Our Nature Highlights of 2023
This year has produced some wonderful wildlife sightings many of which we have enjoyed sharing with our lovely clients – here is a short blog about our personal top five from2023:
Magical Mountain Hares
Early Spring saw us run a program of guided walks in the Dark Peak to look for our wonderful population of Mountain Hare whilst they sported their iconic white winter coats – the Hares didn’t disappoint either! In total we ran five guided walks and Mountain Hares were seen well on all of them, with an average of 4.8 animals per walk and generally excellent scope views for all our guests. But it wasn’t just the Hares we enjoyed – Red Grouse were ever present and hugely entertaining. Kestrel, Raven and Skylark all put in regular appearances. Golden Plover and Curlew, returning to the high tops, treated us to some fantastic views in our later walks along with early returning Wheatear, but the big surprise was fabulous views of a stunning Ermine (a Stoat that turns white in winter) hunting just a few metres from our delighted guests. A first for all of us!
Redstarts Galore!
Always a favourite of both myself and our clients, those stunning migrant Common Redstarts seem to have enjoyed a bumper 2023. Our walks in the White Peak in May and June often encountered c20 singing males as well as obtaining great views of both sexes. Redstarts have also been a highlight of our spring and summer outings at the fantastic High Leas Farm with a reliable territorial male around the farm buildings providing brilliant views. Away from the Peak a singing male even spent a few days in May holding territory on my local patch at Locko Park – a first site record and in the running for my personal bird of the year!
Nightjars
They might have been a new seasonal outing for us this year but our Nightjar watching evenings in the Matlock forest area were nothing short of sensational at times and will definitely be figuring in our 2024 program. We ran three well attended evenings in June and early July (including a free event for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust staff) and enjoyed numerous ‘churring’ birds and wing-clapping displays from the males, as well as great views of male and female birds flying within a few metres of us (not to mention dropping in to land on the path just feet away!). Add to that great views of roding Woodcock, singing Tree Pipits, territorial Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a noisy Cuckoo these evenings were simply a joy.
Eagles on Arran
The Isle of Arran (in the Firth of Clyde) is somewhere I have wanted to visit for several years and we finally got the opportunity in early October. Staying in Lochranza in the mountainous northern half of the island we seemingly timed our trip to perfection. The Red Deer rut was in full swing (with numerous deer around the area giving great views and Stags roaring away day & night) and Red Squirrels were busy gathering and caching food in the wooded areas around the village. The coast held winter plumaged Black Guillemots and Black Throated Divers along with Red Breasted Merganser, a good variety of waders and a brilliant Otter encounter whilst the moorland further south held a beautiful male Hen Harrier. But it was the Golden Eagles that stole the show! Arran is rightly famed as one of the best places to see this species and it didn’t disappoint with birds seen on several occasions and the final full day producing fantastic views of three separate birds – an adult quartering the ridges of stunning Glen Rosa, a sub-adult harassed by a Raven viewed from the convenience of the distillery car park and a further adult soaring above the ridge just behind our cabin – wow!
Waxwing Winter
Every year birders in the UK play the game of will it or wont it be a Waxwing winter? And finally the winter of 2023/24 is producing the goods and looks like being the best winter for this species for over a decade. In Derbyshire Waxwings have been recorded in Chesterfield, Glossop, Matlock, Ilkeston with over 200 birds frequenting the Hawthorns along the Monsal Trail at Hassop Station near Bakewell. My first Waxwings for several years were a pair of stunning birds feeding on berries at the classic Waxwing-esque location of Ripley Leisure Centre in early December and I’m writing this after a Boxing Day excursion to Ilkeston which produced just a single bird – but what a stunner! None have ventured into Derby yet but I’m hoping I will get some local birds on my 2024 list!