Derbyshire County Birding (1 Viewer)

[Gomphus]

The "Oggie Ibis" was a good story at the weekend....................
Richard Taylor phoned Sunday whilst I was with Belper Town under 11's to ask if I knew owt about the grey Phalarope at Wingerworth. I tried Tim Sexey and Steve Mann, but got neither. Then Tim called back to say they and Mark Pass had been stood at Oggie seeing nothing, and so when news filtered out about the Phalarope the evening before decided to go and find it (Tim needs Grey Phal for derbys list).
Anyway, you can see whats coming..........whilst there and discovering the Phal had gone the Ibis flew through Oggie p*ssing them off big style! Worse was that Tony and Mike were in the hide and missed it too! I called at Oggie last night and Tim, Mike etc where still there contemplating throwing themselves off the dam wall..............then a lady photographer turned up and said "I took pics of this little wader at Wingerworth saturday tea time whilst having a picnic...." - there it was, the Phalarope - but a Red Necked not a Grey!! Stunning close photos of a great bird! Tim needs that too (and do some big listers) so it would have been well twitched! I had all on to restrain him..........
Apparently she didnt know who to report it too, went on an RSPB trip to Titchwell a day after (sunday) and showed the photo to Chris Packham no less! Eventually someone informed Birdguides.
The photos have been submitted and will no doubt be accepted - they are also on flicker/chesterfield photographic somewhere.......
The delights of our hobby no less!! :t:

Oh Dear I think I might have been contemplating jumping off the dam if I'd been there when it flew over and missed it too.......... sounds like Tim et al had a really bad day. Rather sadly I need Grey Phal for Derbys......

I'm still hooked on following the Sandhill thread in the rare birds bit, its great fun watching it being tracked south....... A sort of vicarious thrill waiting to see what it does next:-O:-O
ATB

Steph'

 

[DaveN]

Wyver Lane bird notes September 2009

Wildfowl counts for September include 70+ Teal on 22nd, 120 Mallards on 19th and 12th, 2 drake Gadwall on 26th and 28th and a female on 1st and 5th, 3 female Goosander on 10th and 19th and 1 on 1st, 2 males on 22nd, 6 Shoveler on 15th and 29th, a female/juvenile Mandarin on 8th and a male on 19th, the only record of Wigeon was of a single bird on 15th. c100 Pink-footed Geese flew west on 27th. 9 Cormorants on 22nd, 4 Grey Herons on 19th. A single Liitle Grebe on 8th.

Raptors include 2 Buzzards regularly seen, Kestrel seen almost daily, 2 Sparrowhawks on 15th, a male on 1st and a male caught a Blackbird left of the hide on 10th. A Little Owl was heard calling on 29th.

Water Levels are now quite low after a very dry month but Waders have still been few and far between. c200 Lapwings recorded on several dates and Snipe numbers are slowly building up with a maximum of eight on 27th.

A 1st winter Common Gull was among the Black Headed Gulls on 15th, Black Headed Gulls peaked at 185 on 29th and 29 Lesser Black Backed Gulls also on 29th.

At least 5 Jays were seen on 15th, c20 Long-tailed Tits on 8th plus c10 Willow/Chiffs, 3 Chiff Chaffs on 15th including one singing, Chiff Chaff singing on 29th, a Whitethroat on 1st. Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker were both seen regularly throughout the month. 40 Housemartins on 19th, 20 Swallows on 19th and also 1 Sand Martin on 19th. 9 Swallows and 7 Housemartins on 29th. The Hirundine highlight was a 1'000 plus Swallows around dusk on 10th. A Water Rail on 19th, 28th and 29th, 4 Mistle Thrushes on 8th, 2 Stock Doves also on 8th, 3 Siskin on 19th and 1 on 29th, 22 Jackdaws on the island on 26th, 3 Grey Wagtails on 29th, and a Skylark and Meadow Pipit both over on 29th.

 

[DaveN]

A brief visit to Wyver this morning so I could get the bird notes done for September. A bit of disturbance due to a work party but still managed to see 3 Water Rails. One stayed still long enough by the water mark post for me to get a few photos, and 2 more were only a few feet apart on the far side. Who knows, there could well be more.

2 Sparrowhawks including close views of a female in front of the hide. 9 Snipe, singing Chiff Chaff, 3 Grey Wagtails and 4 Swallows.

 

[ChrisLuv]

Had a long walk this afternoon up from Bennerley up the Erewash river/canal to Erewash Meadows and back.

Plenty of teal and gadwell up at Erewash meadows with a few pochard and shoveler too, had good views through the scope of a buzzard perched in the dead tree too. Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher on way back along Erewash river. Also several Jays around during journey.

Highlight was a short-eared owl before I got back to Bennerley (Notts side). Saw it a few times (glimpses) close up and then had good views at a distance before it was distrurbed by some youths. I hung around a bit too see if I could get a decent photo but it had gone. Spoke to Dave Jones yesterday, he's had it down there a few times, so hopefully it'll stick around for the winter - unless the bikes disturb it too much.

Walked 14 miles in all so I'm shattered now, off for a hot bath.

Chris

 

[Daniel Martin]

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=153598

Steppe Grey Shrike, Lound , Notts

See the link to ID forum too - nice pic from Steve Dunn who is on site now.

Good article in Octobers Birdwatch on this very species.

 

[michael23]

great to hear about the shrike!, what a time for it to turn up, when busy all week right up until my holiday starting friday.

On another note 168 pink feet west over breadsall at 9.15 this morning seen by my dad from his house.

 

[Gomphus]

Oh dear, put off going for the Shrike till tomorrow... now seen the weather forecast, doesn't look too promising. :C

Not birds but I managed to take these shots of a Grey Dagger larva in my neighbours garden..... I was just fascinated with the colours! Didn't know what it was but via the wonders of Birdforum I soon did. I've never trapped an adult in the moth trap, yet here is the larva 3 doors away!!:-C

OOh while I type a Sparrowhawk just put all my local Collared Doves into a panic... but it missed the lot!!

ATB

Steph'

 

[ChrisLuv]

For what its worth here's a very poor photo of the short-eared owl.

 

[michael23]

Thats quite an impressive larva steph, good luck with the shrike, hope the weather holds out, hopefully it will hang around a decent amount of time.
I had a sparrowhawk over hear earlier, thats 1 each day now for the last week now.

Oh dear, put off going for the Shrike till tomorrow... now seen the weather forecast, doesn't look too promising. :C

Not birds but I managed to take these shots of a Grey Dagger larva in my neighbours garden..... I was just fascinated with the colours! Didn't know what it was but via the wonders of Birdforum I soon did. I've never trapped an adult in the moth trap, yet here is the larva 3 doors away!!:-C

OOh while I type a Sparrowhawk just put all my local Collared Doves into a panic... but it missed the lot!!

ATB

Steph'

 

[DaveN]

3 Whooper Swans flew north at Carsington yesterday morning, one of the earliest records. Common Sandpiper around sheepwash, also Kingfisher, Raven, 3 Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, 4 Linnets, Yellow-legged Gull and Chiloe Wigeon.

Stayed for the Gull roost and 3'000+ Lessers and several Herrings and Common plus quite a few BHG's. Earlier in the day 6+ Crossbills flew over P.Stanley hide although not seen by me.

A short visit to Wyver this morning produced a Water Rail, 7 Shovelers, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, 4 Pied Wags, Grey Wag and 11 Goldfinches. There's still a bit of disturbance due to the work being carried out.

 

[Cheshire Birder]

No sign of Black Redstart at Smallvale, near Buxton late morning. A fem/imm was seen on the ruined barn near the start of the bridleway yesterday (grid ref sk.095.774).

CB

 

[Gomphus]

Hi all,

Had a couple of hours at Carsington yesterday, fantastic sunny afternoon of which the hightlight was a Kingfisher for over an hour next to Sheepwash hide fishing in the small pool to the right. At times it was too close to focus the scope on! But the light was awful straight into the bright sunlight so no good snaps...... But I did notice on close examination that the tip of its lower mandible was missing a few mm... I wonder if they can suffer damage when diving if they hit a hidden object?

The light was to much for the gulls too making everything very contrasty and difficult to judge the tones, but we did get 2 or 3 YLGulls and a few Herrings in amongst the couple of thousand or so LBB's. The drake Chiloe Wigeon has taken to displaying aggressively to the female Wigeon, chasing round etc.... 20 or so Lapwings were roosting on the floating weed mats and some had sunk down to their bellies in the water ( I reckon they were sinking slowly the whole time they snoozed!). There seem to be good numbers of waterfowl at the moment, Pochard, Widgeon, Teal and Tufted Duck etc.

Two small shots of the Kingfisher attached, just a shame about the light..... think I'll try earlier in the day one day when the lights not as harsh.

ATB

Steph'

 

[James_Owen]

That Kingfisher seems to have a bit of a routine, late in the day PS hide isn't an awful place to set yourself up, even I managed a cruddy video of it fishing earlier this week.

Not sure I remember ever seeing the water so low at Carsington.

 

[Clive A]

Had a few hours up at Carsington today, from Sheepwash 3 Pintail,RC Pochard, Chiloe Wigeon,295 Wigeon,143 Pochard,65 Teal,2 Kingfishers,3 Buzzards,Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.
Later on a Tern sp. had a few of us guessing, but seemed to be an Arctic.

 

[Daniel Martin]

Any news on common crane uttoxeter road Derby? I am at Old Moor but will be back if confirmed. Thanks,

 

[DaveN]

Any news on common crane uttoxeter road Derby? I am at Old Moor but will be back if confirmed. Thanks,

Only news I know is of an adult in farmers field just behind Uttoxeter New Road at 08:45 this morning.

 

[DaveN]

Just an update on the work that is being carried out down Wyver Lane. I received an email from a friend who had been talking to the digger driver down there.

Went down to Wyver this evening what a smashing eveing.

Spoke with the digger driver, great chap.

Another 4 days work left to do he thinks.

The viewing mound is coming on but DWT decided today that it will be changed around so it will look different.

Apparently as edging to the platform they are not doing a sleeper edge like at Carr Vale but post and rail with hedging and planting infront of it (?) So it will take a while to mature and be quite open for a while.Also the ditches and troughs had been designed so from the mound you could look down them however with the alterations it we will now look off scue ...never mind!

We will be able to view the scrape too from outside the hide looking over the near corner of the scrape, and this is where the water vole bank has been built.

The scrape is certainly taking shape, it has been designed to hold water through the seasons with a series of ridges and troughs to maximise edge effect and therefore good feeding opportunities for waterbirds. Plenty of area for birds to patrol up and down. Within it at least 20 pools have been created so that what ever the water level there will be habitat available. Though quite a bit of it will not be viewable.

Max depths about 1.5 to 2 metres ( good to keep invertebrates going ) so in winter when it floods it will be a large open pool then as levels drop it will be classic scrape (fingers crossed)

As the guy has been digging he has come across field drains every 15 foot parallel across the field so they have now gone!
Some of the risings that have been used to cover the ''Garganey'' pools to provide level grazing, however I think the habitat created will compensate for their loss plus we may see a few pools develop as the risings slump ( I hope!!)

So things are looking good. I think Wyver could turn into quite a hotspot with these habitat improvements.( again we can hope!!)

 

[tvmr_birder]

My guess is it'll be in SK3435 - farmers fields round Rough Heanor Farm/Kingsway hospital - we're all swineflued up but are gonna have a look now anyway!!! I think I still need Crane for my Littleover list now I think about it :-O

Matt

 

[DaveN]

No further sign of Crane according to BG.

 

[Clive A]

Popped up to Carsi again this morning:
4 Shoveler,2+ Pintail,2 Goldeneye,2 RC Pochard,Dunlin and Siskin heard in several locations.