After an absence from the area of five years, Waxwings have finally arrived!
Seven were seen at the entrance to Peak Village, Rowsley and a further nine were seen flying from Churchtown towards the A6 in Darley Dale.
There are still plenty of berries in the area so hopefully they will stay for a while.
It's been a fairly quiet week for me but the frequent rainy days has given me the time to write up my recent trip to Georgia. That said it was a beautiful day today so Pam and I walked to Chatsworth, nothing special on the bird front but we had great views of a Kingfisher on the river in front of the House.
A skein of 52 Pink-footed Geese flew south over the house yesterday.
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| Common Kingfisher - male judging by the all black bill |
Although I've managed to see Common Crossbills in every month this year the numbers were generally very low until the autumn. I was only seeing 3 or 4 birds regularly through the summer and it was not possible to confirm whether they bred, although I have done so in the past.
In August numbers increased and I had a flock of 30 and there have been regular reports of 30-40 since then, primarily in Fourty Acre and Seventy Acre Plantations. It's difficult to be certain of the numbers because they are not always together and are not easy to count unless you get a clear view of a flock in flight. I got photos of a group of 12 this morning although as usual they were at the very top of the conifers.
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| Common Crossbill |
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| Pink-footed Geese. |
It seems to be all gulls at the moment with another Caspian Gull today in a ploughed field on Syda Lane,
The field was proving quite an attraction as there were also around 40 Lesser Black-backed, 3 Herring and a Common Gull plus a nice party of 67 Golden Plover and around 40 Lapwing.
It's possible that th Caspian Gull is the same bird that I saw in Darley Dale last week I guess.
There were several hundred Fieldfare on the moor and the first signs of Woodpigeons on the move with over 1000 birds counted flying SW.
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| Caspian Gull |
Following last weeks Caspian I came across an adult Yellow-legged Gull today in the fields just north of Chatsworth House. It was present for about 30 minutes with around 50 Lesser Black-backed Gulls before the flock was disturbed and they moved off to the south.
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| Adult Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls |
As usual the flood waters between Darley Dale and Darley Bridge at Four Lane Ends have attracted large numbers of gulls this week. I've spent several hours checking through them each day this week but apart from one or two Herring and up to a dozen Common Gulls I hadn't managed to find anything else until this morning when I picked out an adult Caspian Gull.
Caspian Gull - adult
The number of gulls on the flooded fields were fairly static until this morning with around 500 Lesser Black-backed and 600 Black-headed but there were more birds this morning with 700-800 Lesser Black-backed and i estimated over 1000 Black-headed.
Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls on the flooded fields
The water level is steadily falling so without further rain the fields may dry out in the next couple of days.
A female Eurasian Teal has been resident in the Whitworth for about 10 days now, it's the first I can recall there.
I had a Northern Wheatear on the moor on the 17th October which I suspect will be my last. 
Northern Wheatear - female
There have been several sightings of Hen Harriers on the moor with both 'ringtails' (females or immatures) and an adult male so hopefully they will remain for the winter.
I was away for the big Redwing arrival on 9th October when several thousand were seen over Beeley Moor and 21k were counted over Ogston. There are still good numbers of Redwings around with plenty of Fieldfare and upto a dozen Brambling have been seen.
My first visit to the moors following 3 weeks in Georgia, mainly watching thousands of migrating birds of prey - hopefully I'll write up the trip on my wildlife diaries blog in the near future.
A few changes on the moor with lots of Meadow Pipits moving SW along with finch parties, mainly Goldfinch but with some nice flocks of Lesser Redpoll and a scattering of Chaffinch and Linnet.
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| Whinchat - juvenile |
A juvenile Whinchat moving around the moor with a small party of Stonechat was nice to see and now quite a late date for them. A couple of Northern Wheatear on a formerly burnt area of moor was a bit more expected.
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| Northern Wheatear - female |
Several Common Crossbill and more Lesser Redpoll in the 40 Acre area. A single skein of Pink-footed Geese and a lone Brambling were a reminder that autumn is well underway now and the winter thrushes should be arriving soon.
Good to see decent numbers of Brown Hares in the fields bordering Beeley Moor, they appear to spend most of the day asleep in the grass so presumably feeding at night.
Brown Hare
An small influx of Common Crossbill and Siskin in recent days. I had 30 crossbill in 40 Acre Plantation having only seen 2 or 3 during the summer months.
Meadow Pipit numbers are starting to build up as birds start to move south having bred to the north of us.
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.
