It's starting to feel a bit more autumnal, the local Swifts have departed in the last few days and there are signs of other birds moving with Wheatears starting to appear on the moor. It's always nice to see birds with a background of flowering heather like this bird by the Triangle today.
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| Northern Wheatear - juvenile |
i also had distant views of a female Merlin, shimmering slightly in the heat haze!
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| Merlin - adult female |
Another interesting day, I started off in the conifers along Flash Lane and was both surprised and pleased to hear the Turtle Dove purring. It's a month since I last heard it and this is the latest I've ever recorded it. Seems unlikely it will return next year, but that's what I thought last year, fingers crossed!
Whilst on the edge of the wood I heard a Common Greenshank calling, it called for perhaps 30 seconds and I thought it may have been circling the flooded field by the sharp corner but there was no sign of it when I checked.
This afternoon I went to the Elton Common area to look at the gulls which are starting to increase in number. I saw several hundred Lesser Black-backed but wasn't able to get anywhere near them so will have to wait until they favour a field closer to the road.
Whilst cycling the lanes I saw several Redstart, a Stonechat and a single Whinchat. It looks like a moulting adult female and it's the first time I've seen one at Elton Common and my first of the autumn.
Whinchat - female
After yesterday's downpour my expectations were not high for today but I got off to a good start with a Merlin which flew from the Rough Track towards Flash Lane, my first of the 'autumn', followed by two reeling Grasshopper Warblers at the Triangle.Then a group of at least 5 Common Crossbill at 40 Acre Plantation which were my first for a couple of weeks.
But the best was yet to come, Pam fancied a walk in Bakewell so I suggested a walk up to Ashford Lake, which I hadn't visited for a week or so. Looking down on the lake I saw a Little Grebe and several Mandarin and what I first took to be a Coot but it looked very black. It was a drake Common Scoter, my first on the patch.
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| Common Scoter - male They are recorded with increasing frequency on Carsington and Ogston and even up on Middleton Moor but I wasn't expecting one locally. They are nocturnal migrants and cross the country from Morecambe Bay to the North Sea, usually in the spring but can turn up anytime. |
A couple of interesting records today, the first a Pied Flycatcher in a mixed tit and warbler flock on the edge of Alport. This is the latest date I've recorded Pied Flycatcher locally, my previously latest date was mid-June so this is significantly later! Pied Flycatchers leave the woodlands where they have bred in early June and I've often wondered where they go. Departing migrants are not normally encountered on the coast before early August and it may be that the post breeding birds are dispersed around our river valley before they depart which is supported by todays record but I would have thought they would be more frequently reported in July if that were the case?
The second record is of an adult Dunlin at Harthill Pond, Youlgrave, it was very distant and I thought it was going to be a Snipe on my initial view so was very pleased to see that it was an adult Dunlin still retaining its black belly. Although they breed in small numbers on the moors of north Derbyshire and regularly occur at Carsington and Ogston on passage its a very scarce bird locally.
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| Dunlin - adult |
Scanning the drystone walls on the edge of the moor one stone looked very oval and proved to be a Little Owl which are very easy to overlook given the number of dry stone walls!
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| Little Owl - second rock from the left! |
July is a fairly quiet month as the breeding season comes to an end and some of our breeding migrants are already leaving the area, my last Curlew was on 4th July although there is still a chance of birds passing through and both Pied Flycatcher and Wood Warbler have left their breeding sites.
A Little Egret was a surprise this morning at Chatsworth, the first I've seen for about 6 weeks and interstinglly it looks like a fresh juvenile with its dark eye and green-yellow legs. Perhaps a bird from southern Derbyshire.
Little Egret - juvenile
Goosander look to have had a fairly typical year with family parties on the Derwent at Chatsworth and on the Wye at Bakewell.
Goosander - 3 juveniles standing with an adult female behind
Nightjar are still displaying on the moorland fringes and I have had some great views recently of birds flying very close to me and even landing on the path a few metres away.
Nightjar
At least three Quail have been calling in hay meadows adjoining Green Lane, Bonsall Moor since the 23rd June. I could hear two this morning but the birds were some distance apart and it was difficult to be certain how many birds were calling.
They have occasionally been visible with a bird calling briefly from on top of a drystone wall this morning. This evening it was thought that there could be as many as five males calling.
I presumed that this Stoat was feeding its own brood from a nest of, what I guess are Field Voles, as it made the same journey five times. Each time carrying a vole to the same area on Beeley Triangle.
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| Stoat carrying Field Vole |
The grass was still wet from last nights rain so the Stoat looks slightly bedraggled but was a lovely pale lemon yellow below and reddish brown above. As usual it moved very quickly but fortunately it paused and looked at me just before going in to the grass.
A scarce mammal on Beeley Moor, I'll be keeping an eye out for its offspring.
I made a brief visit to Chatsworth last week but saw neither Oystercatchers or Common Sandpiper so I was pleasantly surprised to hear Oystercatchers calling as I walked along the river this morning. I was even more surprised to see 5 birds flying circling in the sky, a record count for me locally. As I put my camera up to take a photo I saw that they were mobbing a Red Kite.
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| Oystercatchers mobbing Red Kite |
I saw them again a little latter when two of the birds were displaying to each other. Impossible to know whether these are new birds or if two of them are the original pair, will have to wait and see if there is a breeding attempt.
A Common Sandpiper was also feeding along the river raising the possibility that it is one of a breeding pair.
Although this is only my first week back after a three week absence I was hoping to see more evidence of Goosander breeding but a female seen today is the only bird I have seen, maybe they have had more success on the Wye?
Common Sandpiper
I've been abroad for several weeks so today I was keen to catch up on the progress some of our breeding birds have made. The Pied Flycatcher on my last post, on the 19th May was using a natural nest hole and I was particularly interested to see if they were still around as most of the local Pied Flycatchers use nest boxes, some of which I put up with Alan Stewardson more than a dozen years ago but they are still in use!
The Pied Flycatcher incubates its eggs for around 15 days and it takes a further 15 days for the young to fledge, its 26 days since I last saw the male so if they had just started egg laying the young birds could still be in the nest.
I had to wait a little while but first the male, then the female turned up at the nest to feed the youngsters which must now be very close to fledging.
The nest hole in a Silver Birch looks to have been excavated by a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
I also made a visit t Youlgrave and a Common Quail calling close to Harthill Pond was unexpected and the first time I have heard one there.
Pied flycatcher -male
Having seen my first Nightjars a couple of days ago a Whinchat this afternoon on Beeley Moor completes the arrivals of our breeding migrants, a superb male I'm hoping it will stay to breed. As the Whinchat is just arriving the first young Stonechats have fledged this week.
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| Whinchat - male |
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| Pied Flycatcher - male |
No signs of any Short-eared Owls this month but a Long-eared hunting over a clear fell area at dusk is a positive sign and a pair of Little Owls close to Bakewell are always nice to see.
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| Little Owl - pair |
The Firecrest is a very scarce breeding bird in Derbyshire with confirmed breeding in 1981, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2016, 2018 and 2020 according to the Derbyshire Ornithological Society. It is more regularly found in the winter with one or two birds recorded most years.
This morning I located a singing male in an area of Sitka Spruce in Matlock Forest. Typically they are in some of the oldest and darkest coniferous forest making their features difficult to see in the wild but the photographs show what a superb looking bird they are.
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| Firecrest - male |
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| Firecrest Breeding distribution 2008-2011 |
A single report of a flyover Yellow Wagtail over Beeley Moor on 3rd May was the first of the Spring but I had three, a male and two females, at Elton Common this morning.
Although passage birds may be encountered almost anywhere locally this is still the only site that I know where breeding is attempted.
Yellow Wagtail - female
A kettle of 9 Common Buzzards over the fields was a notable count.
Robin Elliot came across a pair of Grey Partridge yesterday by the Matlock Road/ Alicehead Road junction. Fortunately they were still in the area this morning in a field a little closer to Swinger Lane. Although there have been occasional reports; Alan Stewardson saw one on Harland Edge earlier this year and there was a report of a pair a couple of days ago in the Haddon Grove Farm area, they are my first since 2011!
I'd be interested to hear of any other local records in the last few years.
Most of the expected migrants are back now with good numbers of Common Whitethroat on the moors and several Garden Warbler around the plantations now. I also had a Lesser Whitethroat singing on 3rd May on Cullumbell Lane outside Uppertown.
Grey Partridge
Superb views of Grasshopper Warbler this morning with a pair together on Beeley Moor, there are at least four males with territories around the moors.
I saw the Turtle Dove on the last day of April and again on the 1st May around Flash Lane. It was displaying to a Collared Dove on the 30th April with the chances of it finding a mate very slim although it persists with its lovely purring song.
Grasshopper Warbler
I saw my first Common Swifts over Darley Dale on 2nd May and numbers are steadily increasing but there are not many House Martin about.
Turtle Dove displaying to a Collared
There was a Hobby over Flash Lane on 30th April and I've seen another today and the first Wood Warblers returned on 1st May.
So just Spotted Flycatcher, Whinchat and Nightjar still to arrive.
The lone male Turtle Dove which has frequented Uppertown, Darwin Forest and the Matlock Farm Park area returned for its 6th summer on the 20th April and has been seen several times since. If only it could attract a mate! An amazing record and one of very few to be found in Derbyshire.
Turtle Dove
I heard my first Cuckoo by Beeley Triangle on the 22nd April and there are several birds now, around the moors and Matlock Forest. On the same day there was a group of 6 Ring Ouzel (a record count for me) on the edge of the moor which increased to 6 birds before they departed.
Three Common Sandpiper were present along the river at Chatsworth this morning but more surprising was a Dunlin flushed from the river bank, only the second time I have seen one locally. It circled round a couple of times before flying off north, giving me just about enough time to get a record shot.
Common Sandpiper
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| Dunlin |
The Oystercatchers are still present at Chatsworth and making use of the props for the forthcoming horse trials!
Whilst many of our summer migrants have returned there are still several missing and I would usually have seen Garden Warbler, Wood Warbler and Common Whitethroat by now but I suspect the persistent cool temperatures are holding them back south of us somewhere.
Oystercatcher
After the persistent wind and rain of recent days it was a pleasure to go out this morning in dry and calm conditions. I was soon rewarded with a couple of Tree Pipits singing in Whitesprings with several Willow Warblers jn the background.
Walking up Flash Lane with Alan we had a nice party of 35 Fieldfare on the edge of Sitches plantation and returning to the same area half an hour later a Ring Ouzel was sat in a roadside tree. Judging by the amount of white on the chest it's probably a first summer male but could be an older female.
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| Ring Ouzel |
On the moors a Red Kite drifted over, then another bird circling high over Harland Edge turned out to be a Short-eared Owl, my first this year. It gained height and was eventually lost to view.
To finish the morning a male Peregrine treated us to a close fly past.
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| Peregrine Falcon - male |
