Red footed falcon.

 While i was on Mull I was reading reports about sightings of red footed falcons in the Lower Derwent  Valley. My friend Stu had been and had seen 2!. Would they stay until I got home?

Bright and early on Monday morning I drove to North Duffield Carrs and joined Stuart Rapson in the hide.

We spoke about the holidays we had both been on as we watched the birds on the reserve.

In front of the hide whitethroats were busy

I think that smart looking reed buntings deserve a better song! A deer walked past the hide.

We had the briefest of views of a red footed falcon on the other side of the River Derwent, so decided to walk along the riverbank for a closer view. We parked in the car park just over Bubwith Bridge and walked along the riverbank. When we reached the gate Chris Gomersall and Ian Howard were there watching the falcon. Ian had been on Mull last week and has posted some great photos on Mull Nature Watch on Facebook.

Looking across the river onto the reserve.

For some strange reason I had not taken my scope with me, so I was grateful to the three of them for allowing me to view the falcon through their scopes.

Stuart ( @ivoryg.bsky.social) used his scope to take a piture of the falcon as it perched on a post.

Another year tick and some consolation for missing out on corncrake on Mull.