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Derbyshire County Birding (2 Viewers)

A possible Pratincole sp was reported near Sawley last week - scroll up for post.
If you know of one pinned down somewhere and confirmed then we would all be very interested!
Where does your friend believe it to be Anna?
 
My friend said she saw it flying over Ripley. She hasn't been bird watching for a long time, so I'm not too sure.

Forgive me but why would an inexperienced new birder call "Oriental Pratincole" to any bird seen briefly in flight?

There are a whole host of common species seen in flight that would fit the bill.

Possibly best to let this one go. I hope you can get her up to Ogston or somewhere similar Anna and help her out with beginning a great hobby.
 
"only been birding for a short while" .....i think we have an excited birder here..this phrase springs to mind ."when you hear hoof steps think horse before zebra"
 
That made me laugh. I take it there haven't been any reportings of anything like a pratincole in the area then :p

There was a vague report on Birdguides a week or so ago that I think has us all let's say... a wee bit stumped. Um... your friend, do you know if she uses the site?

I see the WBW is still present. It's obviously waiting for me to finally have a day off work AND access to a car, roll on the weekend!
 
Ooops I posted to the wrong thread earlier.... apologies to Dave for hijacking his Wyver thread.....

Anyway now on the right forum pages....

Had a Little Egret fly N from Carsi late evening over the Hopton Reedbed, along with 2 Common Scoters way off over the Res' and 8 red head Goosanders coming in to roost (possibly 3 more just after) but a lot of stuff was flushing due to 2 hot air balloons that took off from behind Carsington Village and sailed S over the Reservoir. I think the Little Egret flushed 'cause of these....

Back home in Belper the garden has done OK.... first Nuthatch ever last week with a roving tit flock of 30 odd birds, Great, Blue and Coal Tits mainly but a few Long tails too... The Coal Tits have bred in the garden again too.

Yesterday a male Bullfinch turned up which is the first summer record for many years!

Now I do like it when a plan comes together..... I was talking last year to Richard Taylor about Hummingbird Hawkmoth's (which I just love) and how I had never seen one in the garden despite trying! He, just up the road, on the other hand had had several in only a few years...... so I put a cunning plan into action. I bought a dwarf Buddleia last summer and positioned it in the front garden in the best afternoon sun (my other Buddleia's are in the rear garden), now despite it being a dwarf species and me hard pruning it has shot up to about 6 foot (its maximum is supposed to be 4 foot....)! Now at the end of last week it came into full bloom for the first time.... and low and behold on Tuesday there was a HBHMoth! Only for a short time, and as usual when I fetched the camera it had gone.... but hey I don't care! Only downside was despite me checking the plant regularly it was Paul who spotted it when he was parking the car

ATB

Steph'
 
In answer to Dan's Query about insects that he posted on the Wyver thread but should be on here LOL I'm wondering about A Bee Hawkmoth or a Clearwing moth perhaps?

ATB

Steph'
 
Had a full days birding yesterday from 08.30 until dusk. First stop was Carsi where we had 12 Grey Heron, 3 Common Sands, a Dunlin, several LRP's, 2 Common Terns and the ad Yellow-legged Gull.

Next stop was Middleton Moor. A little quiet here with only a Dunlin, Common Sand and a Redstart of note.

We then had a walk down nearby Coombs Dale which was alive with both Wheatear and Redstarts. Well into double figures of both species. Also a couple of Lesser Whitethroats, plenty of Linnets and a Raven over.

Shillito Woods were our next port of call where Clive had been the previous day and located a Spot Fly nest. Unfortunately when Clive was there he noticed one of the young had fallen from the nest and no doubt succumbed to its inevitable fate. Luckily, despite the nests exposure 3 young were still present. Quite a few Crossbills were calling and feeding in the treetops but we couldn't tell how many. Around 200 yards from the woods a Quail could be heard.

The moors itself were fairly quiet and the only things of note was 2 Raven and a Kestrel.

We had a quick look down Flash Lane and had some more Crossbills, around 15 in total. We had a little walk in Sitches with nothing of note. Although there was a Gropper reeling from the field next to the woods.
 
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In answer to Dan's Query about insects that he posted on the Wyver thread but should be on here LOL I'm wondering about A Bee Hawkmoth or a Clearwing moth perhaps?

ATB

Steph'

Sorry! previous post on Wyver was..........re HBHM

Good news Stef - Brian (a couple of doors down) has had one on his Buddleia (front garden) so I have been carefully watching my plants too. Richards had a couple this year already. The flowers opposite are attracting loads of bees and butties too, but there is a guy in there doing the dry stone wall so it disturbs things.

By the way, for those who know about these things, I was almost fooled by an insect working the plants in very similar fashion to HBHM, as it zapped about like a tiny helicopter. We saw them in Menorca a few weeks ago and this thing shared the same colours etc......but when I got close enough it looked like a cross between a bee and a hornet?! quite peculiar so would welcome any suggestions on what it is.

Also, Brian has reminded me that he also had one (HBHM) near the pond at the bottom of Wyver last week. So there!
 
There was a vague report on Birdguides a week or so ago that I think has us all let's say... a wee bit stumped. Um... your friend, do you know if she uses the site?

I see the WBW is still present. It's obviously waiting for me to finally have a day off work AND access to a car, roll on the weekend!

Hi James, my friend used to be on here, but isn't any longer. I don't speak to her often so I don't know a lot of details unfortunately.
 
Male Peregrine sat on the radio mast at Buxton police station yesterday morning, much to the annoyance of the usual Jackdaws. This is the third time I've seem one perched on it. Then, at about 6pm both a male & female were flying overhead at the same location for about 20 minutes calling & even appeared to be displaying. Seems an unusual time of year for this though. I seem to recall the Derby cathedral birds use the mast at St Mary's Wharf police station as a perch also.
 
Just had a highly entertaining hour at Carsington. Walked into Sheepwash hide and immediately picked up the 2 Greenshank and 1 Little Egret, that were present yesterday.
I then began to scan the point to the right of the hide, where I soon picked up a young lady in suitably skimpy bikini, who decided to swim into the middle of the res!8-P
Obviously distracted, it was a full 15 minutes before I noticed the 4 drake Common Scoters right in front of me.
Shortly after I spotted something crawling up the dry earth in front of the hide, which turned out to be a mole! What it was doing there, I don't know but probably something to do with the dry weather.
The mole had almost made it to the vegetation in front of the small pond when it was attacked by a Magpie.It put up a brave fight, but when eventually confronted with 3 Magpies, it was all over.During the attack a Snipe was flushed from the reeds.
As I made my way back, thinking the excitement was over, I spotted a Southern Hawker dragonfly. Stopping to watch it for a while, I was amazed when a Blackbird grabbed it from the air, and flew into the wood with it. Obviously thought it was a Hobby!
 
Just had a highly entertaining hour at Carsington. Walked into Sheepwash hide and immediately picked up the 2 Greenshank and 1 Little Egret, that were present yesterday.
I then began to scan the point to the right of the hide, where I soon picked up a young lady in suitably skimpy bikini, who decided to swim into the middle of the res!8-P
Obviously distracted, it was a full 15 minutes before I noticed the 4 drake Common Scoters right in front of me.
Shortly after I spotted something crawling up the dry earth in front of the hide, which turned out to be a mole! What it was doing there, I don't know but probably something to do with the dry weather.
The mole had almost made it to the vegetation in front of the small pond when it was attacked by a Magpie.It put up a brave fight, but when eventually confronted with 3 Magpies, it was all over.During the attack a Snipe was flushed from the reeds.
As I made my way back, thinking the excitement was over, I spotted a Southern Hawker dragonfly. Stopping to watch it for a while, I was amazed when a Blackbird grabbed it from the air, and flew into the wood with it. Obviously thought it was a Hobby!

Eventful day there Clive;) Not going to comment on the first distraction:-O:-O:-O

I've seen Mole at this time of year wandering the surface... I believe young Moles sometimes move away from their birth areas on the surface seeking territories of their own around now, mind you one we saw was clearly trying to dig down in hard earth in a similar dry period a few years back... it even tried to dig through my trainer!

That Southern Hawker/Blackbird incident is very notable... not sure that sort of thing is recorded very often!!!

ATB
Steph'
 
Eventful day there Clive;) Not going to comment on the first distraction:-O:-O:-O

I've seen Mole at this time of year wandering the surface... I believe young Moles sometimes move away from their birth areas on the surface seeking territories of their own around now, mind you one we saw was clearly trying to dig down in hard earth in a similar dry period a few years back... it even tried to dig through my trainer!

That Southern Hawker/Blackbird incident is very notable... not sure that sort of thing is recorded very often!!!

ATB
Steph'

Thanks for the info on moles Steph, I think the first magpie to attack was a young bird. On 2 occasions it flew away from the mole calling, attracting the attention of the other 2. One of the more experienced Magpies then continued the attack, and soon despatched the mole with repeated stabbing of its head..quite gruesome really.
As for the SH/Blackbird incident, I was totally amazed. I could still hear the wings of the dragon whirring as the Blackbird flew away with it. Do you think the BB would be able to despatch and eat it? Might post something on here, to see if any one else has seen this before.
 
Wyver Lane Bird Notes July 2011

Highlights include Little Egret, Crossbill and Raven.

Maximum counts for July include 3 Cormorants on 23rd, a
Little Egret on 22nd and 26th and could well relate to the same
individual. 4 Grey Heron on 19th and 23rd, an adult Mute Swan
on 18th, 65 Greylag Geese on 23rd, 111 Canada Geese on 23rd,
The pair of Shelduck that turned up at the end of May was last
seen on 4th. Mandarins have been present all month with a
maximum of 4 female type on 19th, 27th and 29th. A female
Gadwall on 1st and 2nd, 9 Teal on 2nd, 4th and 5th. 47 Mallard
on 2nd. A female Shoveler all month and will be with us for even
longer as it appears she has a broken left wing. 2 Goosander on
16th. A female Pheasant was seen with 10 young on 2nd, 8
Moorhen including 3 juveniles on 16th and 4 juveniles on 19th.

Raptors include 2 Sparrowhawks on 26th including a female
that took a Lapwing that was happily feeding in the field behind
the hide. 4 Buzzard on 23rd, 3 Kestrel on 5th and a Hobby on
10th and 22nd.

Water Levels are at their lowest for several years and Lapwings
have been taking advantage with a peak of 218 on 26th.
2 Oystercatchers on 1st and 18th. A Common Sandpiper on 7th
and 13th, and a Green Sandpiper flew in on the evening of 13th.

Black-Headed Gulls increased to 50+ on 7th. 8 Lesser-Black Backed
Gulls flew over on 16th. A Common Tern on several dates, 2 on
19th and 4 seen on 7th.

5 Stock Doves on 19th, 12 Swift on 1st, a Kingfisher on 18th and
19th. A Green Woodpecker on 26th. c80 House Martin on 16th.
2 Pied Wagtails on 5th and 29th. 4 Raven were seen from the hide
soaring over Crich Lane Woods on 23rd. 2 Jays on 10th, 6 Starling
on 2nd and 2 Reed Buntings on 23rd. Crossbills have been moving
across many parts on Britain in good numbers and there were two
records at Wyver. 3 flew over the viewing mound on 10th and at
least 1 was heard calling flying over on 23rd.
 
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Steady day at Carsington today. Birds of note were 10 Grey Heron, 11 Gadwall, 6 Teal, 2 Wigeon, Green Sandpiper, 7 Common Sandpipers, 5 Ringed Plover, 4 Little Ringed Plover, 3 Dunlin, juv Peregrine and 2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls.

The highlight was this evening when a juvenile Knot flew in and joined some Dunlin and Ringed Plovers on Stones Island.
 

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