[SA Chris]

Fantastic Tim. Used to see them around Aberdeen City Centre, but don't work there anymore.

[tlr]

Cheers Chris, it’s been an amazing winter for them. The bird in the last picture was ringed in Aberdeen according to its rings.

[SA Chris]

It's often their first port of call apparently.

[SamT]

Fantastic 

We've been enjoying watching a couple of blackbirds munch their way through the red berries on a bush in our garden. 
 
They must have eaten hundreds and hundreds between them.  I sat counting the other day and it ate 20 one after the other then flew off. I'm suprised it could fly.  Then it wasn't long before it was back. Nom Nom Nom.

[Stabbsy]

Saw my first Peak District red kite yesterday - over Holden Clough on the way down the Snake towards Glossop. Don’t have a feel for how common they are down here, but definitely not as common as near Harewood.

[JamieG]

That’s exactly where we thought we saw one a couple years ago. Nice spot!

[sxrxg]

Saw a male mandarin duck today in the local park. Not sure how rare they are in the UK, very colourful and pretty bird.

[Dolly]

Saw my first Peak District red kite yesterday - over Holden Clough on the way down the Snake towards Glossop. Don’t have a feel for how common they are down here, but definitely not as common as near Harewood.

Nice. Not that common. Lagers and I saw a pair a few weeks ago at Stanage

[SamT]

Yeah, I saw one drifting along Stanage a couple of weeks ago too. Probably the same one. Sharing the air with a kestrel, a buzzard and a paraglider  .  Never seen one in the Peak before that.

Swifts and swallows been around for a couple of weeks now.  Lovely close up of a black cap in the cemetery near us too.

[lagerstarfish]

Saw a male mandarin duck today in the local park. Not sure how rare they are in the UK, very colourful and pretty bird.

There is a small breeding population on the river Sheaf (Sheffield). The males can often be seen in the river near Heeley Baths. The females and young hide in the less accessable areas

[Johnny Brown]

Heaps of Mandarins in the Porter valley. I've also seen them in the limestone dales.

Red kites are still only occasional in the Peak as far as I know, I see one in April or May most years but I also witnessed one being shot over Upperwood House in the Chew. Might be a while before they get established...

[cofe]

Had a kite over the garden in S10 the other day.

[SamT]

[fatneck]

Couple of random updates:

General - despite seeing my earliest Swallow ever this year, it feels like its been a slow on the Hirundine front generally. And Swift numbers locally are definitely down.

North Wales at the weekend near Llangollen - Cuckoo's aplenty, Crossbills in the woods at Llandegla, Red Kite overhead and 8 Mandarin on the Dee at Llangollen.

Crete early May - absolutely fantastic weeks' birding on a non-birding holiday! I went with low expectations (wanted to see a Vulture and a Bee-eater) and came back with an extensive list of incredible new birds, highlights of which included:

• Griffon Vulture
• Bee-Eater
• Red-Footed Falcon
• Eleonora's Falcon
• Squacco Heron
• Woodchat Shrike
• Blue Rock Thrush
• Red-Rumped Swallow
• Crag Martin
• Wood Sandpiper

One of the completely unexpected highlights was the Nightjars churring in the trees above the hotel every night. The first night I was convinced an air conditioning unit was faulty!! Magical!!

[SamT]

Oh - forgot to say..

Magnificent views of the Short eared owl quarting over the moor at stanage pop carpark. flew right past us, beautifully lit by the evening sunshine.

Also a stone chat there too. 

[SA Chris]

Peregrine over Bellamore Crag near Ballater when climbing up there yesterday. If I was a peregrine I'd live there, views of upper Deeside are just stunning

[sdm]

Red kites and buzzards are now a common sight around the Southern Peak near Birchover / Matlock / Wirksworth. If you look up to the sky from my parents' garden in Wirksworth, you are more likely to see one than not.

I don't expect it'll be long before they spread to the rest of the Peak.

[teestub]

I’d be interested in how fast red kites spread, as the spread away from the Harewood hordes in Yorkshire seems to have been v slow. They are common over Otley, Caley, the cliff etc. now, but I’ve only seen them 2 or 3 times in Airedale. I had wondered whether the large estate present between the two might be the cause, or whether they just spread quite slowly.

[SamT]

Seen one regularly over the Dee nr Corwen over the last couple of years, but noticably absent on my last couple of visits over the last couple of months this year.   

Hell of a lot of (pheasant) shooting goes on round here so maybe its been had  .

Omnipresent buzzards still about though.

[Johnny Brown]

We had another holiday on the Broads last week, if you're into wildlife I'd highly recommend it.

Highlights: Cranes (heard more than seen, inc woken up by reveille, but were seen), Bittern very close (gripping views while I drove the boat in circles as quietly as I could but the solar panel blew overboard in the melee), Otters (two swimming right past as I cooked tea), Swallowtail (brief but at last!), Osprey, Marsh Harriers everywhere, Norfolk Hawkers everywhere, Scarce Chaser, Muntjac etc.

[kelvin]

I can't post a picture on here sadly but we currently have black bees coming to visit our salvia plant outside the boat.
All black, zero yellow anywhere and quite hairy.
A neighbour has been in touch with a bee society, as they are supposed to be quite rare.
Thought to be extinct until about 12 years ago when they were spotted in parts of East Anglia and North Wales, they are native to the UK.