Derbyshire County Birding (6 Viewers)

[DaveN]

Wyver Lane Bird Notes July 2012

Highlights include: Peregrine, Hobby, Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher.

This month's maximum counts are 2 juvenile Little Grebes from 23rd, 8
Cormorants on 23rd, 4 Grey Herons on 25th, 3 Mute Swans on 20th, 63
Greylag Geese on 21st, 86 Canada Geese on 31st, 4 Mandarin on 25th,
female Gadwall with 5 well grown young for most of the month, 11 Teal
on 26th, 72 Mallard on 25th, 3 drake Pochard on 8th, 10 Tufted Duck on
3rd and 4th, 4 Goosander on 20th, 22 Coots on 25th, 6 Moorhen on 25th,
4 Pheasants on 20th.

Raptors include 4 Buzzards on 18th, a family of 5 Kestrels on 7th, a
Sparrowhawk on 17th, 2 Hobbies all month and 2 Peregrines on several
dates.

A site record 9 Oystercatchers on 9th and 10th, c100 Lapwings on 5th and a
Common Sandpiper on 6th.

The Black-headed Gull chick from the raft finally fledged on 23rd, 88 Black-
headed Gulls flew through on 4th, 2 1st summer Common Gulls on 21st,
18 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on 17th, 2 Common Terns on 3rd and 20th,
3 Stock Doves on several dates, a Collared Dove on 2nd and 3rd, 10 Swifts
on 10th, a Kingfisher on 28th and 31st, 2 Green Woodpeckers on 21st, 25th
and 28th, a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker on 7th, c50 House Martins on
11th, 9 Wrens on 3rd and 10th, 6 Robins on 18th and 23rd, a male Redstart
on 11th, 8 Blackbirds on 18th, 2 Sedge Warblers on 4th, 4 Whitethroats on
10th, 6 Blackcaps on 3rd, a Garden Warbler on 26th, 10+ Chiff Chaffs on 14th,
a Willow Warbler on several dates, a juvenile Goldcrest on 14th, a Spotted
Flycatcher on 11th and 17th, 15 Long-tailed Tits on 14th, 6 Blue Tits on 14th,
a family of 4 Treecreepers on 2nd and 3rd, 2 Jays on 21st, 10 Magpies on 7th,
a Siskin on 7th, 9 Goldfinch on 11th and 5+ Reed Buntings on 21st.

 

[2slo]

Passing through Derby today, took this pick of a Pied Wagtail, it's not a rare bird but I thought I'd post it anyway |=)|

 

[DaveN]

Yesterday Chris and myself did the summer all dayer at Wyver. Well not strictly all day but 10 hours is long enough. We did the same in Winter, Spring and will do the Autumn one in late September early October.

We only managed 46 species which equals the Winter count but was 9 short of the Spring count. There were some really daft birds missing yesterday including Dunnock, Jackdaw, Jay, and Goosander which we thought we might get in the roost but failed.

There was however a few surprises including Spotted Flycatcher (3 inc a juv), Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Hobby.

A couple more highlights were a flock of 8 Mandarin, and good counts of Mallard (136), Coot (31) and Moorhen (20).

 

[peter hill]

Fist trip to carssington for a while nice suprize to see a little egret from stones island ,flew towards the visters centre ,then 2 snipe on horseshoe but we could only see them on the camara and 2 common sandpipers A short walk towards shinningford and we saw a perigrine fly over ,wich is always nice ,on to sheepwash hide and a look a the bird book reveled that clive had seen a greenshank a few days ago shortly after a greenshank flew from left to right and landed to the right of the hide walking off that way a pochard was amongst the many tuftys and grebes another sandpiper appeared and another veiw of the egret before we left for the paul stanley hide The feeders were busy with great tits and a nuthatch and a robin and bluetits but the lake here held no suprizes ,good to be back

 

[Clive A]

A definite feel of autumn in the air this morning at Carsington. c400 Starlings leaving their roost on Stones island, the Little Egret was still present and a single Ringed Plover flew towards the dam. Two Common Sandpipers on the islands and a Green woodpecker was calling near the main car park.
From the wildlife centre, 5 Teal,1 Pochard,4 Snipe and 1 Greenshank.
The water level is finally dropping and some areas of mud are being revealed, bring on those waders!

 

[DaveN]

Clive and myself paid Middleton Moor a visit this morning and we got rewarded with a juv Marsh Harrier. Only my 3rd in the county (Clive's 4th). We first saw it in the distance and then had it hunting over the fields and then the reedbeds.

We then had a walk up to Barbrook Res and had an incredible 11 Whinchats. 5 near the house and 6 near the main road.

Carsington was a little disappointing. A Greenshank which has been around for a few days now was still there. A few species of wildfowl too inc Wigeon, Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 3 Teal and a Pochard. The afternoon storms failed to drop anything decent in.

 

[DaveN]

2 dark morph Skuas were seen by Tony Davison flying SSW from a moving car at 9.20.a.m. this morning-24th Aug. They were initially thought to be possibly Long Tailed because they appeared to have long tail streamers but are more likely to have been 2 dark morph Arctic Skuas.

 

[tvmr_birder]

Hi all,

2 Redstarts at Ingleby this afternoon (1 adult female, 1 juv male) along with a Spotted Flycatcher in the same bush, probably all on passage as in Riverside bush which seemed to be teaming with passerines a la the East Coast!!! 1 Lesser Whitethroat nearby also still and 2 Little Egrets across the river at Barrow GP. Jim in Etwall also had Redstart along the old railway line earlier this week.

Green & Common Sandpiper at Newton Solney but Willington GP criminally quiet for late August!

Best Wishes,

Matt

 

[tvmr_birder]

Female Red Crested Pochard at Long Eaton GP on the Conservation Pit today, and Tufted Duck (1) and Little Grebe (2) have very young broods there still.

Also, Female Wheatear at Abbey Hill Flash on ploughed field just W of railway line and the pleasing sight of 2 Kingfishers right next to each ther on a branch on the island of the Southern fishing pond. I know other birders I've met there over the summer (hi Chris if you're reading) have commentated on the complete absence of geese in the second half of the summer (cf to the spring where there were at least 3 Greylag broods), which according to a local fisherman is because the Canadas at least have had their nests destroyed and been 'encouraged' to leave the area....

Best Wishes,

Matt

 

[Daniel Martin]

Honey Buzzard through Oggie this morning.

 

[wolfbirder]

Large winged raptor (Osprey or Red Kite) flying behind trees beside A38 about 5 miles south of Derby today at about 9.45am (give or take 15 mins).

Do you get Red Kites in this area?

 

[DaveN]

Large winged raptor (Osprey or Red Kite) flying behind trees beside A38 about 5 miles south of Derby today at about 9.45am (give or take 15 mins).

Do you get Red Kites in this area?

We don't really get them in the area but plenty of birds are on the move so there's no reason why one couldn't have been passing through. The same goes for Osprey as quite a few have been passing through the county of late.

 

[DaveN]

Wyver Lane Bird Notes August 2012

Highlights include: Peregrine, Hobby, Spotted Flycatcher, Redstart
and Raven.

A fairly quiet month with high water levels being good for returning wildfowl,
but not so good for passing waders.
Maximum counts for the month include 2 juvenile Little Grebes on 11th and 14th,
3 Cormorants on 14th and 18th, 3 Grey Herons on several dates, 3 Mute Swans
on 21st, 29 Greylag Geese on 14th, 110 Canada Geese on 11th, 8 Mandarin on
14th, 44 Teal on 25th, 7 Gadwall on 25th and 28th, c200 Mallard on 16th, 2
Shoveler on 28th, a Pochard on 21st, 22nd, 25th and 28th, 5 Tufted Ducks on
18th, 31 Coot on 14th and 20 Moorhen also on 20th.

Raptors include 4 Buzzards on 6th and 25th, single Sparrowhawk sightings on
several dates, single Kestrel sightings also on many dates, 2 Hobbies on 3rd and
a Peregrine on 22nd.

c120 Lapwings on 3rd. The only other wader was a Common Sandpiper on 21st.
17 Black-headed Gulls on 11th, 5 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls on 25th, A Common
Tern on 3rd an 6th, the last Swift record was of 2 on 14th, 3 Green Woodpeckers
on 6th including 2 juveniles, 24 House Martins on 18th, 60 Swallows on 14th, a
female/juvenile Redstart on 14th and an adult male on 18th, a Sedge Warbler on
25th, a Lesser Whitethroat on 14th and 18th, 5 Chiff Chaffs on 14th and 18th, 3
Willow Warblers on 21st, 3 Spotted Flycatchers including at least one juvenile were
near Wyver Woods on 14th and on the 18th in the same location 4 birds were
present including 2 juveniles, 19 Long-tailed Tits on 18th, 2 Jays on 21st and a
Raven on 18th.

 

[tvmr_birder]

Hi all,

1 Greenshank (winter plumage) at Willington GP today, 1 Snipe and 3 Hobby.

2 Yellow Wagtail at Newton Solney - these could be either passage birds or residents (bred here in 2011 but none seen by us on a few visits this spring/summer until today).

Best Wishes,

Matt.

 

[DaveN]

A more than satisfactory few hours down Wyver today and a new species for the year to boot. I intended to spend most of my time on the mound but before I did I had a quick count of what was on the main pool. Teal had gone up to 63 but a little later a Buzzard flushed more out and I counted 95 which for this time of year is quite an exceptional figure. There was also 4 Shoveler, 3 Gadwall, 40 Mallards, 2 Little Grebes, 29 Coots, 17 Moorhens, 65 Bh Gulls, and 4 Grey Herons.

So I made my way to the mound to see if there was anything moving through. Before I had chance to get on there I noticed huge numbers of House Martins seemingly everywhere. Really difficult to count but I estimated 400 but could well have been over 500. Not surprising but all the Hirundines were attracting the attention of a few Raptors. A couple of Sparrowhawks and a single adult Hobby zipped through.

I stood on the mound for a while but it was clear that there wasn't much moving. The usual flock of Lapwings were present, c130 noted. The only other things of note was 2 Pied Wags, 4 Bullfinch, 4 Buzzards, Green Wood, G.S. Woodpecker, Jay, Chiff Chaff and a few Goldfinches.

I went and sat back in the hide for a while and caught sight of 2 passerines flying over the main pool. I raised my bins to see 2 Yellow Wagtails (new for 2012) fly over the main pool calling as they went. I left the hide to check the fields behind which look quite suitable but it looked like they had gone straight through.

I spent my last hour back on the viewing mound where I had 2 more Hobbies, another Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel. A pretty good day for Wyver.

 

[tvmr_birder]

Hi all,

Pintail (f) at Ambaston GP today with 6 earlyish Wigeon.

Also Spotted Flycatcher in bushes near Conservation Pit at Long Eaton GP and for those of you who enjoy a good game bird breeding record (you know who you are!!) Pheasant has bred here this year.

Matt

 

[tvmr_birder]

Whinchat in scrub at Dove Valley Industrial Park today - decent passage record.

For those who haven't seen the DOS website yet, the curse of the impenetrability of the River Dove W of Scropton strikes again!!

Matt

 

[Sandy Leng]

There were 2 Hobbies putting on a dazzling flying display this afternoon at Willington GP.
The juvs have certainly mastered flying, they were swooping very close to both platform 1 and 4, the dragonflys had no chance!

5 wigeon arrived, no doubt the Hobbies will soon be gone for the winter.

Sandy.

 

[DaveN]

What a difference 24 hours make. Yesterday and absolutely nothing was moving down Wyver. Today, however, a good movement of Meadow Pipits. I'd only been down a few minutes when the first one went over. I then made my way to the mound where I had 127 through over a few hours. Other places I hear were also having Meadow Pipits through.

Also passing over was 24 Siskin, 6 Chaffinches, 2 Greenfinches, a Linnet and lots of Swallows and House Martins. Raptors today included 5 Buzzards and a couple of Sparrowhawks. A Goosander and a Mandarin were new in on the main pool.

Highoredish near Oggie had 158 Meadow Pipits through in 1 hour. Lots moving over the moors this morning too. Also 20 presumed Pinkies over.

 

[DaveN]

There's a Great White Egret at Carsington from Sheepwash.