New Walks & New Locations!
With Spring just around the corner we are really excited to offer three new group walks in March & April featuring two new fantastic locations that are great for wildlife.
Evening Brown Hare Walk – Saturday 18th March 2023
Join me for a stroll around a brilliant patch of arable farmland and pasture on the edge of Derby as we look for one of the areas most enigmatic species – the Brown Hare!
The well known phrase ‘as mad as a March hare’ is wholly appropriate as a March evening is one of the best times of year to go searching for these crepuscular mammals who’s breeding season is really getting underway. We’ll spend time watching the Hares emerge from cover and enjoy the sight of amorous males pursuing females across the fields. If their attentions are unwanted then we may be lucky enough to see some boxing! As the light goes you’ll get chance to use a thermal scope to see what else is out and about under the cover of darkness.
Its not just Hares that are the attraction here as we’ll be looking for farmland birds such as Yellowhammer, Grey Partridge, Kestrel and Lapwing and a visit to the nearby lake should find birds such as Teal, Mandarin, Grebes and possibly Oystercatcher. There is a good possibility that we may encounter Barn Owl, Little Owl and Fallow Deer as dusk falls.
This is the first of a series of evening/nocturnal walks targeting specific species with walks featuring Bats, Badgers, Owls and (hopefully) Nightjar to come!
Need to know
Price: £15 per person
Max group size: 6
Start: tbc, Duration: 2.5 – 3 hours, Walking/Terrain: Easy
Eastern Edges Circular – Sunday 2nd April 2023
A wonderful circular walk taking in three iconic edges – White Edge, Froggatt Edge & Curbar Edge.
Female Ring Ouzel with food. North Derbyshire 2021
We’ll start our walk along White Edge with its views out over Big Moor where we’ll be looking for classic moorland species such as Curlew, Red Grouse, Stonechat, Buzzard, Raven and Kestrel with Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Linnet all plentiful too. The Red Deer rut is a distant memory but the Deer are up here all year and we’ll keep an eye open for groups of hinds and bachelor groups of Stags. A warm, sunny morning might see us lucky enough to find a basking Adder too!
Dropping down through pasture and farmland with wetter areas we’ll be looking for more waders such as Lapwing and Snipe before we begin our walk along the well wooded Froggatt edge where we’ll be looking and listening out for classic woodland birds such as Chiffchaff, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll and maybe an early Willow Warbler
Emerging from the woods onto the more open and rugged Curbar edge we’ll get another chance to catch up with those moorland species as well as the chance of Peregrine hunting over the edge and recently arrived Swallows hawking insects. This may well now be the most southerly location for breeding Ring Ouzel with a pair present and seen well on occasions last year – they can be very elusive when the edge gets busier but you never know!
Need to know
Price: £20 per person
Max group size: 6
Start: tbc, Duration: c4 hours, Walking/Terrain: Moderate
Markeaton Stones and Mackworth Village – Sunday 9th April 2023
A wonderful and gentle stroll on the edge of Derby – though you would never guess it as this rural idyll feels a million miles away from the noise and bustle of the city!
Little Owl – our Markeaton walk offers a good chance to see this charismatic species
The first part of the walk takes us through some wonderful mixed farmland habitat that hold good numbers of breeding Skylark (who should be in full song) as well as other farmland species such as Lapwing, Yellowhammer and Linnet. The copses should hold arriving warblers such as Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler with the possibility of an early Whitethroat in the extensive mature hedgerows.
Skirting the wooded edge of Kedleston Park there is a good chance of raptors with Red Kite, Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk all regular at this time of year, we’ll then drop down through Lower Vicarwood Farm with its small population of red-listed Tree Sparrow and its breeding Little Owl. The fields and pastures here hold Yellow Wagtail later in the year and are a good place to look for any remaining Winter Thrushes feeding up on their way back North as well as Lapwing and Brown Hare.
The final section of the walk takes us through the village of Mackworth where we’ll be on the look out for early Spring butterflies such as Brimstones and Orange Tips as well as recently arrived Hirundines.
Need to know
Price: £15 per person
Max group size: 6
Start: tbc, Duration: c3 hours, Walking/Terrain: Easy to Moderate
