Little Egret - Chatsworth

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

Common Quail - Bonsall Moor

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. 

Stoat raiding Field Vole nest - Beeley Moor

 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.

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.

Chatsworth - Oystercatchers

 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. 

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.

Common Sandpiper

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?

Pied Flycatcher using hole excavated by Great Spotted Woodpecker

 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

Whinchat - last of our breeding migrants arrives

 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.

Whinchat - male

Had lovely views of a singing male Pied Flycatcher a few days ago. Usually most of the Pied Flycatchers I see are on the west side of the Derwent River but this year I have encountered 7 singing males on the east side of the although two birds were in Alders on the river bank so could have been either side, hopefully they will also stay to breed.

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.

Little Owl - pair

Firecrest - Matlock Forest

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.

Firecrest - male

There is a history of them occurring in Matlock Forest with the first breeding season record there in 2006 and I was fortunate to see a pair with three youngsters there in 2020.

Nationally the first UK breeding record was in Hampshire in 1962 with numbers increasing rapidly since then and it is now estimated that there could be 4000 pairs mainly concentrated in the south and southeast of Britain.

Firecrest Breeding distribution 2008-2011

Derbyshire and South Yorkshire are at the northern tip of the UK breeding distribution but with summer temperatures rising we may see more in the future.

Fingers crossed that this male can attract a female and produce some youngsters.

Yellow Wagtail - Elton Common

 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.

Yellow Wagtail - female

Although passage birds may be encountered almost anywhere locally this is still the only site that I know where breeding is attempted.

A kettle of 9 Common Buzzards over the fields was a notable count.

Grey Partridge - my first in over a decade

 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.

Grey Partridge

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.

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.

Grasshopper Warbler

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.

Turtle Dove displaying to a Collared

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.

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.

Turtle Dove back for its 6th year

 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

Dunlin

The Oystercatchers are still present at Chatsworth and making use of the props for the forthcoming horse trials!

Oystercatcher

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.

Ring Ouzel - Flash Lane

 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.

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.

Peregrine Falcon - male

There should be more migrants arriving in the next few days with the warmer weather forecast.

More migrant arrivals

 Despite the rather cool temperatures there has been a steady arrival of migrants in to the area over the past week. Hopefully, warmer weather forecast for the end of the week will see an increase in the number of migrant birds arriving;

Willow Warbler - 4th April in Farley Plantation and now fairly widespread in the woodlands close to the moor.

Blackcap - several singing birds recorded from 7th April and again can be heard in many wooded areas now. Impossible to distinguish true migrants from overwintering birds although the latter tend not to do much singing.

Common Redstart - 8th April a male singing by the river at Rowsley is my only record so far.

House Martin - 10th April over Darley Dale

Tree Pipit - 10th April at Flash Dam and several reported at Whitesprings Plantation this morning/

Pied Flycatcher - 11th April, singing males reported singing in woodland on both sides of Darley Dale

Merlin - a female on Beeley Moor this afternoon is the only record of the Spring so far and there was only an odd record over the winter. This former breeding bird appears to be just a scarce passage migrant now.

Pied Flycatcher - a male gave a few short bursts of song this morning

Northern Wheatear - Beeley Moor

 I missed the first Wheatears seen on 22nd March so was pleased when Ken phoned to say another had turned up by the Triangle. Always nice to see your first Wheatear of the year. Hopefully more to follow.

Northern Wheatear - male © Ken Smith

Migrant arrivals

 Having been away for a few weeks it looks like my return has coincided with that of some of our returning migrants, I've listed some dates below but there may be earlier records.

Curlew Beeley Moor 19th February

Oystercatcher Chatsworth 4 20th March

Osprey Wirestone Lane 20th March

Wheatear Beeley Moor 3 22nd March

Barn Swallow Beeley Triangle 21st March

Sand Martin Chatsworth 25 on 23rd March, first reported 20th March

Common Chiffchaff Chatsworth 4 on 23rd March, first reported 20th March.

We just need some warmer weather now!

Sand Martin

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.