Oak Woodlands

One of the VERY best habitats IMHO, especially on a glorious crisp, clear sunny morning, as was Wednesday. I was up at "stupid o'clock" (4am) which enabled me to take Budster a good walk before departure. A Blackcap was already in full song as I opened the front door.

I was heading down Snakey just after 4.30. Plenty of Wildlife evidence with Deer, Hare and various Bird species evident.

I'd arranged to meet Haydn at Howden at 6 for a Greggs breakfast. We both arrived 10 minutes early before enjoying a Latte and Bacon Roll. Thoroughly recommended!

He jumped in the flying wedge and we headed for the Peak District. I'd decided to try and bypass Sheffield by using the M1 rather than M18 and this strategy worked well. A combination of eBird and Google Maps found us at Wyming Brook car park just after 7.30. We were still in Yorkshire... just!

We both agreed we were VERY much looking forward to this.It had been several Years since we had heard our Target Bird sing.

We sorted ourselves out and headed North into the Wood. As we had never been here before we tried the right hand path. It dropped down to the stream, which was stunning but noisy so we decided to scramble up to the higher path. This was much wider, flatter and obviously quieter.

Following this path (VERY handy) we reached an area where Conifers started to appear (as mentioned on the eBird report). Sure enough we started to hear our Target Bird. The next hour or so was bliss as we enjoyed the bird constantly singing in a small territory at low level. Simply brilliant!

The bird was in view almost constantly remaining faithful to a small area which was thankfully just above the track. It was VERY vocal. It never gave itself away completely and we did not pursue it being content to view it from the path as it dodged in and out of the shadows...

After having our fill we strolled back to the car reflecting on how long it had been since we'd heard this special bird in song. Quite a few years! A big bonus was when I spotted this young Tawny Owl enjoying the early morning sun on an extended branch over the Gorge...

Scruffily Cute!

Several Nuthatches were also enjoyed. 

Time to move on to Site 2... namely Padley Gorge. It was only a 20 minute drive "over the tops" into Derbyshire. On entering the Gorge the very first bird we saw was this fabulous Dipper, another quality addition to the Year List...

Ringed

We walked further through this amazing Woodland...

Click for full effect

Haydn's hearing is much better than mine, and helped locate our first Pied Flycatcher...

There were a decent number scattered through the Wood no doubt due to the Nest Boxes. He then heard a Redstart. We reached the area and could still hear it high in the canopy. Haydn got a glimpse but despite giving it a good hour we never got a good view. He then heard a Tree Pipit (glad I brought him lol!) and sure enough as we reached the Moorland, we saw a bird singing from a tall isolated tree. We could both hear Green Woodpecker on several occasions but no views. 

It was approaching Midday and we headed back to the car, satisfied with our haul. There are worse places to spend a late May morning. The undoubted Star of the show was this little fella though...