April ended and May began at Carsington with a nice
bit of Osprey flourish, with birds seen on the 28th, and then on
Bank Holiday Monday – not for the tourists..8.05am is a bit early!
Sunday
May 1st, 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
4th 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 18th May.
