This trip was rescheduled at the last minute from the Wednesday to the Thursday which sadly meant that a number of folks couldn’t go. However, it did prove to be a good move because the weather on Thursday was excellent.
Two members who had signed up for Wednesday and couldn’t change, nonetheless, braved the weather and did see all that we’d hoped for minus any raptors but the rain started at 11:00!
The trip – while waiting in the car park for all to assemble, we saw a number of different
Someone’s taking Ring Ouzels too seriously
species including a close view of what was for some, the season’s first Willow Warbler. After we set off up Jarvis Clough, it was immediately apparent that we’d had an extremely wet winter with even the normally dry parts very muddy. However, the day’s fine weather with a fair breeze did bring out the raptors with sightings of first a Red Kite, then a Buzzard and Kestrel and finally a Peregrine flew overhead and all that in the first 15 minutes.
At the head of Jarvis Clough, a pair of Ring Ouzels were spotted (a lifer for one of us) although at 300 metres, they didn’t look very big even in the scope. From there, the group made its way towards Stanage Edge, entertained by the evocative sounds of the many Curlews, the occasional Red Grouse and plenty of Meadow Pipits.
-
- Ring Ouzel
-
- Male Ring Ouzel
-
- Male Wheatear
-
- Meadow Pipit
-
- That guy with the camera had to be dragged away
-
- Male Red Grouse
The early start brought on the lunch stop before midday, sitting on convenient gritstone boulders just below the Edge. As is often the case, staying still for a while allows you to see more than if you’re continuously on the move, and so it was; with Ring Ouzels, Wheatears and Meadow Pipits popping up all around us. In addition, we were further entertained by the appearance of 5 Ravens and a Red Kite being remorselessly harassed by crows. And as the icing on the cake, a Peregrine circled overhead giving members neck ache for a couple of minutes.
At the end of the trip, one of the party popped over to the moor on the north side of the A57 and saw a Ring Ouzel in the side valley a couple of hundred metres up the track and also heard a Snipe ‘chipping’.
Summary – 7 members saw 29 species – an excellent trip!
Photos thanks to Dave Griffin and Martin Kaye.