Bearded Vulture in the Peak District

Real thrill for you both I'm sure, well done on the pics Hazy, you can't mistake those huge wings. You can get your head down now to catch up on your missed sleep!!

gaynorsl said:

You can get your head down now to catch up on your missed sleep!!

lol  Thanks Gaynor,     I wish I could but have a few appointments to arrange and items out of long term storage delivery in two weeks and a decorator coming tomorrow and plumber next week to put radiators back on wall  -   today was the only day free to go out    !!      even had to decline an invite with the three of the new residents to go for a meal in the local town tomorrow - getting too old for all this full on activity - I never needed a diary until I moved in here     ha ha  !   

Well done, Hazel. Definitely worth the trip to see a bird that is such a rarity in this country. Even hard cropped you can definitely see what it is.

Thanks Tony, we were really glad we saw this unusual bird and it wasn't that far for us to travel, despite a road closure and post-code v sat-nav confusion. We left it a while as I believe when this bird was first spotted in June there were hundreds of twitchers there as it's normally a "football crowd" when a new bird turns up lol Today there was a max at any one stage of 30 people so we were all able to keep our social distance without problem ! much of the time there were about half that many people so no problems if anyone wants to take pot luck and see this vulture. It usually turns up in that area every day and Cutthroat Bridge (where there is a good amount of parking in the huge layby) is a good place to see it. Today the bird was opting for the Bamford to Ladybower Reservoir route ! When you see it, even distantly, you immediately know it is a huge bird as it soars over the hills. Will be interesting to see if this bird stays long term but in a way there is always a tinge of sadness that a bird is out of its natural area and is without its own kind.

I hate that date :( 'bout time there was a stop to all this ridiculous and senseless killing; remember seeing all the pheasant carcasses near LM brought back in a landrover - whole load of them, was such a sad sight :(

gaynorsl said:

Go for it Hazy, you won't get the chance too often I should think, you too Mike.

Though a 3 hr drive each way for me, it is tempting, weather permitting.

Hazel, avoid Fairholmes, it'll be a nightmare parking, I'm sure Alan will vouch for that.

Unknown said:

Apologies for not getting you decent pics of this amazing bird but if it hangs around for a while we might try again at a later date.      The crowds were only numbering around 30 max so it is a better time to go now. 

I'm with everyone else, there's nowt wrong with those photos.

We all know how difficult it can be getting a photo, so take a well earned pat on the back.

We actually drove up one side of Ladybower and got to Fairholmes just after 7,15 am - it wasn't bad for parking with plenty of space and when we headed back to Cutthroat Bridge the huge layby had tons of parking until around 10am when lots of walkers/hikers arrived and by the time we got back to the car before noon there wasn't a space to be seen and they were parked up both sides of the crescent shaped layby ! We got up at 5am and headed out before 6am so if you decide to go I'd get there early; the vulture was seen about 4 times whilst I was there, we first saw it around 8,30'ish - seems a long time ago now lol

Impressive...

Glad you got to see it after making the effort, even at a distance. I don't know if I'll try for it.