Mark Walsh wrote:

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A bit of a different walk than usual today, parked up near Larkhill and headed down Gird Lane - Lakeside - Chatterton lane - Moorfield Arms (or what used to be) - Pistol Farm - over the fields behind Gun farm - PR Path - Quarry and back.

Very glad I did as I had a rather memorable encounter with a Marsh Harrier. Crossed the Stile into the boggy rushy field behind Gun Farm, walked up a slight raise and came almost eye level with the Harrier about 10-15 meters away as it flew away, eventually it turned so I got the cream crown. It flew just beyond the PR path in derbyshire eventually heading towards Cown edge, however it returned about 10 minutes later again hunting over the same field before heading over to Far Slack Farm.

The rest of the walk produced;

21 Meadow Pipit
9 Swallow
8 Swift
5 Whitethroat
2 Chiffchaff, Kestrel and Skylark
and singles of Blackcap, Buzzard, Snipe and Linnet.

Cheers

Mark

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 Met Mark on his way off-site. Didn't see the harrier, but did find a RED KITE in virtually the same spot (over Cown Edge). It circled on the thermals, gained height, and flew almost overhead on the Picking Rods path - not quite in Greater Manchester, but it was heading in the right direction!

Best of rest:- a flock of 9 curlew was the most I remember seeing up here for 25+ years. The pair of stonechats was back at the quarry, 2 lesser redpoll, and raven heard (prob 3 seen). Better than for some time up here.

2.30-3.30

Quick walk up the Picking Rods and back down the track to the Pond and back.

A Curlew took off from the pond and flew in front of me into our territory.

Heard a few Skylark and saw a Meadow Pipit on the ground, and heard others.

Also heard a Lapwing, but did not see any.

I noticed that the gate by the path to the pond/quarry has been "repaired"

First time visit today (6.45 to 10.15 am).  Weather conditions very blustery S.W. wind with odd showers, occasionally heavy.  

Very interesting area with various habitats.  After reading lots of previous reviews we were really looking forward to visiting the area and we certainly were not disappointed.

We parked up on Gun Road and the first walk we did was towards Robin Hood's Picking Rods.  We headed up towards Coombes Tor then back via Pistol Farm, up Gun Road, down to Cloughend, up Sandhill Lane and then back along Gun Road. 

A total of 29 species sighted with the most notable being a Whimbrel with 3 Curlew and a single Snipe.

All in all a very productive morning in a great location.  

Hi all,

New to the forum - hope you're all ok and look forward to contributing more. Ludworth Moor is very local to me so I've been lucky enough to be able to go up there for my permitted exercise.

On Saturday I spent a couple of hours or so along Sandhill Lane, round the quarry and up to Coombes Tor via the Picking Rods path. I was lucky enough to encounter the following of note:

Numerous skylarks

Curlews (heard but not seen)  

Snipe 

2 x Buzzards 

Sparrowhawk 

Kestrel 

Blackcap 

Pied wagtail

Linnet

Numerous lapwings

Ring ouzel 

Pheasants (heard but not seen)

2 Partridges 

Chiffchaff 

White wagtail 

Mandarin duck pair 

Black headed gull 

Sunday 22nd 3-4pm

Very quiet, but a few more cars

C15 Lapwing in the pool field

1 Curlew flying

That was all. saw nothing else, and heard nothing.

John Rayner wrote:

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A decent couple of hours tramping round on my own and shunning company (sorry Mark). Best bits were:

c40 Meadow Pipits including a flock of 25
3 Stonechats. A lone male in the quarry and a pair near Far Bradshaw. The male here was in full song so hopefully they may stay to breed.
1 Wheatear male up Picking Rods track.
6 Skylarks
5 Curlews (minimum)
2 Little Owls. A scarce breeder round here so I would prefer not to disclose the location.
1 Chiffchaff calling near Cloughend.
28 Lapwings

Cheers John.

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 Afternoon edition: New birds or higher numbers seen than those above:-

1 raven, 30 fieldfare, 1 reed bunting male, c4 buzzards, 1 snipe. 72 lapwings when the two separate flocks came together. The most notable thing was the incredible silence, what with there being no wind at first. Unfortunately that also applied to birdsong, but it was the middle of p.m.

I know other site regulars visited today and saw more than I did this afternoon, which was not that much really. Did manage one tree sparrow at Larkhill, my first of the year. There was a smattering of winter thrushes in a mixed flock, c40 lapwings + 5 or 6 pairs in possible breeding habitat; 1 skylark sang. The most striking sighting was of 7-8 buzzards in close proximity over Picking Rods path, with max of 6 in Grt. M/c at one time. Hoping for plenty more action soon.

Blowing the cobwebs away, and avoiding being squashed by falling trees led to me being up here! Plenty of birds to see, the 'drawback' being they were nearly all corvids. c500 birds were mostly jackdaws, but included 40 rooks, the most I've seen for some time. Some small sign of Spring in the sighting of 4 golden plover in breeding plumage, and c50 meadow pipits. Also - male bullfinch, 2 buzzards, fem. kestrel, sparrowhawk best of the rest.

a.m.

Weather made for a great atmosphere; bright, mild, calm. Not quite Winter though. Best of birds seen in 2+ hours:-

Pair of Stonechats, good number of Winter thrushes - certainly 200+ with definite count of 190 birds when they were grounded in a field; c75% fieldfare, at least 4 ravens, 24 lapwings, c125 pink-footed geese were to the far South going SE, kestrel, sparrowhawk, only singles of meadow pipit and reed bunting. Not too bad I suppose.

Picture quiz time. I saw this small flock of birds at some height this morning and took a photo thinking that they were probably gulls (due to how white they appeared, compact in size and silent). Having used a magnifying glass on the image shown on my camera, I was able to see that they were geese. Is anyone out there so expert as to be able to secure an i.d. from this pretty poor, blown-up image? Note that these geese were on exactly the same flight path as the earlier pink-footed Geese I saw.

Also this a.m. Still lots of fieldfare (300+), largest flock 185 (counted from photo). c20 redwings, 15 siskin at the plantation (with perhaps a redpoll or two), a skein of pink-footed geese went over at 9.43 (WNW) numbering 160 (from another photo). Other 'stuff' included kestrel, sparrowhawk, buzzard, tawny owl hooting continually, c30 goldfinch.

Felt as if Winter had arrived this morning (8.45 - 11.15), but no wind to speak of thankfully. A lot about, but not too much that wasn't expected.

20 redwings going SW (an early flock of 17, and 3 later).

7/8 male blackbirds together which I presume had just arrived.

A distant, large flock of lapwings and starlings rose up and a small number of lapwings (c15) broke away and flew over. This party contained 3 golden plover.

1 snipe, 1/2 chiffchaffs, 1 skylark over, 4 male reed buntings together, 2x4 swallows quartering fields, plus 1+3 flew South, 1 buzzard, 4 mistle thrush, 2 song thrushes, 5/6 common gulls, 1 lesser black-back gull, c12 rooks, meadow pipits in every field (certainly 50+). A red-legged partridge was calling in the quarry area.