Ring Ouzel in song - Beeley Moor

There is no more welcome sound to me than the plaintive song of the male Ring Ouzel on an early spring morning. Although it is a regular breeding bird to the north on the edges of Curber, Froggatt and Stanage it is most often seen around Beeley as a bird of spring and autumn passage but it does occasionally stay to breed.
This male was in full song this morning and hopefully he can attract a female.

Ring Ouzel - male 

I have played around with a sound file recorded on my phone and if all has gone well you should be able to hear it by clicking the arrowhead below. From a distance the plaintive three note whistle is all that can be heard but in between there are a range of other weaker notes.
Having worked out how to do it I've also added a sound file to the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker post below.

Nuthatch nest building - Chatsworth

Came across this Nuthatch using dead leaves to line the nest void at Chatsworth this morning. The hole in the tree has been much larger and the Nuthatch have filled it with mud to get the preferred entrance size. This behaviour is only found in one other bird family the unrelated hornbills of tropical Africa and Asia.

Nuthatch

Green Hairstreak - Gratton Dale

First Green Hairstreak seen and photographed today by Doug Aston in Gratton Dale. One of the first records in Derbyshire I think.

Green Hairstreak (© Doug Aston)

Pied Flycatcher threat display

I've observed Pied Flycatchers doing their territorial threat display several times before but never managed to get any photos but I managed some yesterday.
Two males were singing but separated by perhaps 50m whilst I was roughly in the gap between them. I then noticed one of the birds looking agitated and starting to flick one wing to a vertical position whilst its white body feathers were puffed up. I then saw that the second bird was now much closer. The first bird continued to flick one wing and then it flicked both wings with its tail lowered at which point the intruding bird made a hasty retreat.
The male looks quite comical in the upper photo and good for a caption competition!

Pied Flycatcher threat display

Short-eared Owl - Beeley Moor

It was May 2016 when Short-eared Owl last featured on the blog, so no records in 2017 but I am pleased to report that Roger had a bird hunting on Beeley Moor yesterday evening. I commented that he must have been quite close to get the photos but he replied he was on 240x magnification! 
In March I had a brief sighting of an owl after dusk which was probably a Short-eared and I am aware of another bird photographed during that month so whether this is the same bird or another it's impossible to say but hopefully it will stay for some time.
First Cuckoo calling on Flash Lane this morning and several Pied Flycatchers and Redstart now singing in the woods in the valley, doubtless encouraged to move north by the beautiful weather over the last few days.  So spring is well and truly underway now with the first Swifts at Carsington today.

Short-eared Owl (© Roger Carrington)

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - Darley Dale

Is this Derbyshire's rarest regular breeding bird? 
According to the Derbyshire Ornithological Society there has been no more than three proven breeding pairs per year in the County during the past decade and none at all in 2014.
Nationally the species has declined by 82% since 1970 and is now Red Listed which is the highest level of UK conservation concern.

Investigations by the RSPB identified poor breeding success  as a factor for the decline but the reasons for this are not yet known.

I have seen Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers before in the Darley Dale area but not since 2012. However, I saw a pair yesterday with both birds drumming and the male calling occasionally and I photographed the male below in the same location this morning. 
They are fantastic birds and it would be great if they could nest successfully locally.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - male

Having just worked out how to add a sound file to a blog post I've included below a recording made when I took the photo above which starts of with three drumming sessions from the Lesser Spotted followed by a louder drum from the Great Spotted followed by further Lesser Spotted and two more bursts from the Greater.

Common Cranes over Beeley Moor!

After almost a week of cold and mist weather on the moors it felt a lot more Spring like this morning. After male Ring Ouzel and singing male Redstart we had already had a good morning when two Common Cranes came over the moor just before 10am and circled close to Whitesprings plantation gaining height before drifting off in the Farley/ Matlock direction. They were subsequently seen over Loscoe Dam.
With the increase in the Norfolk population and birds regularly around Thorne Moors in South Yorkshire it is surprising that there are still less than twenty records in Derbyshire.
A Tree Pipit singing on the edge of the plantation as we left was another first for the year.

Common Cranes

White Wagtail - Whitesprings Plantation

The Pied Wagtail is a common resident in the area and winter roosts at the Endhoven works can number several hundreds. Its European cousin, the White Wagtail, is a regular spring and autumn migrants in Derbyshire and is primarily associated with wetland areas so it was a surprise to find one feeding on one of the recently felled areas at Whitesprings Plantation this morning.

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba)

Identification is easiest in the spring when there are no juveniles around.
Key features are the pale grey mantle, pale flanks and greyish rather than blackish rump. 
The relevant area of the rump is generally taken as that adjacent to the middle tertial.
Note, however, how the colour of the mantle varies in these photos with the angle of the bird and changing light. The lower bird in the bottom photo looks distinctly darker than that in the top most photo.

Red Kite and more Spring migrants

Given the breeding numbers of Red Kite both to the north and south of Derbyshire it is surprising that it is still a relatively scarce bird in the County or at least in the Peak District. Most of my sightings are distant specs over the Derwent Valley or Beeley Moor so it was a real treat this morning to get very close views of a bird hunting around Flash Dam. It did catch something as you can see in one of the photos and I suspect it was a frog.

Red Kite - second calendar year

I've aged it as a second calendar year as it has very little black streaking on the upper breast and pale tips to the greater coverts.
In the Flash Lane area I also had a Ring Ouzel and my first Willow Warblers of the Spring.
Also a decent night for moths with Tawny Pinion, Yellow Horned, and 4 Oak Beauty amongst a good crop of commoner species.

Osprey - Rowsley

Hot on the heels of Ospreys recorded at both Ogston and Carsington reservoirs early this week I had my first of the year just north of Rowsley this afternoon. Although it was distant when I saw it you can just make out that it has a blue Darvic ring on its left leg, so could be the same bird photographed in 2016.
The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has put up a number of nest platforms in the County over the past couple of years and it surely can't be long until we have a first breeding pair.

Osprey

Swallows and Martins

For the first time I have recorded my first of all three hirundine species on the same day. I picked up a group of four Sand Martins feeding over the trees bordering the Wye north of Rowsley then noticed a Swallow had joined them and shortly afterwards a House Martin appeared! 
The Sand Martins are a bit late arriving but that's hardly surprising given the recent poor weather and snow again yesterday but both the Swallow and House Martin are a little early.
As further evidence that the seasons move on despite the weather this female Mallard was adjusting her clutch of eggs at Rowsley.
With the first Osprey records of the year today at both Ogston and Carsington things are looking up.

Mallard - female on eggs