Bird List

You may think there are very few birds to be seen in your garden or in and around the village these days. You are right that both the number and the variety of birds are decreasing at a worrying rate, due to pollution, disturbance, climate change, and perhaps to increasing numbers of predators including cats, hawks and magpies.

However you would be surprised how many can be seen at various times of the year and in various habitats. We are especially lucky to have sand martins, dippers, and mandarin ducks which all make the River Derwent their home, and also to have the moors and edges within a short walk.

In total there are 90 birds listed here.

By the river (13)

• Little Grebe (also called Dabchick)

• Cormorant

• Mandarin Duck (and right overhead in spring when looking for nesting holes)

• Tufted Duck

• Goosander

• Moorhen

• Coot

• Kingfisher (here but hard to see, just a blue flash!)

• Grey Wagtail (despite its name, the yellow belly is often obvious)

• Dipper (try the weir above the Old Bridge)

• Redpoll

• Oystercatcher (recent addition in Chatsworth Park)

• Little Egret (ditto)

Overhead (16)

• Grey Heron (or in your garden if you have a goldfish pond)

• Mute Swan

• Pink-footed Goose (in skeins/ v formation high overhead October to April)

• Greylag Goose

• Canada Goose (now split into lots of similar species)

• Teal

• Red Kite

• Common Buzzard

• Goshawk

• Peregrine Falcon

• Kestrel

• Curlew (can count if you only hear it)

• Woodcock (rare and declining , at dusk in April /June, used to be common, now mainly winter visitor and harder to see)

• Black-headed Gull (also on river)

• Lesser Black-backed Gull

• Rose Ringed Parakeet (now breeds in Sheffield, always noisy)