Ospreys and Marsh Harriers are almost annual with a number of records for the spring months and other raptors noted have included Black Kite, Red Kite and Honey Buzzard.

April sees the arrival of most of the expected summer visitors with Yellow Wagtails a daily feature, and these are joined by migrant White Wagtails, Wheatears and Whinchats and the occasional Scandinavian Rock Pipit and Blue-headed Wagtail.

The reserve has a good population of breeding birds, particularly wildfowl with Mallard, Gadwall (up to eight pairs making the site the county stronghold for this species as a breeding species), Tufted Duck and Ruddy Duck (up to six broods) all breed annually.

A pair of Mute Swans and several pairs of Canada Geese add to the array of waterbirds to be expected during the breeding season; 27 species of wader have been recorded here & in 2005 Oystercatchers bred here for the first time in North-east Derbyshire.

August and September are good months for migrant Marsh Harriers and Ospreys, and Hobbies often put on a good display as they feed over the pools on dragonflies. Lapwing and Golden Plover start to appear and September usually produces reasonable numbers of Snipe, but by the end of the month the emphasis changes and the main activity at the site becomes visible migration.

The site is worth a visit at anytime of the year although March-May and July-early November are likely to enhance the visitor’s chance of seeing something special, but whatever time of the year people choose to visit they should bear in mind that for most of the time they will be looking south or west and therefore to avoid glare from the sun and poor light a morning visit is recommended.

I saw herons and my first ever sighting of a black swan during my visit – and the following day 115 migrating Whooper Swans flew over Carr Vale, a record number for the county, and this is what makes the place so special.

This article has been brought to you by our resident peak district writerTom Bates