Dartford Warbler at Pride Park

On 24th January 2005 Nick Moyes from Derby Museum, visited The Sanctuary at Pride Park, Derby as part of a survey to look for Harvest Mice. At around 11am he found an unfamiliar bird, which he thought might be a Dartford Warbler. The following day the identification of the bird was confirmed by Barry Staley, and excellent arrangements were quickly made by Nick for parking and viewing the bird. The bird is quite mobile around the site and can be elusive at times especially in bad weather. Up to four Stonechats (photo 5) have also been present at the site and the Dartford Warbler has often been seen following one or other of them around as they often do on their breeding grounds further south.

19/02/2005 19/02/2005 19/02/2005
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The only previous occurence in Derbyshire was of a pair shot on Melbourne Common during the winter of 1840.

The Sanctuary is a new nature reserve built on contaminated land, which has already attracted many interesting birds, including a Curlew Sandpiper on the small lake there recently. The entire nature reserve is fenced off and there is no actual access inside, but good views of most of the area can be had by viewing through the fence, please do not attempt to enter the reserve. At the moment work is being carried out in order to install viewing platforms and recently habitat for Little Ringed Plovers has been created and a Tern raft installed. The reserve also has its own excellent website which gives further details of the background, as well as how to find the reserve, and can be viewed via the link below.

The Sanctuary, Pride Park

Once again, thanks again to Nick for finding the bird and making the excellent arrangements enabling many people to enjoy this excellent bird.

19/02/2005 Stonechat 02/02/2005
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References
The Birds of Derbyshire R.A. Frost (1978)

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