A quick update with what's around today. Dippers seen at both Chew Brook and on the main Dove Stone reservoir.  From Binn Green good views of two Peregrines,  a Raven heard cronking and then seen flying over Alderman's Brow and  two Kestrel. Around the feeding station Treecreeper,  Nuthatch and Greenfinch as well as plenty of other regulars:  Blue, Great and Coal Tit and Chaffinch. Elsewhere around Dove Stone a Pereg…

A quick update with what was seen around Dove Stone at the weekend.  At Binn Green there was good activity at the feeding station with Coal,  Blue and Great Tit and Chaffinch as well as sightings of Siskin,  Greenfinch,  Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Wren and Great Spotted Woodpecker.  On Sunday a Sparrowhawk flew through the feeding zone. 

Elsewhere around Dove Stone there were two Ravens cronking in flight over Alphin heading towards…

Bird of the day for sure is the female Crossbill seen at Binn Green today.  Also up at Binn Green plenty of Siskin to be seen plus good numbers of regulars Chaffinch, Blue,  Great and Coal Tit.  Also seen today at Binn Green two Great Spotted Woodpecker , Mistle Thrush and Treecreeper.  Elsewhere around Dove Stone two Dippers at the far end of Greenfield reservoir and also Raven heard calling.  So,  taken with yesterday's sightings…

A photo of the Long Eared Owl today - thanks to Ken for the shot - fantastic stuff.

A quick update with news of a Long Eared Owl seen this afternoon by one of our wardens  - good stuff.  Also seen today amongst the regular sightings have been Redpoll up at Binn Green,  a Peregrine on the ledge at Dove Stone rocks and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker observed caching peanuts. Also an addition to yesterdays sightings with a Common Snipe and four Golden Plover seen up on the tops.  More soon...

So we're into a new year of birding.  Aside from the enjoyment of watching birds seen on a regular basis at Dove Stone,  a few of the birding highlights of 2012 at Dove Stone have been a Red Kite at Dove Stone rocks,  sightings of Osprey through the Chew Valley,  Whooper Swans on Dove Stone res,  the arrival of Cuckoo heard calling from Chew Piece,  Kingfisher at  Chew Brook,  breeding Redstarts,  Crossbills at Binn Green as…

...Good sighting from Mandy today at Dove Stone with two Peregrines flying well above a 40+ group of Pink Footed Geese before one of the Peregrines flying into the group and isolating a single Pink Foot before deciding that it was a bit of a non-starter by the sounds of things - bit big for a Peregrine?! Other sightings around and about Dove Stone recently have been 3 Ravens,  a second large group of Pink Footed geese

Good day at Dove Stone,  here's what's been seen today. From Ashway Gap good sightings of both male and female Peregrines today. Also from Ashway Gap Goldcrest,  Dipper, three Stonechats ( two adults and first year male ),  Raven and Meadow Pipit. Around Yeoman Hay and Greenfield Res sightings of  two Grey Herons,  two Dipper and Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail plus Red Grouse ( seen but not heard ).  On the trail between…

A quick update on what's been around so far this weekend.  Up at Binn Green yesterday there were Goldfinch,  Greenfinch,  Siskin,   Jay, Treecreeper,  Raven, Coal Tit, Blue TIt,  Great Tit,  Long Tailed TIt,  Wren,  Mistle Thrush and a juvenile Sparrowhawk which did a good fly through the feeding area,  taking with it a Coal Tit.   

Over on the main,  Dove Stone reservoir we've had our second group of Whooper Swans,  last time…

Great to see a group of 30 Whooper swans on the main Dove Stone reservoir yesterday. Short but sweet; they were gone by mid morning.  We'll keep you posted wth any more sightings of Whoopers coming through.  And of course we’re all looking out for Waxwings...

Quick sighting update for today with a bat seen this afternoon whilst it was still quite light off Banks Lane.  It's about this time of year when bats will be increasingly going into torpor with some going into hibernation this month and certainly doing so in December.  We're not sure what species but probability makes it likely to be a Common Pipistrelle.

Elsewhere around Dove Stone this week sightings of Peregrine…

Time for a round-up from the Dove Stone wardens and conservation volunteers team.   This month it's paths,  blanket bog restoration and seed collecting and planting. 

' We continued work on a blanket bog restoration site south of Chew reservoir using heather bales cut and flown out to new parts of the site during the first week. We've made great progress as the new bales haven't been out in the rain for long and so are…

A quick update with some of this week's sightings.  Starting with Binn Green,  Siskin,  Lesser Redpoll,  Greenfinch,  Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue TIt, plenty of Chaffinches and a single Brambling.  Also sightings of Jay, Mistle Thrush and Great Spotted Woodpecker. Over at the main car park this week we've seen more Redwings and some small groups of Starlings.  Out on the main res there's been a large number of Black Headed…

Today's update of a few sightings around and about. A group of 9 Redwing flew over the main car park this afternoon. Bradbury Lane off Banks Lane has a couple of rows of mature trees which is always a good place to look out for Redwing in the tops, as are the fields next to the car park for Fieldfare. We're often at the top of the main car park here with scopes to take a closer look at what's around as well as the…

Buzzard,  Kestrel,  Sparrowhawk,  Peregrine,  Osprey and Red Kite.  Just a few of the birds of prey that have been recorded at and around Dove Stone.  The persecution of birds of prey is still going on;  last year in  Lancashire the RSPB received 36 reports of incidents relating to birds of prey and in Yorkshire in 2011 there were cases of Buzzards shot and poisoned as well as poisoned Red Kite.  And these are just the confirmed incidences…

A quick update with some recent sightings at Dove Stone.  This morning in the field above Dove Stone reservoir 'plughole' ( it's actually a bell jar overflow but plughole's a much better name ! ) good views of a Kestrel hunting. 

In the trees bordering this field there were also two Jays. Further along this path,  sightings of Goldcrest and Wren. Moving up to Binn Green, on the feeders there are plenty…

A post from Becks who joined us recently to take a look at what's about on the tops at Dove Stone.  Big thank you to Becks for this really interesting info on Bryophytes.

' Whilst doing some survey work near Chew reservoir at Dove Stone recently it was a delight to behold the health and abundance of some of the Bryophytes, (mosses and liverworts), out on the moors. A particularly common sight was the liverwort

Time for a monthly update on some of what Dove Stone's wardens and volunteer crew have been up to over the last few weeks.  Thanks go to John for keeping us up to date with this.

' another day on the bog restoration site south of Chew reservoir.  We drove up to Chew reservoir and then had a forty minute walk across the open moor to get to the work site. We installed some bales where possible, but as last week…

A quick update of what's around and about.  Starting with Chew Brook and up to Chew Res we've recent sightings of Grey Wagtail and a juvenile Dipper.  Lots of Meadow Pipits around as well as a few Wrens.  Up on the moor tops we've had sightings of three Ravens and Red Grouse, including a group of eight.  Also worth looking out for Kestrel and Peregrine which are about.  Recent sightings too of Wheatear.

Around 

Time for an update with some news of recent sightings around and about Dove Stone.  Up at Binn Green plenty going on with regular sightings of  Bullfinch, Siskin,  Greenfinch,  Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker,  Jay and  Coal Tit as well as Crossbills earlier in the week.  Recent reports of both a Hobby and a Marsh Harrier in neighbouring areas;  basically you never know what you're going to see here.  Now is also a good…

It’s hard to imagine given today’s wind and rain, but yesterday was a glorious day at Dove Stone and I took the opportunity (whilst litter picking!) to take some photos of the wildlife along the side of Yeoman Hey.  I specifically wanted to find some amazing little caterpillars that I’d seen the week before– black and orange striped ones that were feeding on Ragwort plants. They are in fact the larvae of the…

Part of how the RSPB team at Dove Stone get their kicks is through involving people in the wildlife and environment here.  The community,  youth and education work we deliver is part of our Access to Nature project which is funded by the National Lottery.  Dove Stone isn't unique amongst RSPB reserves for delivering community and education work that's funded by the National Lottery.  Take RSPB's Saltholme reserve, 

Our BioBlitz has finally arrived and today is all about finding, identifying and recording as much wildlife as we can at Dove Stone.  And if we can record much more than the 400 species we recorded last year that will be really good. We want to show just how much biodiversity there is at Dove Stone.

So,  we've been building up to today's BioBlitz with a top-10 countdown of species at Dove Stone.  Here's the list…

BioBlitz is almost here and the top-10 wildlife countdown continues with Mountain Hare (Lepus timidus)

Mountain Hare is an iconic species at Dove Stone.  One of the reasons for this is that the northern Peak District,  Saddleworth and Derbyshire moors are the  few places outside of Scotland where you can watch Mountain Hares and Dove Stone has a significant population.  It’s likely that Mountain Hare you see in this…

Onto the top-3 then in Dove Stone's wildlife countdown to Saturday's BioBlitz.  So far in the top-10 we've taken a closer look at butterflies,  birds,  sedges,  moss,  fungi, bumblebees & bats.  It's time to talk trees,  and in particular to take a look at one of our native deciduous species,  Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) also known as White Birch or Hairy Birch.  This is a widespread tree,  distributed across…