Ring Ouzels Leicestershire NIL Derbyshire 2 !!

April ended and May began at Carsington with a nice bit of Osprey flourish, with birds seen on the 28^th, and then on Bank Holiday Monday – not for the tourists..8.05am is a bit early!

Sunday May 1^st,  and sadly no Ospreys, but a very good walk for the 23 people (and a dog) that enjoyed a productive but cold morning.  It was double-double-U time – Warblers and Waders, and all the Hirundines plus Swift to make a good count of 38 species.

Sightings began with a pair of very obscure Dunlin on water Sports Island, and the 3 birders with scopes were in demand!  Common Sandpiper was added to the sightings, as was Oystercatcher and Redshank.

The summer warblers proved very popular. A male Blackcap was very obscure, but Chiffchaff could be seen and heard.  The Willow Warbler that sat at the top of a tree showing off its distinctive song, was not surprisingly voted BOD. 

A few years ago the story was going round of Penguins standing on the beach in the Falklands, looking out to sea. Allegedly, pilots would fly in low over the water and up and over the penguins, who instead of turning to look, leant further back until they fell on their back. This was almost the same at Carsington when the first Swift flew over at the tip of Stones Island, except that it was the birders who almost fell over – well I did actually lose my cap!

Wednesday 4^th May, and I joined an RSPB Chesterfield walk to Padley Gorge, up in the north of Derbyshire, to look for some of the breeding summer visitors. This walk was lead by Amanda Palethorpe, an RSPB volunteer whom I have mentioned before, together with her husband Noel.   

Padley Gorge has a strong water course tumbling over the rocks (Dipper country), and the pathway is arduous in that you often have to watch every step to avoid tripping over stones, rocks and roots. So the tendency is to stop frequently. Padley is well known as a good location to see Flycatchers (Pied and Spotted), Redstarts, and then at the end of the gorge going on to the Longshaw Estate and Burbage, sightings can include Cuckoos, Ring Ouzels, Chats etc.

(FLASH NEWS..... Mary has just come in and told me she has seen a Blue Tit going into one of our/their nest boxes... fingers crossed.)

Sorry, as I was saying...... Amanda and Noel are very keen and knowledgeable birders, and they had identified a route that quickly climbed to a higher point, with views over the canopy, rather than the strenuous path where you have to lean backwards all the time. (see Penguins above!!)     

And it paid off. Within 20 minutes, they picked up a singing Wood Warbler, not seen by me since 2007, and 8 minutes later another of the target birds for the walk, a Pied Flycatcher. .. and 3 minutes later a Redstart. Resisting the urge to be satisfied with those 3, we still continued onwards, seeing Tree Pipit and Stonechat on the way.

Amanda had arranged for 2 people to join us, both of whom are doing moorland survey and monitoring work for the RSPB, and knew where Ring Ouzels were nesting.   And in no time we saw at least 2 different birds sitting on rocks and feeding on the grass. Really made up for my not seeing them at Bardon Hill last month.

So with 5 additions to the year list, I retraced my path to Grindleford Station, missing out, as it happens, on seeing a nice Whinchat. I must admit that the strenuous walk had taken its toll, but moving on to 163 made it worthwhile.

 
Sadly, some forthcoming news will explain why there will be a bit of concentrated birding up to the 18^th May.