With a break in the recent (but much needed) rain, we headed out to the Goyt valley. We are planning to go here later in the month but with a lot of the hides still closed at reserves this seemed like a good option for a bit of exercise. When we go with the birding group we always seem to think we are too early or too late for our target birds; making two visits might help us get a handle on what we are doing wrong – or right.
We parked up at the usual at park at the end of the reservoir and soon got talking to a young chap who had parked at the car park further up the reservoir and he said he had already seen Tree Pipit and Redstart and Common Sandpiper and Ringed Plover so we felt hopeful of a good morning. As it happens, we did not see anything on the water or the shore other than Cormorant, Canada Geese and Lesser Black-backed Gull. But we did have some luck in the surrounding woodlands.
As ever, there were lots of calling Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs and plenty of Tits but we also got huge numbers of Pied Flycatchers. It is hard to say how many given that they may have been covering territory as we slowly walked down the road , down the hill to the river and up again to the main road but I am sure I saw eight including at one pair – it may even have been more. Usually Pied Flycatchers are harder to see than Spotted Flycatchers but it was the opposite today. I may have seen a Spotted but it flew off so quick I could not be 100% certain.
On our way down to the river we got a pair of Treecreepers and a Song Thrush but no Dipper awaited us. There were a lot of dog walkers around sitting at the nice spots as their dogs ran riot in the water so the chances of a Dipper there were minimal. We got back up the steps to the main road just as it started to rain heavily – as hailstones! It didn’t last too long so we headed back down the road and up the sloping path to the high path that runs parallel with the main road. There wasn’t much there until we got to the end of the path.
At the end, however, we got some Meadow Pipits and a distinctively different Pipit – a Tree Pipit. We didn’t actually see it fly, it was just foraging around in the lumpy grassland between the path and the stand of trees on the left but it was distinctively patterned and coloured. As if by magic, just as we had given up hope, a single Redstart appeared on a tree between us and the main road. We looked downhill at it flying from branch to branch and got good views. Someone we met said he thought it was a bit early for Spotted Flycatchers so perhaps when we return we will see more of them.
We dropped down to the car park and headed off for the cat and fiddle. We stopped at the toilets down the end of the road on the way there and were literally “relieved” that they were open. Lots of public toilets have been closed during the pandemic so if there isn’t a pub around, you are a bit hard pressed.
Driving on we got Grey Heron and Swallow on the moor. When we stopped at the Cat and Fiddle we were very pleased to find that it was open. I had read that, after a long period of closure, it had been renovated and that they had a stand selling snacks in the car park. I was a bit fancier than that though. They can’t open pub bit to the public until the 17th of June (I think that is when indoor pubs can open) but they did have what can only be described as a bit of a gift shop for food and drink and they also sold pork pies, cakes and teas and coffees. This was all indoors and they had done a great job with the décor. They even had new toilets which were open but we didn’t need them. There was supposed to be an outdoor seating area but we couldn’t find it easily and it was blowing a gale so we sat in the car with our tea and Bakewell Tart. You can read more about the renovation of the Cat and Fiddle here.
After our tea, we headed off to Danebower Quarry to look for Ring Ouzel but it was a bit cold and windy and there wasn’t a lot of bird action. We saw a Marsh (it might have been Hen) Harrier having a scrap with a Kestrel and a Curlew flew over. Other that that it was a single Stonechat, a single Wheatear and a few Meadow Pipits.
It was getting late and cold so we headed back home. Happily, we had actually got a few of the target birds we also go there for and we can have the pleasure of going there with the birding group again. This will probably be the first meeting of the birding group since the pandemic started! Perhaps we can also get Spotted Flycathcer, Dipper and RIng Ouzel there as well
Bird Sightings : Goyt Valley 6th May 2021
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Canada Goose | 6 |
| Mallard | 4 |
| Common Pheasant | 1 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 2 |
| Great Cormorant | 2 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Coal Tit | 1 |
| Eurasian Blue Tit | 3 |
| Great Tit | 1 |
| Barn Swallow | 2 |
| Willow Warbler | 4 |
| Common Chiffchaff | 1 |
| Eurasian Treecreeper | 2 |
| Song Thrush | 1 |
| European Robin | 1 |
| European Pied Flycatcher | 8 |
| Common Redstart | 1 |
| Meadow Pipit | 2 |
| Tree Pipit | 1 |
Bird Sightings : Danebower Quarry 6th May 2021
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Eurasian Curlew | 1 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Eurasian Marsh Harrier | 1 |
| Eurasian Kestrel | 1 |
| Eurasian Jackdaw | 4 |
| Carrion Crow | 5 |
| Barn Swallow | 1 |
| European Stonechat | 1 |
| Northern Wheatear | 1 |
| Meadow Pipit | 4 |