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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Derbyshire County Birding (5 Viewers)

Good birding for the hour I was at WGP late morning.

1 Little Stint, 1 Black Tern, 4 Turnstone, 1 Dunlin of note. The waders were on the spit but flushed off by a Cormorant just after midday and could not be relocated unfortunately. The Tern was still present when I left at 12.30.

I left as I have never been so cold in 20+ years at Willington during May. A really raw north westerly.
 
Went back down this evening. Mike B had a Sanderling before I arrived. The Black Tern was still present (and was until 9.15), plus at least 2 Arctic Terns with 29 Commons.

Best was watching a pair of Hobby from 8.10 hawking over the reedbed in front of P3. At 8.50 they were joined by a 3rd, and then a 4th joined them at around 9.00. After the sun went down at 9.00 and the temp dropped all 4 moved over the water to feed, looking more like Terns in their feeding style. They were still there at 9.15 when I left - poor sods must be struggling for a good feed.

On the walk back a Cuckoo was calling from the north side and 2 Groppers were reeling from their now familiar spots in the fields on the way back to the car.
 
Quite an incredible day at Carsington today. It was a steady start to the day with a single Black Tern and Arctic Tern. Roger had already had 17 Dunlin go through before I arrived this morning. I then had a further 27 go through followed by 2 more. Then a few more later on totalled 55. Also from Sheepwash was a Whimbrel, 2 Common Sandpipers, Peregrine and vast numbers of Swifts, House Martins and Swallows.

Then this evening was when it really kicked off. We had heard about 6 Sanderling and 4 Turnstones around Sailing Club/Stones Island. We walked on and Sailing Club Island was crawling with Turnstones. We counted 34 with another 2 dropping in later on. We also had 8 Sanderling. 3 flew off high and 5 remained and were still there at dusk. There was also a couple of Ringed Plover thrown in for good measure.

The 36 Turnstones are certainly a site record and more than likely a county record. This record shot shows most of the Turnstones. I'm not exactly sure how many are in this photo, I reckon about 26. There also a few Dunlin and a Ringed Plover there.
 

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2 Common Terns down Wyver today are the 100th species for the year. The first Mallard young of the year was a female with 7 ducklings. 6 Gadwall, 2 Mandarin and a drake Goosander the best of the wildfowl.
 
The old Cape/Ruddy Shelduck debate

Having seen several Cape Shelduck type things over the years It's getting near impossible to know if any potential Ruddy Shelducks are real or have other influences. I saw these 2 birds at Carsington today and think one could be a Ruddy and the other a Cape.

These aren't the best photos but maybe good enough. The first photo is the one I think could be Ruddy. The second bird never woke up but with the head being grey I suspect Cape influence.

There was also a Cackling Goose at the Wildlife Centre which maybe came in with the Shelducks. Although the Cackling Goose was still there this evening long after the Shelducks disappeared.

Not a lot else to report. Just a couple of Dunlin and a Hobby of note.
 

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Interesting developments at Hilton GP - the three Tern rafts have been taken over by Black Headed Gulls, who have between 6-9 nests. A small group of Common Terns were being harassed off the raft by a BH Gull on a nest. So Hilton becomes a rare South Derbyshire breeing location for BHG, while we almost certainly lose (at least for this year) what is often the county's biggest Common Tern nesting colony.

Definitely one to file under Mixed News....

Matt
 
Had a phone call from Brian tonight describing what he is sure was a Purple Sand at Ramsley this afternoon late on.
Just in case anyone is up that way in the morning.
Great County bird.
 
hi all..ok I was hoping someone else saw this to confirm ..at 4 45 today in the garden I looked up and saw what I can only presume was a white stork soaring very high I ran to get my bins and got a good look but not great light ,very broad eagle like wings with protruding legs (not enough to be a crane though) after a couple of mins it flew east a buzzard was also in the sky soaring lower and was much smaller, certainly not a heron or eagle
 
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The BH Gulls have produced 3 young on the tern raft down Wyver. A whole month earlier than last year when one young emerged on June 26th. There's a role reversal between the BHG's and the Oycs. Last year the Oycs had 3 young and the BHG's 1 and this year the opposite. Talking of Oycs. Both adults have been feeding the youngster and are happy leaving it alone for short periods.

The Moorhens on the main pool still have 6 young. The Coots on the top pool have lost one so have 3. The 2 dark looking female Mallards are slowly losing their broods with 4 and 7 respectively from 7 and 10.

There was also 8 Gadwall, 5 Lapwings and a Grey Heron on the main pool.
 
The Oycs at WGP have also fledged young now, but with the high vegatation hard to see if there is more than one. At least they have got to fledging this year after being predated the previous 2 years by foxes.
 
Interesting record of stone curlew from Arkwright yesterday.
A near miss for Carr Vale; Mark tells me its 2km away.
Would have been popular if refound for any that missed the recent Beeley bird.
Makes you wonder where it was going?
 
Daniel Martin said:
Interesting record of stone curlew from Arkwright yesterday.
A near miss for Carr Vale; Mark tells me its 2km away.
Would have been popular if refound for any that missed the recent Beeley bird.
Makes you wonder where it was going?
Click to expand...

Dan,as someone who didn't connect with the Beeley stone curlew, I for one would be grateful for any 'gen' on the Arkwright bird. Was it well seen?
Tony
 
TonyS said:
Dan,as someone who didn't connect with the Beeley stone curlew, I for one would be grateful for any 'gen' on the Arkwright bird. Was it well seen?
Tony
Click to expand...

Hi Tony, all I know was that a chap by the name of Buxton saw it but nothing since.
I assume a report will be submitted etc
Shame its slipped through......
 

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