Spotted Crake

Just a short post to update the Year List with this superb bird - Spotted Crake!!!!! Not the best photos, but it was about 30m away, so I was very pleased to get a shot at all.

Spotted Crake

Cropped picture

The juvenile bird has been present at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Wyver Lane reserve since Thursday and I managed to get there this afternoon with Jayne to try our luck. The bird was very cooperative and showed within seconds of being there! It then hid away for a while, before coming out again for me to video it. Very kind. It's only my second ever sighting and my first in Derbyshire. Here's a link to the video on You Tube. Enjoy!!

176 - Spotted Crake

Bittern and Dipper

Yesterday morning I decided to visit the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Wyver Lane reserve near Belper to see if I could catch up with one of the two Bitterns that have been over-wintering there. A three hour wait began, which ended eventually in success. One bird was seen for a grand total of 2 minutes but I didn't manage any decent photos, so here's one from a few years ago at Potteric Carr, near Barnsley.

Bittern

 

Whilst waiting for the Bittern to show I spent some time looking around the reserve and managed a few other "year ticks" including a pair of Oystercatchers. A Little Owl was also seen. Driving back I stopped off in Cromford and spotted 2 Dippers on the river.

 

Oystercatcher

 

This morning whilst having breakfast and watching the birds on the feeders I recorded another "year tick" with 1 Lesser Redpoll feeding on the sunflower hearts along with seven Siskin and about 20 Goldfinch.

 

Year List:

84 – Bittern

85 – Oystercatcher

86 – Lesser Redpoll

87 - Dipper