Midsummer Evening Wildlife Walks – 2024
With the evenings getting lighter and warmer now seems like the perfect time to roll out our 2024 programme of evening group walks – including the return of our fantastic Nightjar watching evenings!
Nightjar showing well on one of our 2023 evenings.
All of the walks have a maximum group size of six people (except the Nightjar evenings where the maximum will be 8 – all bookings are on a first come, first served basis), cost £10 per person and they will normally last around 3 hours. Exact meeting times and places will be confirmed to all bookers but the walks will typically start approximately 1 hour/90 minutes before sunset.
If you would like to do one of the walks but the date doesn’t suit you please get in touch as I will normally have availability on other evenings to run a private guided walks.
Wednesday 12th June & Saturday 6th July 2024 – Hares, Owls & Bats @ Locko Park, Derby
Tawny Owls can be seen and heard regularly.
Join me for two gentle, accessible evening strolls on my local patch. We’ll start the evening tracking down the local bird species that call this area home and as the evening draws on we’ll watch the antics of the local Brown Hares as well as looking out for Hobby which hunt in the area to well after sunset. As the sun goes down we’ll seek out the three resident species of Owl (Barn Owl, Little Owl & Tawny Owl), before, detector and thermal scope in hand, we head back to the lake and turn our attention to finding the different species of bat that use the area (I have recorded Noctule, Common & Soprano Pipistrelles, Brown Long Eared and Daubentons here).
Thursday 6th June & Saturday 22nd June 2024 – Nightjar Watching in the Matlock Forest
Join me for an exciting evening adventure as we go looking for one of the UK’s most fascinating bird species – the Nightjar! This cryptically coloured migrant returns to the UK in May and spends its days sat perfectly camouflaged on the floor of its heathland or clear-fell home before coming alive after sunset where its strange mechanical churring song, delivered from a perch, is often clearly audible. Last years walks saw us get amazing views of this nocturnal specialist as they hunted for their favourite moth prey and patrolled their territory (their flight often betrayed by their calls and the gleaming white wing patches of the males). With multiple birds flying around us and landing nearby at times these were truly memorable encounters! Its not just Nightjars we’ll be hoping to see as we’ll look for other nocturnal species such as roding (displaying) Woodcock, owls and bats whilst we wait. Last year’s walks also enjoyed good views of Curlew, Cuckoo, Tree Pipit, Swift and Roe Deer too!
Saturday 15th June 2024 – Bats in the City!
Grey Wagtail can be encountered all year round (picture: Joanne Thomas, May 2022)
An easy stroll along the Derwent in Derby looking for its crepuscular urban species. Starting near the Cathedral, where we’ll check in on the breeding Peregrines, we’ll then head upriver through the wonderful Darley Park as far as the Darley Abbey Mills looking for the bird species that call the park home as well as keeping our eye on the water for such brilliant species as Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail and Goosander along with Swifts and Hirundines feeding over the water. Our return walk will see us concentrate on the Bat species that feed and roost in the area and, with the help of our trusty bat detector and thermal scope, we may find up to five species with Noctule, Common & Soprano Pipistrelle, Whiskered/Brandts and Daubentons all recorded previously.
