot moving in the field just east of Old Brampton church from almost a kilometre away.

Cattle Egret

It seemed to be working its way up the field towards Old Brampton by the bridleway then flying down to the bottom of the field to repeat the process, which it did a couple of times before taking to the air and flying strongly west at 09:50, disappearing from view after about a kilometre but likely still going.

Cattle Egret

By far the rarest of the three white egrets numbers of all three continue to increase and it seems likely that we'll be seeing them more regularly in the future. 

Pink-feet, Whoopers and another harrier

 Driving up from the valley this morning in thick mist I was hoping, as usual, that it would clear before before I got to the moor and fortunately it did revealing a clear sky.

There was nothing much of note until around 09:30 when the first skein of Pink-footed Geese were seen flying NW over the valley and just above the mist. These were followed by several more skeins heading in the same direction with some birds a little closer. In the next 30 minutes we counted 710 birds all heading NW.

Then a female Hen Harrier appeared flying low over the frosted moorland grass towards us before veering off across the moor, an amazing sight!

But, there was more to come as Alan picked up two distant swans flying SE over the moor which we thought were likely to be Whoopers and which the distant photos confirmed. 

I superb morning!

Hen Harrier - female

Pink-footed Geese

Whooper Swans

Hen Harrier - Beeley Moor

 A male Hen Harrier has been seen several times hunting around the fringes of the moor since the start of the year. This morning I was lucky to have it land in view from where I was stood and I managed a distant photo before the snow started.

Hen Harrier - male

In typical fashion, having just mentioned that there had been no records of Hawfinch at St Helen's Church in Darley Dale since 2018, Alan Stewardson found one this morning. Hopefully it will attract a few more.

Hawfinches at Cromford

 Since the first report of a single Hawfinch at Cromford this winter on 8th December they have been seen fairly regular since. Generally in the trees around the entrance to Willersley Castle or nearby at St Mary's Church. 

Most reports were of a single bird in December although Clive Ashton saw 4 on 10th December. In January 3 birds have been seen several times but there were 6 birds reported yesterday and Robin Elliot had 4 there today and took the photo below.

Hawfinch © Robin Elliot

Occasionally birds have wintered in Darley Dale with exceptional numbers during a UK wide influx in the winter of 2018 when there were up to 35 at St Helen's Church but they have not been seen there since. 

The attraction to churchyards is generally due to the presence of Yew trees and their berries which are a favoured food of the Hawfinch.

Gadwall return to Chatsworth

 For the third successive winter a pair of Gadwall have returned to Chatsworth. They were on the river infront of the house this morning with Mallard.

I assume it's the same pair, and if so they may well remain until the Spring if they follow the pattern of the prior years. 

Gadwall - pair

Brambling - Bent Lane

Whilst the longed for influx of Waxing has failed to materialise this winter, and now looks unlikely to do so, it's been much better for Brambling than the past few years.

Prior to Christmas there was a large mixed flock of at least 400 Chaffinch and Brambling around Flash Lane. It was difficult to estimate how many of each were in the flock but I estimated over 50 Brambling but it could have been many more.

Towards the end of the year they were seen more regularly on Bent Lane and I counted 30 to 40 birds there today feeding below the beech trees

Brambling - male

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Little Egret at Chatsworth

 Another Little Egret at Chatsworth today, it flew up from the river and landed in a tree, and at least one back at Youlgreave yesterday.

The Little Egret bred in south Derbyshire for the first time at Drakelow in 2018 and it seems likely that they will breed locally before too long. This year I have recorded them in most months of the year from January through to December.

Still around a dozen Mandarin Duck along the river, numbers have continued to fall since a peak of 93 in September. I assume they have moved on to some of the local ponds which they seem to prefer in the winter.

Mandarin Duck

Fall and rise of the Raven

 I came across a dead sheep on Flash Lane yesterday which attracted several Magpie, Carrion Crows and 2 Raven.

Raven

Ravens are now a common sight around the moors and I regularly see and hear them from my house in Darley Dale but it was only in the mid 1990's that the Raven regularly bred in Derbyshire. 

However, according to The Birds Of Derbyshire the Raven was common in the County during the 18th Century but was subject to persecution and quotes a record of 1725 Ravens killed at Wirksworth between 1707 and 1724. 

Breeding continued until the the 1860s after which there are just occasional records of visiting birds until regular breeding commenced again from 1992 onwards.

Although most of my records are of 1s and 2s I counted 28 together over Harland Edge on 3rd October this year.

Long-eared Owl in winter

For many years I thought the Long-eared Owl was just a summer visitor to the Beeley Moor area. This was based on the simple fact that I had never seen or heard one in the winter months. When I first moved here, twenty years ago I spent many winter nights cycling round the moor listening for Long-eared Owls but with no success.

I have a pair of Tawny Owls which nest in the wood close to my house and I decided to monitor how frequently I heard them calling. I found that on some nights they would be very vocal, although this may only last for 5 minutes at the most, but on most evenings in the winter time they were silent. The time of vocal activity was also very variable and whilst I heard them most frequently before midnight There was a significant bias because this was the time I was awake and by listening for them at times when I awoke in the night I found that their often brief periods of vocal activity were at 2am to 3am.

Assuming that Long-eared Owls have similarly limited times of vocal activity it would need a good deal of luck for me to be present when they were calling or I would have to spend many nights on the moors to have a chance of hearing them!

In the end I decided to leave a portable recorder running in areas that I thought might be suitable and whilst I still have a low success rate I have had some success!

This is the typical deep hooting song of a male Long-eared Owl recorded in December;

I think this sequence is a territorial dispute, probably involving two females. It starts with a couple of distant hoots from a Tawny Owl followed by the sound of wing clapping there is then an interchange of calls between two birds.

Marsh Tit at Youlgreave

 A couple of weeks ago Doug Aston let me know that a friend of his had seen a Marsh Tit on a feeder in Youlgreave. Although I've seen Marsh Tit a couple of times in Alport and also at Over Haddon and in Monsal Dale I've never found one in Bradford Dale before.

Today I corrected that with reasonable views of a bird visiting a feeder on the edge of the village in Bradford Dale. 

It's difficult to judge how scarce the Marsh Tit is locally but from my records I'd say it is very scarce. Although it's present in several of the limestone dales the populations must be very small.

Marsh Tit

Today's Marsh Tit was the first on my Darley Dale centred patch this year and my 129th species for the year. I'm not likely to add any more species this year but you never know.

Redwing in Chatsworth

 There have been hundreds of Redwing flying around this week and they appear to be settling in to feed now. I came across a nice group feeding with Chaffinch below an oak tree in Chatsworth today as we experienced the first dusting of snow of the winter.

Redwing

I managed to count the Lapwing flock at the end of Screetham Lane earlier in the week. I'd estimated the flock at 200 but counting from a photo I came to 308. The Golden Plover, which have been as high as 170 can be counted at 50 now in the same photo. With the ground now freezing it's likely that these birds will leave the moor for milder areas.

Lapwing with Golden Plover above them

I watched a Hawfinch flying over Cromford Bridge yesterday morning which I think is the first recorded there so far this winter. Still hoping they may return to the yews at St Helen's Church in Darley Dale.

Whooper Swans over Chatsworth

Two more Whooper Swans flew over the patch this morning. Flying high SE over my head, following the river at Chatsworth. I also had a small skein of 5 Pink-footed Geese flying east and 18 Goosander with 5 Teal on Emperor Lake, 

Not bad for another very overcast day.

Whooper Swans

 

Close encounter with a Kingfisher on the River Bradford

 We've had a spell of very gloomy weather recently and today was no exception but I had very close views of a Common Kingfisher on the River Bradford at Youlgrave today. It was so intent on fishing that it allowed me to get within several metres. It caught three fish whilst I was watching it. I didn't realise at the time but it has a BTO ring on its right leg. If the weather had been better I may have been able to read some of the ring but it was very dark and spitting with rain.

Common Kingfisher

A little further up the river a young male Wigeon was still present which I had first seen on the 25th November.

Wigeon immature male

It's been fairly quiet recently although several skeins of Pink-footed Geese are still passing over the moor and there are now 20-30 Common Crossbill in the forestry plantations on Flash Lane. 

Lapwing are still present around Screetham Lane in decent numbers (over 200) and I've seen up to 170 Golden Plover in the same area.

A Marsh Harrier was seen in the same area last weekend but there has been no further sightings.