Peak birding

We've just come back from a very enjoyable (if at times, damp) weekend in the Peak District. Yesterday started well, as I lay awake at 3.30am cursing a punctured airbed, when a Quail started singing from the field next to our campsite at Mandale Farm, just west of Over Haddon, near Bakewell. It sang for at least half-an-hour or so, but I didn't hear it again; possibly because we invested in a new airbed and I got a much better night's sleep last night!

We spent most of saturday on a walk up Padley Gorge, then doing a loop round across the moors up to Upper Burbage Bridge. The woods at Padley produced several Pied Flycatchers, most easily at the top near the gate, whilst a female Whinchat was next to the path on the open section up to the road. On the moors, we didn't see several expected/hoped for species (Red Grouse, Ring Ouzel), but had several more Whinchats including a singing male below Fiddler's Elbow and another audible from Duke's Drive just south of Upper Burbage Bridge. 

Today we had a short walk up Cressbrook Dale. The dale is a fantastic site with some superb calcareous grassland, yellow with rock-rose in places and littered with fragrant orchids in others. Best bird-wise were several Redstarts, including at least 3 males and a couple of juveniles. The rest of the day was spent at Amy's uncle and aunt's farm near Bakewell, seeing another pair of Redstarts on their drive and then finishing the day with a visit to some excellent flowery pasture that they graze near Coombs Dale.

Coombs Dale in the Peak District