Peak District - Walking & Hot-Tubbing

The wife and I decided to take a break and visit the Peak District as we hadn't realised we'd never been.  We hired a lovely barn conversion cottage complete with hot-tub where we spent all evening for the 3 nights we were there.

The birding wasn't overly amazing as the hills truly are devoid of life... At the farm I had Jackdaw, Buzzard, Blackbird, Woodpigeon and Robin.

We took a walk up Kinder Scout where there were way too many people for my liking. I did enjoy the walk and the beer back at the pub back in Edale even more.

I was nice to see Raven over Kinder Scout and I had nice close views of a female Kestrel, unfortunately I only had my phone for photos as I didn't fancy lugging my camera over 15 miles of hills.

Kestrel

The most numerous bird was obviously Meadow Pipit but I got to see what I was hoping for and that was Wheatear which was new for year.

Wheatear

During the evenings I ran my portable Heath Moth Trap hoping for some more northerly species, however I only had Lunar Underwings, just goes to show how ecologically devoid our uplands are.

The last day we took a walk from the farm across the countryside footpaths to Bakewell where we stopped for lunch before walking back a different route.  On the route back we were hand railing a river so I decided to take a quick look where it came close to the path.  This proved to be fortunate as I added Grey Wagtail and even better, Dipper!! Again I still hand only my phone camera so not the greatest quality photos.

Grey Wagtail

Dipper

Round Britian Tour - Day 9

Up early for our last day of the trip, target bird was Black Grouse so we drove the Minera to Worlds End road with the hope of catching a glimpse, problem was, it was absolutely pouring down so visibility was poor, not that it mattered as the birds would have been well and truly hunkered down. We drove up and down the moor road a few times but there was never really any hope in the driving rain. We moved on down to Llangollen as the river is a reliable spot for Dipper and even though it was still raining we got some great close up views.

We then drove on over to Burton Marsh on the Dee estuary to look for the American Buff-bellied Pipit, initially I thought it was going to be impossible as there were a great number of Meadow Pipit and they were very mobile, it also didn't help that I had no idea what I was looking for! We eventually found him and were treated to some good views.

116. American Buff-bellied Pipit

116. American Buff-bellied Pipit

116. American Buff-bellied Pipit

116. American Buff-bellied Pipit

 

We headed over to Pennington Flash as it is very well known for its Willow Tit, on arrival we headed to the Bunting Hide and got to see a few Willow Tit, Nuthatch and Bullfinch.

 

117. Bullfinch

117. Bullfinch

117. Bullfinch

118. Willow Tit

 

This was the first location we'd visited all week where I was able to get a coffee so there was no way I passing up the opportunity, I grabbed myself some chips too, v.happy....

 

News came in of a Lesser Scaup over in Shropshire at Tittesworth Reservoir. What was great was that when we arrived we were treated to really great close up views of a stonking male Lesser Scaup about 5 metres of the causeway. We also had equally great views of a pair of Greater Scaup just 10 metres to the other side of the causeway.



119. Lesser Scaup

119. Lesser Scaup

 

In the fading light we visited an undisclosed location to look for a Ruddy Duck, I recall seeing these relatively easily as a child but the bird we were looking for is potentially the last one in the country so chances were very slim. We arrived with the light almost completely gone and scanned the flocks of ducks to the front which consisted of Mallard, Gadwall, Pochard, Wigeon and a couple of Goosander. I walked further round to scan the hidden areas, I found a small flock at the very far side of the lake which contained a few Mallard and Coot but also the fabled Ruddy Duck.

 

120. Ruddy Duck

120. Ruddy Duck

 

Not the greatest photos, but it was extremely distant, these are phone-scoped which shows just how distant, don't really blame him for hiding away seeing how his relatives have faired.

 

I only saw a total of 48 species today of which 1 was a lifer. The trip notched up 182 with me finishing on 169 which I am extremely pleased with having racked up 17 lifers in total.

 

1. Magpie

2. Blackbird

3. Carrion Crow

4. Jackdaw

5. Black-headed Gull

6. Dipper

7. Mallard

8. Stonechat

9. Meadow Pipit

10. American Buff-bellied Pipit

11. Chaffinch

12. Dunnock

13. Woodpigeon

14. Robin

15. Greenfinch

16. Bullfinch

17. Blue Tit

18. Great Tit

19. Willow Tit

20. Nuthatch

21. Teal

22. Moorhen

23. Tufted Duck

24. Pochard

25. Canada Goose

26. Lesser Black-backed Gull

27. Fieldfare

28. Rook

29. Mute Swan

30. Cormorant

31. Linnet

32. Kestrel

33. Lapwing

34. Common Gull

35. Song Thrush

36. Reed Bunting

37. Long-tailed Tit

38. Pheasant

39. Buzzard

40. Starling

41. Lesser Scaup

42. Greater Scaup

43. Goosander

44. Coot

45. Ruddy Duck

46. Little Grebe

47. Goldfinch

48. Coal Tit



Forest of Dean

On the way to pick the kids up I decided to go via the Forest of Dean, in particular New Fancy viewing platform to see if I could see a Goshawk before they finish displaying.  I arrived at the viewing platform, saw a pair of Buzzard over the canopy and a few Siskin in a tree close by.  Then literally within a few minutes of arriving and as my luck would have it of late, the skies opened up and the deluge began, aargh!!!!

I then popped over to RSPB Nagshead in hope of Hawfinch and Marsh Tit but again to no avail, I did manage a photo of a Song Thrush for the race though.....

13. Song Thrush

 

Since it was dire birding here I headed over to Cannop Ponds for Mandarin Duck and Dipper.  My luck improved slightly as there were a great number of Mandarin Duck present with very close views of both male and female.  Whilst I was there I scoured the brook between the two ponds for Dipper but failed to locate any, a small consolation was a pair of Grey Wagtail though so not complaining.  Then just as I was about to leave a large crow  appeared, and with a big wedge of a tail was unmistakably a Raven, even better it landed in the tree I was standing by so afforded some great close up views of this often 'seen in the distance' bird.  A couple of photos were gathered of some commoner species to make the numbers up for the race.

 

 14. Blackbird

15. Moorhen

 

 16. Treecreeper

 

 17. Lesser Black Backed Gull

 

 

As I managed to get some close up views of the Mandarin Duck I thought I'd add some of my favourite shots..

 



 18. Mandarin Duck

 

 19. Grey Wagtail

 

 20. Mute Swan

 



21. Mallard

 

 22. Coot

 

 23. Robin

 

 24. Raven

 

25. Great Tit

 

Little bit gutted about the Goshawk, will have to try again but next time check the weather forecast, especially as this would be a lifer for me.....