David, Malcolm, Roger and I had
finally made an effort to go to Beeley to hopefully see the wintering Dusky
Thrush. Malcolm was driving and we left
home just after 07:00 and after picking up Roger headed north on the M1 and
then west to Cromford.
We had agreed to go to
Cromford first to look for Dipper and Hawfinch and on arrival we walked
south-east along the River Derwent. The
water was quite high but we soon found a Dipper on the edge of a small island
in the river. It flew around calling on
a couple of occasions before it flew off up river and we didn’t see it
again. Having been successful with the
Dipper we walked back along the river to view the woodland on the other side,
which is where we have seen Hawfinches in the past. It appeared rather quiet today and other than
two Mistle Thrush, a Greenfinch and eight Goldfinch we saw little else and
moved into the church yard. We did find
a Goldcrest and Coal Tit in the church yard but didn’t fare and better with the
Hawfinches. When we got back to the car
park we saw a Jay and found a couple of Siskin but with still no joy with the
Hawfinch we moved onto Beeley.
As we entered the village to
other birders informed us that there had been no sign of the Dusky Thrush but
we parked and then walked along Pig Lane to view the thrush’s favourite
field. There were a few birders along
the lane, including Stephen from Rutland Water but the news still wasn’t
good. We hadn’t been there many minutes
when a local birder arrived and he picked the thrush up almost immediately,
feeding behind the base of a large tree in the hedgerow running up the
field. It wasn’t always in view but we did
to get some reasonable views as it fed in the area behind the hedgerow. We spent quite some time on sight and did get
better views when it came out into the field on several occasions, although
there were periods when it disappeared.
Whilst on site we also had a three Buzzards, a Peregrine and a couple of
Ravens and I heard a Grey Wagtail call.
We eventually left and went to
Beeley Moor, where we had lunch, whilst hoping we might find a Red Grouse but
had no joy and saw very little.
With a Great Northern Diver
wintering at Carsington Water we agreed that would be our next target. It seemed to take an age to get there as
David, who was navigating, took us across country but we did eventually arrive
in the visitor's centre car park. Roger
went to see if the diver had been seen and another birder had seen it earlier
in Millfields Bay, which is in the south-east corner of the reservoir. We therefore parked near the sailing club and
walked across the dam to view the area.
There were quite a few birds in the bay and along the eastern shore but
despite walking almost right across the dam there was no sign of the diver but
we did find five Goosanders. We
continued scanning the rest of the reservoir and were beginning to think we
wouldn’t find it when David picked it up way to the north. When it was facing us, the sun caught the
white and it was obvious but it was extremely difficult to see at other times,
which is probably why we hadn’t seen it before.
Relieved we had found the
diver we went back to the car and drove to the other side of the visitor’s
centre to use the conveniences and after a coffee we walked down the boat ramp
to view the reservoir. There were plenty
of Lapwings on the shore to our left and we found a couple of Dunlin and a
Redshank amongst them. Malcolm then
picked up the diver, which was much closer, although it was diving and was out
of view most of the time. As we scanned
around the bay David found a Ruff feeding along the opposite side of the bay where
there was a second Redshank. Scanning
further afield we found four Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk flew over just before
we departed.
It had been a very successful
day that also included a Sparrowhawk and seven Buzzards whilst travelling and
three Goshawks at a site we were asked not to broadcast and my year-list had
moved onto 149.
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