Lockdown Day 5

All day at home and unsurprisingly not many new birds to add to my Lock-down garden list but I did manage one; Grey Heron which looked like it was probably dropping down on to the pond in the Whitworth Park.
The list for the last 5 days now stands at 46 which isn't bad and there are still a few commoner species still missing plus there is the promise of a few spring migrants just around the corner, if it would just warm up a bit. 
I'm averaging 33 to 37 species a day, no doubt helped by the decent weather.
A pair of Sparrowhawk were displaying over the garden yesterday, this is the male.

Sparrowhawk

Lockdown day 3 - Return to the moor

I decided to cycle up to Beeley Moor today for my 'daily exercise', apart from a few dog walkers still driving up to exercise their dogs there was very little traffic and it was therefore quite peaceful.
The Curlew flock has now largely dispersed with several pairs establishing territories.

Eurasian Curlew

 
Still no Wheatear but I did have a superb male Merlin eating something, though I'm not sure what. It was distant and there was heat haze but still great to see.

Merlin - male

Plenty of Chiffchaffs around and I've had a few reports of singing Blackcaps but haven't seen one myself yet but I did have my first Sand Martin at Rowsley on Monday.

Lockdown day 2

No surprise that I only managed a few new birds today, to add to yesterdays garden list, but another four isn't bad taking the total to 41. The new birds were a single Lapwing, 7 Great Cormorant (and I saw two in the trees by the Whitworth pond that were probably part of the same group later in the day), a male Bullfinch and overnight a calling Tawny Owl.
A pair of Sparrowhawk were displaying over the wood at the back of the house as were two Common Buzzard.
Taking a few photos in the garden in the sunshine and this preening Blue Tit was my favourite.

Blue Tit

Birdwatching under lockdown

Well, as of today most of us are home bound and likely to be so for several weeks but with hopefully a daily walk thrown in.
Looking on the positive side I've decided to do a garden bird list for the period of the Coronavirus lockdown. I get off to a good start with a surprise Green Woodpecker calling from somewhere around the Whitworth Park early on, it called several times and was clearly moving and I suspect it either went to Halldale Wood or Ladygrove. Several Mandarin flew over the house, commuting from the river to the ponds in Ladygrove and a lone Curlew flew over calling.
By the end of the day I had recorded 36 species which is a pretty good start.
Plenty of tits still visiting the garden, the Coal Tit is one of my favourites.

Coal Tit

The warm weather has brought out a few butterflies and I've seen Brimstone, Comma and Small Tortoiseshell in the last couple of days.

Migrant Marsh Harrier

In blustery conditions an adult female Marsh Harrier crossed Beeley Moor, heading steadily east this morning. Still at least 4 Common Crossbill on Flash Lane and several Brambling this morning also the first Chiffchaff on Flash Lane.

Marsh Harrier - female

Chiffchaff and a moorland Fox

I saw my first Chiffchaff almost a week ago at Congrieve on the 13th March but managed my first photo today of a bird calling at Rowsley. I thought this shot was quite interesting as the bird has a very distinct eye-ring which shows well in the photo.

Chiffchaff

The Fox was on Beeley Moor where the Curlew are now returning in decent numbers, I counted 27 on Tuesday.
With all the worry and constant news coverage of the Coronavirus pandemic it's nice to get out in to the countryside.

Fox

Common Crossbill - Flash Lane

There has been a small flock of Common Crossbill around Flash Lane throughout the winter. The numbers have varied peaking at around 20 at the turn of the year but generally around 6 to 10 birds. Males have been singing and I've seen occasional display flights. 
The Common Crossbill is known to be one of the earliest breeding passerines and in other areas of the UK nests with eggs have been reported but so far I have seen no signs of nesting activity. Strangely Doug Aston photographed juveniles on Flash Lane in July 2018 and I can only assume that these were from a second brood.
This morning I had a group of around 6 birds low down in the trees and managed to get some photos, usually they are either in flight or at the very tops of conifers so don't give much opportunity for photos.
Ringing studies have shown that both males and females can have orange in the plumage but only males have an orange throat so all three birds depicted below look to be males.

Common Crossbill adult male

Common Crossbill immature male

Common Crossbill immature male

Goshawk in the Peak District Update

I last commented on the status of the Northern Goshawk in the Peak District in January 2016 referring to the 2014 Derbyshire Bird Report which reported 10 pairs in the Peak District. Four years later and the Derbyshire Bird Report for 2018 reported 27 pairs in Derbyshire commenting that they are mainly in the Peak District so it appears that the Goshawk is doing well in the Peak District a trend which is mirrored in the UK where the national population is now estimated at around 620 pairs (up from around 420 pairs estimated in 2013).
From my own observation I would agree that there has probably been a small increase in pairs in the areas that I watch but the success of breeding pairs appears to vary significantly from year to year and this winter for example I have seen very few juvenile birds which implies that the 2019 breeding season was not particularly good.
The best time to observe them is from January to the end of March when both sexes may be seen displaying. The past week finally produced some blue skies and I managed to photograph a selection of birds.

Goshawk 2nd calendar year juvenile

Goshawk adult male

Goshawk adult male displaying

Goshawk immature male, probably 4 years old

Goshawk female at least 4 years old

If your interested in Goshawk identification I've updated my blog post on the subject here

Red Kite back in the Peak District

Following last weeks sighting of a Red Kite at Bakewell I was pleased to see one this morning in a similar area to where they bred last year. So fingers crossed for this years breeding season. In the very strong winds today it appeared to be quite happy just to sit in the tree.

Red Kite

Stonechat - Beeley Moor

A single male Stonechat on the moor today, they have been in short supply recently although finding them in the winds of storms Ciara and Dennis was never going to be easy!
Two pairs of Common Crossbill in Whitesprings Plantation feeding in Larches with a large flock of around 200 Siskin was the only significant interest today but at least it was dry this morning. The number of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks are starting to increase and the first Curlew shouldn't be too far away now.
A Red Kite seen around Bakewell on Tuesday morning, reported by Bob Cleary, is the first I've heard of locally this year and hopefully is the first of many.

Stonechat - male

Stock Dove

I haven't seen many Stock Dove recently so was slightly surprised to see a fairly tight group of nine flying over the Farley Moor plantation today. A common resident they are more often heard than seen in the summer but flocks of a hundred or more can be seen locally in the winter although as noted above I haven't encountered any significant flocks this winter.

Stock Dove

Slow start to the New Year

It's been a rather slow start to the New Year, mainly due to the persistent mild, wet weather. I did make a reasonable start on the 1st though, with 65 species recorded but this included a visit to Carsington for the adult and juvenile Great Northern Divers plus a Jack Snipe, the regular Willow Tits there and an unseasonal Chiffchaff which is over wintering on Stones Island.

Chiffchaff

On the moors I've seen up to 23 Common Crossbill fairly regularly and one or two Red Grouse plus a regular pair of Stonechat and a mobile flock of up to 200 Brambling.
Today was a better day though as I came across an adult male Hen Harrier hunting over the moor which was a fantastic sight, albeit rather fleeting and distant as is so often the case.

Hen Harrier - male

Carrion Crow - Beeley Moor

A bird I haven't featured before on the blog but a common sight both around the parks and gardens and on the moor. In the past I have seen congregations of several hundred birds on the moors but numbers are much lower at present and they tend to been seen singley or in small groups of a dozen or so. 
Not easy to photograph being all black and therefore requiring decent light, to show the feathering, as it was this morning.

Carrion Crow

Sparrowhawk and Kestrel

Great to see some blue skies for a few days. 
I was photographing a hovering Kestrel today when suddenly another bird flashed in to the viewfinder and disappeared just as quickly. I pressed the shutter and got a few photos which captured the incomer, a male Sparrowhawk, quite nicely. 

Sparrowhawk and Kestrel

Long-tailed Skua - First for Carsington Water 7 October

I'm a bit late posting this, but better late than never!
Monday 7th October was one of those wet days we seem to have had a lot of recently where it's raining when you open the curtains first thing in the morning and it's still raining when the light fades in the evening. Fortunately I had no plans so was happy to stay indoors. Early afternoon I got a call from Simon Roddis to say he had a small skua on the water at Carsington and was I interested to come and have a look at it?
I was, and set off almost immediately marvelling at the dedication of Simon and other Carsington regulars who brave all weather in search of interesting birds, their efforts had been well rewarded recently with a brief Grey Phalarope and a longer staying Slavonian Grebe.
I arrived at the Sheepwash Car Park and set off for Brown Ale Bay the last reported location of the skua. I bumped in to Roy Frost on the way who was just leaving, unaware of the skua sighting but who was more than happy to tag along on the skua quest. 
The skua was just drifting out of view when we arrived and joined Simon and Roger Carrington my first thought was to try and get some record photos in case it disappeared altogether. I took a few photos in the poor light using the 500mm lens with a 2x converter, not ideal but the bird was some distance away. It then took off and landed another 100m away so I was glad I did.

Long-tailed Skua juvenile

Standing together with the bird now perhaps 400m away we discussed its identity and the unanimous view was that it was  an Arctic Skua and with the rain still falling we departed. 

A couple of photos were put on Twitter which resulted in several people questioning why it wasn't a Long-tailed Skua.
In the end the birds identity as a juvenile Long-tailed was clinched on the following points;

1. Evenly spaced broad buff barring on the under tail,
2. Lack of pale tips to the primaries,
3. On the upper wing only two white primary shafts, Arctic usually shows more,
4. Dark tip to bill covering about half of its length. In Arctic the dark tip is not so clearly demarcated. I had thought that the bill was rather long and thin but this appeared to be in the range for Long-tailed.

We quickly conceded that it was indeed a juvenile Long-tailed Skua and a first record for Carsington Water and only the 7th for Derbyshire.
Unfortunately it wasn't present the following day. 
It certainly proved a valuable lesson in assessing all of a birds features when making an identification and the value of obtaining photos of any unusual bird.