If you are a birdwatcher like me, or even if you aren’t, it’s hard not to be impressed by raptors – our birds of prey.

Seeing them on the fist of a falconer at a summer show is probably your only chance to ‘get up close and personal’ with them but the sight of one flying wild will have a far more enduring impact. Even now, sixty years later, I recall the very first time I saw a hobby and the thrill that coursed through my veins! It was sitting in the top of an old oak tree on a lovely September day in Longleat Park in Wiltshire, my ‘local patch’ as a rookie birder and long before any lions or giraffe’s arrived. Five years later, I spend a year working in Tanzania where raptors, from tiny falcons to massive vultures were commonplace….what a delight to see so many!

While you may recall that we enjoyed the sight of a truly wild bearded vulture in the county a few years ago, the two species you are most likely to see in Derbyshire  are the sparrowhawk (in your garden) and the common buzzard circling overhead when out walking.
 

A kestrel, hovering over a motorway verge or above a hillside may also be a species you will encounter. The extraordinary way their heads remain motionless while their wings beat furiously is a remarkable sight. And now of course, we have a new species here – the red kite. With its deeply forked red tail and large size, this newcomer, absent from the county as a breeding bird for over 150 years, is now breeding here once more. Indeed I was lucky enough to monitor the first nest in 2018 which just happened to be just ‘down the road’ from home at Kedleston Park near Derby. These majestic birds can now be seen roaming about anywhere in the county though there are still only a handful of nesting pairs.

Up on the moors, kestrels and buzzards are the species any walker is most likely to see. Both hover, a characteristic which distinguishes them immediately from the much (much) rarer sight of a hen harrier, a peregrine, a goshawk or even a tiny merlin. Hen harriers are quite wonderful birds. The males are grey while the females’ brown plumage blends so well with the heather they fly over that they can be very hard to pick out.

Given the amount of suitable moorland habitat in the Peak District, there should be ten pairs of harriers nesting there. Instead, this year there were none and in previous years maybe only a single pair. Why? Purely because of illegal persecution by the ‘grouse industry’ -  something that continues unabated despite the many efforts to prevent it.

Away from the moors, peregrines nest reasonably successfully on old quarry faces and indeed right in the centre of Derby, Belper and Chesterfield. This year over 50 peregrine chicks fledged despite eggs and chicks being robbed at a few sites to be sold abroad. Along with my friend, Nick Moyes, I was instrumental in getting a nesting platform installed on Derby Cathedral in 2006. This has been used for successful nesting every year since bar one. Over 40 young peregrines have been raised during that time.
Four million hits to the webcams and project blog from around the globe vouch for the addictive habit of web cam watching as the birds go through their breeding cycle. Check back on the project’s blog to see copious photos and to read about these famous birds if you haven’t done so already – www.bit.ly/derbyblog 

Just now, most raptors are moulting their feathers and keeping low profile. Only the very late-breeding hobby is still busy feeding its young. This small falcon commandeers old crow nests usually in isolated trees on farmland so they can be very hard to locate as I know to my cost! Your best chance of seeing a hobby is to head to our Willington Wetlands or Carr Vale reserves on a sunny late summer day and hope to see one catching dragonflies. Hobbies have white faces and ‘red trousers’ – the feathering on their legs. True summer visitors, they will all be gone by October, heading south for their wintering grounds in Central Africa. Ospreys will also be passing over the county now, on their way down to West Africa but seeing one is more a matter of luck than anything else. Meanwhile our resident raptors will be here over winter so I hope you encounter some sooner or later and feel the thrill!

In this county we now have nine species that have and (mostly do) breed annually:
A harrier (the hen harrier).
Two hawks (gos and sparrow)
Four falcons (merlin, kestrel, hobby and peregrine)

One kite (red) and
One buzzard (the common)

In additions, several species pass through the county or visit for short periods including ospreys, marsh harriers and even the very occasional eagle (golden and white tailed). Some like the buzzard and the hobby are doing well, having increased their numbers. Others like the hen harrier are struggling due entirely to illegal persecution. You can read more about raptor persecution here.