A wild vulture chase in the Peak District

Very occasionally in the birding world there is a record that takes everyone by surprise. Such was the case when the news broke of a Bearded Vulture photographed above Balsall Common in the West Midlands on 26th June. Later the same day it was seen in Derbyshire airspace, seen by one lucky observer as it crossed the A50 near Foston. 
There were no more sightings until the 30th June when it was reported over Minninglow and then Hassop in the early afternoon then later that evening between Edale and Castleton and possibly also in the Goyt Valley. 
Local birdwatchers, including me, spent the next few days looking skywards but there were no further reports until it was filmed over Peter's Stone in Cressbrook Dale and then later over Frogatt Edge when it was heading north towards Stannage Edge. 
I spent the following day, which was heavily overcast with persistent drizzle, in the Stannage area but without success but it was then reported twice over Big Moor and then over Gardom's Edge east of Baslow. 

It was very difficult to know where to look as the bird wandered around the area but this changed on 10th July when it was seen just east of Derwent Reservoir in South Yorkshire and over Abbey Valley where it was seen going to roost on a small cliff at Howden Edge.

The unprecedented sight of a Bearded Vulture against the hillside on the Yorks/ Derbys border

Bearded Vulture ready to leave its roost at 05:40 this morning

On each of the subsequent days up to today it has roosted on this same cliff and I finally caught up with it today.
The bird is a youngster in its second calendar year so looks rather drab compared with the adult bird. It is thought to be the off-spring of birds that have been reintroduced in to either the French Alps or the Pyrenees.

Bearded Vulture

Birdwatchers on the hillside

This particular bird which can be identified by its markings and feather damage (it also lost some tail feathers along the way) was first reported this spring on Alderney in the Channel Islands on 20 -21 May before flying north to Borger in the Netherlands near the border with Germany on 30th May.  It was then reported from Nijmegen and Utrecht in the Netherlands on 11th and 13th June respectively before heading in to Belgium where it was seen around Bruges on 18th June and the Ghent area on the 19th and 20th.
The first British record of the Bearded Vulture was in May 2016 and this is now the second record. In 2016 the bird, also a second calendar years was seen in Belgium before turning up in Kent and touring around the SW. 
The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC) announced that this first record of the  Bearded Vulture has been placed in Category E of the British list. This category lists introductions, human-assisted transportees or escapees from captivity, as well as species whose breeding populations (if any) are not considered self-sustaining, and species included in it do not form part of the British list (unless they are also included in Categories A, B or C). It was around the question of self sustaining breeding populations that resulted in the first record be placed in Category E. Whilst there are still birds being released in both France and the Pyrenees birds have been breeding successfully in the wild for more than two decades, which I know from personal experience as I have watched birds in the Aravis mountains over this time period so it will be interesting to see if they treat this second record any differently.
The Bearded Vulture can live up to 20 years in the wild so who knows, the bird up at Howden Moor could be around for some time to come. I'm still hoping to see it over Harland Edge!
Whatever its origins it's certainly a spectacular bird to be able to see in the Peak District!

I walked along the Kings Road parking at the start on Mortimer Road near Strines which is about 5km of gentle up hill with about 1km of rough ground and stream crossings to get to the viewing point at GPS 53.431 -1.700.