Gird Lane to Quarry and back.

A superb Barn Owl roosting in the quarry until I accidentally flushed it.
Goldfinch flock of 71 (flushed from thistle heads by a Kestrel they then perched on wires for an accurate count)
Lapwing 44 (flocks of 25 and 18)
Black-headed Gull 32
Meadow Pipit 9 only
Whitethroat 1
Kestrel 3

Cheers John

Nice to bump into Andy Bisset while I was up.

I had originally planned to walk from Larkhill down Girdlane and then cutting over to the quarry due to some success in that area on Friday. Unfortunately I had to change my plans to parking up near the PR path and heading around the quarry. That changed as well when I noticed the trail bikers around the area. In the end I decided that heading over Cown Edge would be best.

There was a reasonable amount just along the Picking Rods path with;

17 Goldfinch
6 Meadow Pipit
7 Linnet
1 Pied Wagtail
and 2 Wheatear stopping off on the way south

All seen in GM.

Other Wildlife in the relevant thread and Cown Edge stuff in the Derbyshire sightings.



Friday turned out to be a decent day;

1 Female Redstart
1 Spotted Flycatcher
230 Lapwing
160 Starling
Around 60 Swallows moving SE in small groups. One larger group of 80 at the Kennels.
72 Goldfinch along the PR path with a further 100 at the Kennels again.
20 Meadow Pipits
6 Chiffchaff
1 Wheatear

Cheers

Mark

A big flock of Meadow Pipits is gathering. Best counts were:

Meadow Pipits c76 (inc. single flock of c70)
Rook 21
Swallow 28
Curlew 2
Raven 2

Cheers John

Gird Lane - Picking Rods. Best bits were:

A large Lapwing flock of c230
c100 Starlings feeding with Lapwing
One Sand Martin straight through south
Small passage of 21 Swallows
Fly-over Cormorant
Chiffchaffs 11
Willow Warbler 2
Redpolls 6
Goldfinch c30
Great Spotted Woodpecker 2
Only 7 Meadow Pipits

A couple of bits on other wildlife.

Cheers John

Best sightings were:

Hobby hunting Goldfinches over Cloughend Farm (still plenty of small passerines in the general area so it may stick around)
Ravens 7 (with gulls and corvids near Gird Lane)
Tree Sparrow 8 (Larkhill)
Redpoll 9
Swift 4
Collared Dove 8
Goldfinch 26
Meadow Pipit 12
Swallow 18

Cheers John

A couple of hours mid-late morning.

1 hobby over 'dip' (just past April Cottage), flew towards Rowarth.

1 spotted flycatcher just a few yards further on in dying tree to north of road.

Other things more or less as expected: 3 redpoll, family of bullfinches (parents & 3 young), sev. tree sparrows best of the rest.

Other 'migrants'. 1 swift, chiffchaffs and willow warblers (2 heard in full song). 

Shower dodging this afternoon. Quite a few family parties seen.

Buzzard 2
Kestrel 4
Curlew 1
Raven 1
Jay 5
Linnet 3
Tree Sparrow 1 (April Cottage)
Swift 7
Green Woodpecker (heard)

Cheers, John

A bit of an extended walk from Larkhill - Lakeside - Chatterton Ln - Pistol Fm - Picking Rods - Quarry and back along the road to the car.

Highlight was a Hobby as I was almost back to the car, noticed a BoP for a brief moment near Cloughend and cursed my luck as it disappeared behind tree's, luckily it came out again heading my way.

Other than that;

31 Swift with a small number of House Martins mixed in.
17 Swallow
3 Chiffchaff
3 Linnet
Then Singles of Curlew, Buzzard, Kestrel, Meadow Pipit and Lapwing.

I heard Golden Plover once but didn't see any.

Cheers

Mark

Just a short walk this afternoon from 15:00 - 17:30;

42 Golden Plover
25 Starling
25 Swift
11 Swallow
7 Meadow Pipit
4 Pied Wagtail
4 Curlew
1 Oystercatcher with the Curlew
1 Snipe
1 Skylark

and 1 Spotted Flycatcher just beyond Cloughend

Cheers

Mark

As the weather was so nice I decided to call up to Ludworth for a bit of a circular.

10 Curlew seen throughout the day, though 6 was the largest number seen at any one time.
c120 Lapwing.
Lots of Swallows over the fields.
Only 3 Swift though.
10 Skylark
7 Meadow Pipit
5 Mistle Thrush
4 Pied Wagtail
3 Chiffchaff
3 Nuthatch
2 Tree Sparrow
2 Reed Bunting
2 Linnet

Distinct lack of birds of prey, didn't even hear a Buzzard.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Moorendman,

Welcome to the forum, the more the merrier reporting from Ludworth.

I sent you a private message this morning. You need to be logged on in order to read it.

Cheers John

Headed over to Coombes edge yesterday afternoon/evening, saw a few birds of note while walking up the Picking Rods path.

2 Oystercatchers and 1 Snipe but no Golden Plovers seen (one heard in the distance)
2 Male Reed Bunting
a few Swift, Skylark and Meadow Pipit.
1 Curlew heard over towards Far Bradshaw.
21 Lapwing

Cheers

Mark

Late BB Survey this morning.

Mostly just the expected species (including 4 Curlew) but the undoubted highlight was a male Merlin that shot straight through.

Cheers John

Gird Lane/Smithy Lane Farm/Cloughend/Quarry/Sandhill Lane

Green Woodpecker 1 (Off Smithy Lane)
Tree Sparrow 3 (1 Smithy Lane Farm, 2 April Cottage. The latter collecting pine needles as nesting material)
Whitethroat 4
Blackcap 2
Willow Warbler 5
Garden Warbler 1
Chiffchaff 3
Buzzard 4 (1 juvenile with prey with 2 adults overhead. A tail-less 4th was soon seen off the premises)
Swallow 7
Lapwing 14 (inc 3 juvs)
Reed Bunting 3 (carrying food for young)
Bullfinch pair
Swift 4
Curlew and Raven heard

A couple of good butterfly sightings on othevwildlife

Cheers John

Lovely evening walk round the moor, didn't see any wheatear but in addition to the "expected" birds such as Plover, Curlew, buzzard etc we did have two unusual spots: at the end of the evening we saw a pair of oystercatcher, and at the beginning we saw a pipit the we struggled to identify. It was a lot lighter coloured than a meadow pipit, and was not as heavily speckled on the chest. There was a red blush to the chest, but nothing as heavy as the pictures I've seen of the red throated pipit: more, the red blush was only on the chest, it didn't extend to the head. No pictures sorry. Any suggestions as to what it might have been would be welcome

EDIT - forgot to mention that from Cown Edge overlooking the quarry we heard (but did not see) both cuckoo and tawny owl

-- Edited by Julian Winstanley on Thursday 25th of May 2017 08:58:51 AM

Called in this morning to look for the ring ouzel on my cycle commute, circa 8am. No sign of anything at all in the field - in fact it was fairly quiet in general all the way over from Mill Brow right to Charlesworth. In addition to the corvids and small passerines, I only saw a handful of lapwings and a few gulls (black-headed in the main) and heard a couple of skylark. No sign of curlew at all

After seeing the Dotterel in with Golden Plovers near Danebower yesterday I thought I would check out our local flock, but after recent 3 figure counts of GPs I could only find low numbers today.

Golden Plover 7
Wheatears 5
Oystercatcher 1 (I think my first up here)
Garden Warbler 1
Whitethroat 1
Redpoll 4
Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming
Mixed corvids c150

A couple of items of bad news to report.

Another field of rough grass and scattered rush clumps has been ploughed in to make yet another sheep pasture. This was the field that held the large Wheatear flock earlier this year.

Gunshot from the fields above where the Ring Ouzels were caused c150 mixed corvids to take to the air. I could see the shooter in an orange/brown Land Rover type ,pick-up vehicle. Never saw a bird fall to the ground but an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull was fluttering helplessly in the sheep field. The guy got in his vehicle and attempted to dispatch it by driving over it. Missed first time and had to circle round to get it second attempt. Then drove off. Scum!

Cheers John

John Rayner wrote:

---

Main highlights:
10 Wheatears
1 Whinchat
96 Golden Plovers (An under-estimate. These were counted on the ground but the flock looked well over 100 in flight)

Cheers John

---

 John,

I was up there yesterday and, if I had gone online (which I didn't) was going to say that there was at least 95 golden plover, so I think about 100 is accurate. Didn't see any whinchats though (sadly).

Andy

 

Andy Voisey wrote:

---

I went to see the Ouzels, but I'm not sure I went to the correct spot.

---

We saw them further up the hill along Sandhill Lane, in the field opposite the entrance to Hillside Farm. Glad you did catch them on your route though

Ring Ouzel, 2 Whinchats and 9 Wheatears all present and correct at 10.15. A 10th Wheatear at start of Picking Rods track. Didn't check the main areas below quarry.

Also attached are a couple of photos of the Ring Ouzel taken by Roy Peacock (I am sure he won't mind me posting them here)

Cheers, John

Male Ring Ouzel still (6th day)
19 Wheatears
1 House Martin

Cheers, John

Male Ring Ouzel still, with female reported by others. 09.30.

60+ Golden Plover en route to picking rods. 12 Wheatear, 1+ White Wagtail, Reed Bunting, 20+ Lapwing, 4 Curlew, 2 Willow Warbler, 9 Swallow, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, 2 Teal, 10 Meadow Pipit 

Quite a twitch this morning in glorious sunshine with 7 cars visiting Hillside Farm. 2 male and 1 female Ring Ouzels 56 Golden Plovers 4-5 Wheatears 3 Ravens 3 Lesser Redpolls 2 Linnets 2 Buzzards Plus usual breeding species. Cheers John

Nice to meet you John, and thanks for showing Jim and myself the Ring Ouzels.

We saw many Lapwings, plus a flock of around 25 Golden Plover over the wall just below the Picking Rods.

There were a  few Skylarks in the air and we heard many on the gound. A Curlew flew over and landed on the way to Roworth.

The odd Wheatear was about, and there was a Pied Wagtail. Meadow Pipits as usual.

 

Not bad for 6 miles from home