Trip reports

Dawn chorus walk at Padley Gorge

Sunday, 24 May 2009

There was a lot riding on this. The fairly raptorless Raptor Walk in March hadn't done much for my confidence.
Noel and I had done a 'recce' the week before, so knew that there were some good birds to be seen in the area, but as we're often told, " Wildlife sightings are not guaranteed."
A promising start, the weather was perfect as twenty-two birders assembled in Longshaw car park for a 6 a.m. start. We were soon rewarded with good views of a garden warbler just as we set off.
As we headed towards Burbage Moor we easily ticked off various tits, finches and a determined looking sparrowhawk, when I saw movement to my right in some bushes.
"Warblers - one feeding another." I called, though I thought they looked too large. As they flew across to a birch tree the sun caught their yellow breast.
"Wood warbler!" someone called, "My first this year!"
Half an hour on Burbage brought very little out of the ordinary. I asked Barry if we should be moving on.
"Just five more minutes." He replied.
Thank goodness we did; a pair of ring ouzel, wheatear, three snipe and a curlew in quick succession.
We headed back towards Padley Gorge, but I steered the group toward the tunnel under the road as we'd had good sightings of redstart the week before. We weren't disappointed, the magnificent male posed for a long time, giving opportunities for photographers and birders alike.
As we made our way to the gorge, the head of the group found a green hairstreak butterfly, a local speciality, whilst the rear party saw a tree pipit.
Pied flycatchers were our next target bird and we all managed to see three or four males on our way to breakfast at Grindleford café.
A delightful family of tree creepers entertained us on the long haul back up to Longshaw, as did a fine show from another male redstart.
Forty nine birds in all......credibility restored!

Amanda Palethorpe