After the excitement of the Grey Phalarope last Sunday it's been a much quieter, and wetter week. Still plenty of thrushes about and a came across a Little Owl today sheltering from the drizzle.
A scarce bird locally numbers appear to have declined in recent years but still a few pairs around.
Little Owl
A report of a Grey Phalarope in Bakewell took me completely by surprise this morning. I was just returning from a walk at Chatsworth when I heard the news so diverted to Bakewell. Always a bit sceptical when I hear something so unexpected but there it was feeding happily just a few feet from the path by the island below Bakewell Bridge.
It was completely unconcerned by the many day trippers walking within a few metres of it, many stopping to take a photo and ask what it was. There were some strong winds yesterday which had displaced a Kittiwake to Carsington but I certainly hadn't expected any inland Grey Phalaropes but here it was in Bakewell.
A maritime species in winter, after breeding north of the Arctic Circle they migrate down the North Atlantic, often well off-shore to winter of South and West Africa so this bird is well off the expected route but will presumably head back out sea now the winds have eased.
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| Grey Phalarope |
My first Great White Egret in the Darley Dale area today. Despite increasing numbers in the south of the County with a record count of 6 at Drakelow in recent days it still took me by surprise. I had imagined a distant view at Chatsworth or on the River Wye but this bird flew straight across the moor, heading towards Darley Dale, and perhaps on to Carsington.
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| Great White Egret |
Large numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare have been moving in to the UK since the wind moved to the East on Tuesday. At Flamborough Head 32,830 Redwing and 4,475 Fieldfare were counted. Closer to home 300 Fieldfare crossed Beeley Moor. This morning in thick mist 180 Fieldfare were sat in a ploughed field close to the moor with 80 Redwing.
Fieldfare and Starlings in the mist
I noted the darvic type ring on this 1st winter Black-headed Gull at Bakewell on 25th September, traced the ring to Poland and sent of the details.
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| Black-headed Gull TLW5 |
Turns out it was ringed near Krakow on the 21st May, so it has travelled 1535km in 127 days. We often assume that birds we see regularly are locally bred but that's clearly not the case as we'll see soon with Blackbirds and Robins arriving from the Continent with our winter thrushes.
A total of 278 Pink-footed Geese crossed Beeley Moor this morning in 5 skeins. They were all headed SE towards the Wash or Norfolk coast I imagine. They were flying quite high and travelling fast assisted by the strong NW wind. They probably set off from the Southport area of Merseyside. Hopefully get some more tomorrow.
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| Pink=footed Geese |
I've seen several Common Lizard basking in the sunshine on the moors over the last couple of days. Once the weather changes I think they will be hibernating until next year. The upper photo is a young one, presumably born either this year or last whilst the lower photo is of an older adult.
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| Common Lizard |
I came across this Violet Ground Beetle crossing a gravel track on Beeley Moor this morning.
I'm no expert but I think this is Carabus violaceus rather than the similar Carabus problematicus. Both species are fairly widespread in the UK.
Violet Ground Beetle
Watched an Osprey fly up from the river in the Rowsley area this morning carrying a large fish, it landed on Beeley Moor and was still there eating it 2 hours later. The fish looks like a Brown Trout. Most years I see Ospreys carrying fish up on to the moor to eat them, you would think it would be easier to eat them close to where they are caught but I guess it's quieter up on the moor.
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| Osprey with fish |
I took part in Carsington Bird Club's all day birdwatch today. The idea being to watch the site all day, from before first light until darkness. I was there from about 07:30 to around 14:00, the weather could have been a bit more helpful as it was heavily overcast most of the day with some heavy rain showers but the keener members of the team were there throughout!
This was a repeat of an event last September when they recorded 81 species, todays final total was 92 so a great achievement by all involved. Highlights for me were Common Scoter, Marsh Harrier, Little Egret and my first Pink-footed Goose of the autumn but the supporting cast of Northern Wheatear, several Common Swift, Red-crested Pochard and Ringed Plover. In addition I missed Great Egret, Common Sandpiper as well as quite a few woodland species but had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
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| Marsh Harrier - juvenile |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
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| Little Egret |
Definite autumn feeling as I set out this morning with a fresh NE wind blowing. I decided to have a look at Chatsworth before heading to the moor and was rewarded with an Osprey sat on a dead tree by the river with what looked like a small fish. There is a lot of water flowing down the river at the moment, consequently the water is very brown so the Osprey did well to catch something.
It wasn't happy to stay by the river with walkers passing but flew a short distance to the tree by the house to finish its meal.
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| Osprey |
A party of 5 juvenile Goosander was a welcome sight and perhaps an indication that there has been some breeding success locally. The usual flock of Mandarin (32) feeding on the grass and a single Sand Martin still visiting a nest burrow which is very late but quite a few House Martin and Swallows were more expected.
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| Goosander - the white area between the eye and gape indicating that they are juveniles |
Up on the moor a party of 8 Stonechat had a Winchat with them and my first group of 7 Snipe heading up on to the moor for the winter.
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| Whinchat |
With the breeding season over and very few birds now singing the local woodlands can appear almost birdless at times. Most of the small woodland birds, passerines, are now in mixed feeding flocks so unless you come across one of these groups you're not likely to see many birds.
The benefits of mixed feeding flocks are thought to be two fold, there is better protection against predators with so many birds on the lookout and listening, and each bird can afford to be less vigilant and focus more on feeding. Secondly their feeding is more efficient as the flock is more likely to encounter a good feeding area but because they are in mixed flocks the competition for the same food type is reduced compared with a single species flock.
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
Over the past few weeks I've encountered some large mixed flocks, some numbering several hundred birds with a mix of finches, mainly Siskin and Chaffinch, and warblers, predominantly Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers but also Blackcap, and tits, with Blue, Great and Coal plus a few Long-tailed. Other species mixed with the flocks include Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldcrest and even Tree Pipit.
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| Tree Pipit - juvenile |
So if you come across a mixed feeding flock its worth stopping for a while to see what species are in it. Each winter several rarities are found that have become attached to one of these mixed feeding flocks.
There could be no glorious (or inglorious!) 12th on Beeley or the Eastern Moors with the Red Grouse perilously close to disappearing altogether. This year I've seen just two pairs on Beeley Moor, which I visit regularly and only a single pair on East Moor. There could be one or two more birds on East Moor which I tend to visit a little less frequently than Beeley and don't cover all areas.
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| Red Grouse - male |
I was very surprised this morning when i saw a medium sized wader by the waters edge at Chatsworth. I thought it would be a Green Sandpiper, which I have seen once before here and is a regular visitor to both Carsington and Ogston in the late summer and autumn. However, as soon as I got my binoculars on it I realised it was its somewhat rarer cousin the Wood Sandpiper. Paler brown on the upper parts with a distinct supercilium, pale underwing and finely barred tail are all distinguishing features from Green Sandpiper.
This bird looked to be a juvenile with no signs of wing moult and heavily spotted upper parts it was probably born in Scandinavia so it's already completed quite a journey to Chatsworth and will continue south to sub-saharan Africa for the winter.
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| Wood Sandpiper |
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| Osprey (© Ken Smith) |
