Osprey at Chatsworth

 After the heavy rain this morning I went to Chatsworth mid-afternoon following the river from Beeley. There were the usual Mandarins along the river and 6 Goosander but as I stood in front of the House I picked up a large bird of prey some distance away but flying towards me from the Baslow direction. 

It was an Osprey and presumably the same bird I had seen last week. It past over my head and continued towards Beeley. It was around 4pm so I presume it will be roosting somewhere along the river.

The only other birds of note were two Wigeon feeding with Mallard and Coot on the river bank.

Osprey

Black Redstart - Flash Lane

 Another exciting day of visible migration on Beeley Moor with 1700 Fieldfare and 1100 Redwing crossing the moor but the star bird was a Black Redstart on Flash Lane. The first local record since November 2015, so it's been quite a wait! 

Good numbers of Black Redstart have been turning up on the coast over the last few days so it could well be a continental bird.

Black Redstart female or immature

Ring Ouzel Bent Lane

 With almost continual rain yesterday and mist and rain today its been difficult bird watching conditions. There are lots of thrushes about still and i found a male Ring Ouzel feeding in a rowen tree on Bent Lane, in the trees opposite the entrance to Bumper Castle. 

The Chaffinch look to have found the crushed Beech nuts along the lane with a flock of 50 feeding on the road and at least 8 Brambling with them.

Ring Ouzel - male just visible in the mist this morning

Big Redwing Day and an unexpected Osprey

 I was away over the weekend and was keen to see if there were any new birds at Chatsworth. I'd already seen that Dutch radar was reporting large number of migrants leaving their coast on Monday evening and the wind was forecast in the east so conditions looked good.

I was still very surprised to see an Osprey fishing below Beeley village as I set off for Chatsworth. It had just caught a fish and was flying towards Rowsley, presumably to find a suitable tree where it could enjoy its meal. A message from Alan reported large numbers of thrushes passing over Beeley Moor and as I scanned the hillside several flocks could be seen in the distance.

Osprey juvenile with fish

Although they were mainly Redwing there were several groups of Fieldfare with them which were my first local birds of the autumn.

Redwing

Fieldfare

As I walked towards Chatsworth House the Redwing total was approaching 1000 birds moving SW over the wooded valley sides with some birds dropping in to the trees.

A female Wigeon with Mallard in front of the House was a first for the year and posed nicely for a photo.

Wigeon female

The Redwing flocks continued to pass overhead and I was on 1900 as I returned to Beeley Village but my numbers were tiny compared to Simon who had counted 29,190 at Carsington!

Although Redwing were the main species on the move several hundred Wood Pigeon also passed over the area and Ken called early afternoon to say that he had seen a Marsh Harrier over the moor so all in all a very good day.

Marsh Harrier female or immature © Ken Smith

October Big Day 2022 on Beeley Moor

 On Saturday I participated in the eBird October Big Day recording as many species as possible around Beeley Moor.

 After a walk along Flash Lane with Mel and Alan we joined Robin Elliot and Ken on Harewood Road which is a good place to watch for visible migration. In the right conditions in autumn birds follow the valley travelling west, some birds having crossed the North Sea several hours earlier.

We were in luck as birds were moving up the valley and we were soon recording groups of finches and thrushes including small numbers of Redwing and Brambling which stopped off to feed on berry laden trees or in a recently ploughed field.

The first bird of real note was a male Ring Ouzel feeding on the edge of the field but which soon flew high in the air to continue its south westerly journey flying right over our heads.

Later in the morning a Merlin appeared, initially chasing a pair of Jays but for several minutes as we watched the tables were turned and the Jays chased the Merlin!

In all we recorded 56 species, not a huge total by UK standards but a very good total for Beeley and a very enjoyable morning.

More egrets and return of some winter visitors

 Over the last couple of days I've seen Little Egrets at both Chatsworth and Ashford Lake, I think we will be seeing them as regularly as Grey Heron soon and perhaps breeding somewhere locally in the not too distant future.

Little Egret - upper with Black-headed Gull Chatsworth and with Eurasian Teal at Ashford Lake

The first winter visitors have started to appear, I had my first Redwing on 27 September on Beeley Moor and have seen several small flocks since. The first Brambling was also on Beeley Moor on 2nd October.

Pink-footed Geese have been seen most days but just one or two skeins most days.

An unexpected foreign bird was a Black-headed Gull bearing a Finnish ring photographed at Bakewell yesterday but I think it may have bee around a while. It will be interesting to see where and when it was rung.

Black-headed Gull with Finnish ring

Very quick response from Finland on the ring, it was ryng as a chick in June 2019. It's travelled 1600km form Pori on the Baltic coast to Bakewell.