We've been following the summer travels of the young female Bearded Vulture as it has traveled across Europe, then the Channel Islands, before finally ending up in the Derbyshire Peak District. The last month has seen regular sightings in the valley north of Crowden, so we arrived at the car park at 7.30am full of anticipation...
Half an hour later we joined a dozen other birders looking at its empty roost spot wondering where it was... The cloud cover kept rising and falling but for the next hour there was no sign.
Solace was taken in the Ring Ouzels though, flying around. A noisy flock of about 20 birds flying south, was then added to by at least 10 more in the nearby Mountain Ash trees. Later on we saw another flock of 20... maybe the first flock again, maybe over 50 birds during the day? Whatever the number they were great to watch. A family of 5 Kestrel, Buzzard and Raven got the eye in for raptors and scavengers...
Then, at 9am, a joint call went out... There she was, circling high in the valley to the north. Wow, definitely worth the patience. What a beast! After about 5 minutes she headed further up valley, so Simon and I decided to lead the way and walk up the valley. Half an hour later we were near the hill top looking down into the valley when up she came again, this time below us. Beautiful. She then soared higher before eventually landing opposite us on a crag.
Our pictures don't really do her justice, there are much better ones out there. But in the binoculars she was fantastic to watch, that wingspan was outrageous!
As we started to descend a Merlin flashed through rapidly, as well as 8 Red Grouse. The Ring Ouzels continued to fly around as we returned past our first viewpoint.
Wherever she ends up as a category on the British bird list, who knows and who cares. What a wonderful bird to experience in the UK, and in a lovely Peak District valley. Brilliant 😀😀😀
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