Monsal Dale Redstart

The sun was shining again this afternoon, and despite it being only 9 degrees and pretty windy, Jayne and I went for a walk along Monsal Dale.

As soon as we got out of the car we heard the first of six or so singing Chiffchaffs, and a Willow Warbler. We also came across this Common Toad that was walking back across the path away from the water.

Common Toad

 

We then set off following the River Wye towards Monsal Head where we spotted 4 Dippers, including this pair, a Grey Wagtail, a pair of Mandarin Ducks, 3 Swallows, a Common Buzzard and several Mallards.

Dippers

 

After a spot of lunch at Hobb's Café at the top of Monsal Head (lovely Watercress and Potato soup for Jayne and a Banana and Peanut Butter toastie for me!), we walked back along the valley when Jayne spotted a flash of red fly out from this tree; a male Redstart!! We managed to get a decent view as it landed in a tree on the other side of the river, but unfortunately it disappeared before I could get a photograph. Click here to see and hear just how amazing a bird it is.

River Wye

 

Checking in the Derbyshire Ornithological Society's Bird Report for 2013 I noted that the first Redstart reported in that year was 12th April, so today's bird beats that by 1 day- nice! Unfortunately, another bird was reported in Lathkill Dale on 9th April this year, so ours isn't the first for 2015.

 

Year List update:

102 - Redstart

Linacre sunshine, butterflies and a Swallow

On Thursday the sun was shining and it was about 14 degrees, so I decided to have a couple of hours down at Linacre, which resulted in my first Linacre butterflies and Swallow of the year.

I started at the top of the site today, and had a quick check of some of the tit nestboxes. As predicted at the weekend, there was no sign of any nests yet, but I did manage to see a couple of Brown Hares (in the woods, not in the boxes!), and these 2 little critters; Brown Long-eared Bats, I believe.

Brown Long-eared Bat

 

Waterbirds were quite sparse, but there were a couple of Grey Herons on site, along with a metal-ringed  breeding plumaged Cormorant. Chiffchaffs were singing around all three reservoirs, and I counted 7 in total, as well as a single Swallow over the top reservoir.

With the weather so nice, I spent half an hour at the bottom of the top reservoir, where there was a willow tree full of catkins and butterflies, with 7 Peacocks, 1 Comma and 3 Small Tortoiseshells present.

Willow Tree

Ring Ouzels and Wheatear

Living just 20 minutes from the Peak District National Park you'd think that "year ticking" Ring Ouzel and Wheatear would be quite easy, but for some reason (mainly a lack of effort on my part, if I'm honest!), I don't get them every year. With this in mind, I set out to Stanage Edge this morning to try my luck. I arrived at 6.30am, and in the next 2 hours, I managed to notch up 7 new species for the "year list", including my two target species.

When I arrived, I parked in the car park, and walked up to the Edge. At first, it was quite quiet except for several Meadow Pipits, Red Grouse, Wrens, Dunnocks and a single singing Willow Warbler. I walked right up onto the top of the Edge and heard a calling Ring Ouzel! I managed to get my bins of the bird, which turned out to be a female, but she then jumped off the Edge and disappeared! Whilst waiting to see if she'd reappear, a Raven flew over being mobbed by a Carrion Crow. I then decided to walk back down to the area below the Edge. Whilst walking back a male Wheatear appeared, and  I managed a rather distant record shot. Here's a heavily cropped photo.

Wheatear

 

I walked along the bottom of the Edge for another half an hour or so before spotting any more Ouzels, but this time, I didn't see 1, 2 or 3 , but an amazing 5 birds!! There were 4 males that were flying around, chasing each other trying to attract the attention of the single female bird. Luckily they flew right over my head and landed on some boulders about 40m away from me. They were so busy squabbling with each other, that they completely ignored me, and I managed to get some half decent photos, including this one of all 4 males together (click to enlarge and see if you can spot all 4 birds).

 

Male Ring Ouzels



 

Female Ring Ouzel

Male Ring Ouzel

 

The whole episode only lasted for about 5 minutes, but I don't think I'll forget this experience for quite a while! Walking back to the car I had my last "year tick" when a Snipe flew across the moor. Quite a morning!

Year List update:
95 – Meadow Pipit
96 – Red Grouse
97 – Willow Warbler
98 - Raven
99 – Wheatear
100 – Ring Ouzel
101 - Snipe

Dovedale Walk and Carsington Water

Yesterday I went for a walk along Dovedale with my family and a good friend. We walked around the river from the car park at Dovedale to Mill Dale and back again, a long, but enjoyable 6 mile walk.

Dovedale

 During the walk we spotted a few nice birds and added a couple of "year ticks". The first "year tick" was a Dipper, which we spotted flying up the river. We also managed to find 3 Swallows feeding high above the valley at Mill Dale. Other birds seen along the way were: Grey Wagtail, Wren, Robin, Chaffinch, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Mallard and Grey Heron. Along with the birds, we also spotted this plant called Butterbur.

Butterbur

 

Today I spent a few hours at Carsington Water, and also added a couple more "year ticks"; namely Tree Sparrow and Barnacle Goose. The Tree Sparrows were looking in the nestboxes, and the flock of feral Barnacles were feeding on the bankside opposite the Wildlife Centre.

 

Year List update:

91- Dipper

92 – Swallow

93 – Barnacle Goose (F)

94 – Tree Sparrow

Linacre Ringing and the first egg of 2015

Hot on the heels of Saturday's ringing session, I was out at Linacre Reservoirs again on Sunday, with 4 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group for another ringing session, and a first check of the owl nestboxes. The ringing session was quiet, but the nestbox check produced our first egg of the year.

First up the ringing. We set up 4 nets this session, 2 around the feeding station, and a further 2 around the site. The ringing was quite quiet, as is to be expected at this time of year, as the birds disperse, and get on with business of mating, but we still managed to catch 3 new Chiffchaffs (our first to be ringed here this year), and another 24 birds of 8 other species (Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Goldcrest, Robin, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Blue, Great, Long-tailed and Coal Tit).

After 3 hours ringing, we decided to go and check the 4 "owl boxes" that we have on site. The first box we checked contained our first egg of 2015!

Mandarin Duck egg?

We think it's a Mandarin Duck egg, so we'll keep an eye on this box and hope for more eggs over the next few weeks. The second box contained a female Mandarin Duck, but, as yet, no eggs; another one to watch! The last 2 boxes were empty, so again, we'll keep an eye to see if anything moves in.

Aside from the ringing and nestbox checking, we also managed to spot a few spring flowers (Cowslip, Coltsfoot, Lesser Celandine and a new one for me, Sweet Violet (see here for details of this plant).

Sweet Violet

We also managed a few other birds, including my first 2015 Linacre record of Tawny Owl, with 2 "twit-twooing" by the Rangers' Base when we arrived at 6am, a fly-over Sparrowhawk and a single Little Owl in the "breeding tree". Now I just need to get some more summer visitors- a Swallow or Willow Warbler would be nice!

Summer Migrants...at last!

The weather this spring has been, to put it nicely, poor! Cold, northerly winds and rain have meant that few summer migrants have managed to push north so far. I did, however, manage to add a few ticks to the "year list" with a visit to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Carr Vale reserve on Monday, where I managed to pick up a couple of male Garganey, and 2 fly-through Sand Martins. Another addition to the list was a  remaining winter visitor, the Wigeon.

Year List update:

88 – Garganey

89 – Sand Martin
90 - Wigeon

New Ringing Site

After a week of cold, windy weather, and a distinct lack of ringing activity, I managed to get out for a few hours with Ray and Alan from Sorby Breck this morning, to have a first session at a new site in Coal Aston. The site is a small, family-run farm with cattle, and the family have set up two feeding stations in the garden area, where we set the nets. The site looks very good for Swallows, so hopefully we'll be able to ring some this summer. We've also put up 5 tit boxes, which I'll check later this month.

The weather for today's session wasn't the best, as it was quite windy, but we still managed to put up 3 nets, and, in just over 3 hours, we caught 17 birds of 6 species (House Sparrow, Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit), which is a pretty good start. Here's a picture of the first bird caught and ringed at this site; a female House Sparrow.

House Sparrow

As the year progresses we should extend this list as new species arrive, and we catch some of the other resident species.

Other birds seen around the site today were; Song Thrush (1 singing bird), Redwing (1 over), Robin (singing birds), Wren (singing birds), Pied Wagtail (a pair of birds, possible breeders?), Great-spotted Woodpecker (heard drumming) and Carrion Crow.