At half term we had a weeks’ holiday in Dunster, close to the Somerset coast and right on the edge of Exmoor.  It’s the first time we’ve been to this part of the country, but have absolutely fallen in love with the rolling, wooded landscape and will definitely return.  Surprisingly perhaps, we didn’t see an awful lot of birdlife while we were there, despite going out walking nearly every day.  Having said that, there were the amazing swallows swooping low over the corn fields to catch the flies, and high up in the sky a lone buzzard soaring on the thermals.   There were swifts way up there too, mobbing him and trying to drive him away.  Half way through the week, we walked up on the heathland where we heard skylarks singing high in the air, hoping to distract us from their nests on the ground.  We also saw lots of little streaked birds that I thought at first were skylarks, but decided when I referred to my trusty book, that they were more likely to be meadow pipits.  Further along the track, we heard some strange little noises coming from a clump of bushes.  We could see half a dozen or more little birds flitting to and fro, and as we got closer we could see they were whitethroats, unmistakable little warblers.  They weren’t shy and their constant calls meant we could locate them easily and were able to watch them for quite a while, to the slight annoyance of my two boys who were ready to move on!  Descending back to the village, the path runs through deciduous woodland.  We had been walking through the woods for a while, when we all heard the unmistakable call of a cuckoo, which continued on and off for around 20 minutes.  This is only the third time I’ve ever heard a cuckoo, and it was both wonderful and frustrating as I knew I had no chance of tracking it down!

  This year we decided to celebrate our wedding anniversary with a night away in Derbyshire, and started with an afternoon walking in Lathkill Dale.  Here the path runs alongside the River Lathkill  which during the spring is lively and fast flowing, but is less so in the middle of summer.  However, there was still plenty of water, and I was looking out for dippers where the water flowed over the rocks and weirs.  Sure enough we were lucky to see quite a few dippers, one of which was ringed, and also grey wagtails which like the same sort of environment.  We also saw two water voles on separate parts of the river, which was reassuring as they are now an endangered species.

  Amongst other birds, we were lucky enough to see a pair of spotted flycatchers, easily visible, springing up to catch flies from their perch on a dead tree.  We also counted around three pairs of blackcap warblers, one male singing in a bush.

  That evening in the garden of our guesthouse (see link – can’t recommend this highly enough!) we heard the call of a tawny owl – but only the male as it made the ‘twooo’ sound and not the ‘tewit’ which is more likely to be the female.

  The next day we parked the car at Mill Dale and walked alongside the river Dove.  We came across a mother teal and her five babies – prettier and more delicate than mallards.  Soaring high above, we saw a Sparrow hawk – similar in size to a Kestrel, but gliding with wings slightly drawn in and no hovering.  We did see a male kestrel further along the walk, gliding and hovering and returning to his favourite tree.   In a shady part of woodland, we saw a treecreeper exploring a tree trunk and rocky bank for insects.  Further along in the woods we came across a lot of little birds calling to each other, which turned out to be nuthatches scuttling up and down the trees like little mice.  I’ve seen quite a few nuthatches over the years, but never a large group like this.

  We had nearly finished our walk and sitting by the river were just discussing whether to go on for a few more minutes, or to head for home when we heard a strange squeaking call.  There were lots of little ducklings around and at first, with the sound distorted by the running water; we thought the calls were from them.  However, stepping out from under the trees we realised the noise was coming from the cliff face high above the path on the opposite bank.  It was quite easy to locate the source of the sound which came from a fairly large bird of prey sitting on its nest on the cliff edge.  We could see its dark grey back, and distinctive black ‘moustaches’.  Because of its striking appearance, location of nest and behaviour, we believe it was a peregrine falcon.  We watched it for around 20 minutes, but the bird didn’t leave its nest.  In the mid-day heat, no other birds were flying so there was nothing around for it to hunt. 

  When we returned home, I did a little research on the internet, just to make sure that peregrines are to be seen in the Peak District at this time of year, and came across this sad article which shows that they are.  The bird we saw was definitely a male, so I really hope that this poor bird was not his partner.

 

Next month, we’re off to Norfolk for our summer holiday.  We always see lots and lots of birds there so there should be a lot to report in my next update!

Till the next time, The Rutland Road Bird Blogger.