Goyt Valley and Dane Bower Quarry 21 May 2019

One of the birding group visits I look forward to most each year is our visit to the Goyt Valley looking for Redstart, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers and Tree Pipits. We usually also go to the nearby Dane Bower Quarry to look for Ring Ouzels and Wheatear. Were we going to be lucky this year?

The answer was a resounding yes. As soon as we parked up we could hear Willow Warblers and as we walked up the road we came across a Spotted Flycatcher and then two or three Redstarts, all males. In one of the nestboxes we observed a male and a female Pied Flycatcher come and go; it seems that they already have young to feed.<
A little further up the road and we could see to our right a single Tree Pipit. As it happened, that was the only Tree Pipit we saw which was very surprising as, last year, they had been quite numerous. Be that as it may, within a hour we had our target birds nailed. These were Canada Geese on the water and a pair of Mandarin Ducks glided along the river near the opening to the reservoir.

Before we had reached the reservoir we had ticked of Ravens and a Kestrel but here we saw more. We walked down to the river but didn’t see Grey Wagtail or DIpper which would have made for a complete set of good birds for the patch. On the upper path we added Treecreeper and a pair of mating Mistle Thrushes.

After we left the car park we stopped at the lay-by where we have seen Dippers before but to no avail this time. Instead of lingering we headed off for Dane Bower Quarry. On our way there I got a quick view of a Red Grouse and, when we got to the quarry, we instantly got a male and a female Ring Ouzel standing on top of a dry-stone wall. We observed them for some time and by following them as they collected worms we were able to deduce that they were actually nesting in the old ruined square building attached the main dry-stone wall that runs from the road down to the stream at the bottom. This is no more, now, than a square of stones attached to the wall and of the same height but it seemed that there was a nest in there. Previously we have seen them take food to the rubble in the quarry but this time it was much easier to see.

We did also get a single Wheatear but this is odd because we have been there before when the whole area is covered with them.

In all we managed to get seven year ticks, Mandarin Duck, Red Grouse, Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Pipit, Common Redstart and Ring Ouzel. Not a bad haul for a morning and one of the reasons that, at the right time of year, this is one of my very favourite birding group destinations.

Bird Sightings Goyt Valley and Dane Bower Quarry 21st May 2019