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8 Oct
8:31am, 8 Oct 2024
5,637 posts
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J2R
Dipper-di-doo-dah! Yesterday was the most dipper-tastic day ever. We went for a walk/run along a section of the Monsal Trail in the Peaks then came back along the riverside path in the gorge of the Wye at Chee Dale. Over a distance of no more than 1.5 miles, I saw 9 dippers! Can't be certain that they were actually 9 distinct ones, as they do have a habit of flying along the river and relocating, but at the very least there must have been 6 or more. What is more, I got close up views of them, and, for the first time in my life, heard them and watched them singing. Long full song, quite song thrush like in the repetition of short phrases. Amazing! While I was watching one, a kingfisher whistled and flew by, and in a few spots there were grey wagtails dancing around. Magical!
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8 Oct
9:00am, 8 Oct 2024
68,223 posts
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Derby Tup
Ace. Love a dipper walk in the Peak
Red breasted merganser this morning
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8 Oct
9:25am, 8 Oct 2024
5,638 posts
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J2R
I wonder what it was that made that stretch of the River Wye so ideal for dippers. Clear, fast-flowing water, with plenty of rocks and stones to perch on, so good in that respect, but it must also have been full of whatever it is that they eat.
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8 Oct
12:24pm, 8 Oct 2024
68,225 posts
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Derby Tup
Caddis
Three eider and a wheatear
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8 Oct
1:37pm, 8 Oct 2024
5,639 posts
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J2R
Ah, yes, DT, I remember that now. As regards your eider, ooooh! (as they say).
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8 Oct
2:07pm, 8 Oct 2024
4,605 posts
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jacdaw
... and almost all other freshwater invertebrates; mostly larvae.
That used to be a very clean stretch of river. I'm fairly sure there were native crayfish in there back in the eighties (when I was a student of such things).
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8 Oct
2:21pm, 8 Oct 2024
34,506 posts
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HellsBells
Flamingos!
In the lagoon in Venice. I wasn't expecting them when I looked out of the top of the bell tower to see the view!
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8 Oct
2:24pm, 8 Oct 2024
5,640 posts
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J2R
It looked very clean yesterday, jacdaw. A lot of it seems to come from springs at the sides of the gorge, water just gushing out of the rocks. My initial assumption was that this meant the water would necessarily be clean, but I'm wondering about my rationale for this. In limestone country, presumably a polluted stream could disappear down a swallow hole and then re-emerge just as polluted a couple of miles away, could it not? There's no reason to assume it's been filtered in any way?
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8 Oct
2:25pm, 8 Oct 2024
6,637 posts
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paulcook
Wow. Had no idea flamingos were native to Europe (albeit a small extent) until then.
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8 Oct
2:32pm, 8 Oct 2024
5,641 posts
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J2R
Me too, paulcook. Similarly the other day I found out, to my great surprise, that there are native European porcupines (in Sicily and some places in mainland Italy).
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Bird song watch
Jul 2024
