Friday the 13th is often seen as an unlucky day by some of the more superstitious amongst us but I certainly don’t subscribe to that, and, thankfully neither do the birders joining our Peak District adventure. Starting out at Cromford Wharf we quickly added Dipper to the trip list with two, seen very briefly under the road bridge. River levels were still high after Storm Darragh and most of the good Dipper rocks were submerged.
After a fairly long, but productive, wait we had a brief glimpse of three flyover Hawfinch and didn’t have long to wait for one of them to drop into their favoured tree. Viewing conditions weren’t great with constant drizzle and the bird chose to sit as high as possible giving us the British version of the North American ‘Warbler Neck’ known now as ‘Hawfinch Neck.’ Hawfinch really are an impressive bird with a huge, powerful bill, that can indeed crack Cherry stones. Hawfinch are also incredibly shy and pretty scarce so we were honoured to see at least one.
During the wait we had a good number of common garden birds and also a pretty loud Mistle Thrush. The Mistle Thrush does, always, seem to be angry about something. They are rarely chilled. A male Sparrowhawk dashed through that only I managed to see.
After a hearty breakfast our small group moved on to Carsington Water. Sadly we couldn’t add Willow Tit here. It seems the feeders are no longer being stocked. I can understand why to some extent as research tends to suggest that artificial feeding stations mean that Blue and Great Tit are outcompeting Willow Tit to nest sites.
We did have good numbers of Pochard on the water from Paul Stanley hide as well as a few Little Grebe.
We now had a decision to make and I was aware that Willow Tit were regular at Tittesworth Reservoir near Leek. A group discussion meant they were happy to extend the day and off we went. On arriving at Tittesworth we found the feeders but again no Willow Tit. We did have good views of many common woodland birds, including a stunning Treecreeper. A chat with a local had us move to the hides for a better chance of Willow Tit. A Kingfisher flashed by, giving itself away with its insistent, repeated ‘zii-ti’ call. It certainly brightened the dreary afternoon weather. Finally we managed some distant and brief views of Willow Tit across the bay by the West Hide. The ‘brown’ Tits, Willow, Marsh and Coal, really are smash and grab merchants at feeders, never staying long enough to be bullied.
On our way back to the car, one of the group checked under the tin sheets. These are placed there for reptiles and small mammals and we were treated to great views of a Short-tailed Field Vole.
Our final stop was high up in the Staffordshire Moorlands. By now the light was falling fast and it had never been good all day. We had a few calling Red Grouse, Britain and Ireland’s newest endemic bird after it was finally split from Willow Grouse. The Red Grouse does not moult into a white winter plumage unlike the Willow Grouse of Northern Europe. A very close male suddenly flushed giving great flight views before dropping back, unseen, in the heather and grass. A pair was then picked up by thermal imager and the eventually showed distantly in the failing light.
A pair of Red Deer gave us another mammal tick and it was nice to see some in the wild and not a Deer Park. Another discussion about packing up as the cold started to get into us but the group were persuaded to give it another 5 minutes… 10 minutes later I picked up a pale bird coming in from the West that I thought may be a Gull. Seconds later I called out the male Hen Harrier as the ‘grey ghost’ gave us a flyby before quickly dropping into its roost.
A fitting end to a superb day and one that left everyone, especially me, with big smiles and a warm feeling.
Bird Checklist
Click arrow to view 42 birds recorded
Photos from the tour (click on thumbnail to zoom)
