The news late on Sunday of a Dusky Thrush in the small village of Beeley, Derbyshire was kept a little hush hush until access etc could be arranged. A minor invasion of the village on Monday afternoon followed and the bird was seen by all who went to see this Siberian gem. Could I resist going to see it even though I had already seen one down in Margate a few years ago? The weather forecast in the area was for fog with not much wind to blow it away. I said to myself, if its there on Tuesday I will go for it
I woke up to the news that the bird was still present (its supposedly been in the area for 2 weeks) I grabbed my gear and set of on the 54 mile journey. Clogged up motorways, roadworks, bad visibility on the Snake Pass and finally, a huge steel structure stuck in the middle of a tiny village made the journey quite forgettable, but around 11-00am I reached the pleasant village of Beeley which is situated right next to Chatsworth House.
The bird was still present and had been showing really well 5 minutes before I arrived (bloody traffic). I joined about 12 people on a small school playing field and looked towards the trees in an orchard that the Dusky Thrush was usually seen in. The crowd gradually grew to around a 100 or so birders as we all waited for the bird to show. Redwing, Song Thrush, Robin, Dunnock and various tits kept us on our toes as they all flew in and fed on the berries etc. At 2-10pm a bird flew into the trees, it was the Dusky Thrush! The bird was on show in the trees for about 5 minutes, it was in cracking plumage and it was probably an adult female. Due to the poor weather conditions I could not get any pictures of the bird. Set of for home and went back a different way to miss all the confusion. Might go again to see this beauty.
