Osprey and Whinchats

The August Bank Holiday weekend duly arrived and the weather was dry and sunny, perfect for our nephew Camerons wedding to Nieve on Saturday 23rd August at Rumleigh Farm in the Tamar Valley near Bere Alston. An overnight stay at the Wetherspoons in Tavistock and taxis to and from the Farm were all booked and off we headed to enjoy the celebrations. Being a very rural location and right by the River Tamar I hoped there would be some wildlife to enjoy amongst the festivities and indeed I had an interesting time.

I felt a little sorry for a nest of Swallows, it was just inside the entrance to the toilets with the bright lights and the noise from the live band keeping them awake until gone Midnight. They were a few days off fledging with adult feathering but still sporting yellow lined gapes.

Small Bats were flying around the farm buildings, probably Pipistrelles, and down by the river Bats were seen feeding over the water at dusk, presumably Daubenton's. I could hear Teal, Mallard and Common Sandpipers down by the river too as dusk turned to night along with the hootings of at least 4 Tawny Owls in the trees nearby and I also had to rescue a young Goat that had gotten its head stuck through a wire fence, a good grasp on its horns and some gentle manoeuvring soon had it freed and returning to the flock.

I had the moth box out in the back yard on Sunday 24th August and the next morning found 5 Box Tree Moths in the trap, 4 light forms and 1 dark. I'm not sure if I'll catch any next year as the topiary Box Trees in the nearby park have been totally decimated by their caterpillars. 

Box Tree Moth - white and melanic forms

Box Topiary in the nearby Park - or rather what's left of it

Box Topiary - totally defoliated

There were only 2 Large Yellow Underwing in the trap (where are they all this year?) along with a single Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing and also of note were a Marbled Green, 2 Mullein Wave, a very worn Maidens Blush and a Eudonia pallida plus quite a few Wasps.

Oak Eggar (male) - caught by David on the allotment

After sorting out the trap I caught the bus out to Marsh Mills for an early morning walk around Saltram, high tide was around 8am and with it being Bank Holiday Monday and a sunny day I was keen to get out and back before the hordes arrived. Blaxton Meadow was back to being a lake with water still streaming in through the sluice gates when I arrived there and the only small waders I found were 2 Common Sandpipers and a Dunlin. The usual Redshanks were roosting along the back wall and also present were 30 Curlew, 3 Oystercatcher, a Whimbrel, 8 Greenshank and a Black-tailed Godwit. The juvenile Great Crested Grebe was still present too and looking much more at home on the large expanse of water and a Kingfisher and 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls were also seen.

Blaxton Meadow becoming Blaxton Lake

I headed onwards to Chelson Meadow to look for Whinchats, noting a very active Spotted Flycatcher around the dipping pond along the way. The Meadow seemed very quiet at first with a Skylark and a Whitethroat the only birds of note until I picked up an Osprey flying over carrying a fish and very likely the same bird I saw last Friday. It was heading in the direction of Stag Lodge and I watched it in the hope it would land in a tree where I could get a good look at it but it kept going and I lost sight of it.

Chelson Meadow - not for much longer as solar farm construction very likely to be starting soon

With more scanning of the Meadow I eventually found 2 Whinchats out in the long grass along with at least 4 Stonechat (1 male), they were all very mobile and difficult to track as they seemed to just disappear before reappearing elsewhere but I was pleased to finally see my first Whinchat of 2025. I also found my first Plym Small Copper of the year and again there were quite a few Clouded Yellows flitting about which I gave up counting in the end. A Roe Deer and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth were also seen here before it was time to return home to escape the heat and the building crowds.

I headed out to Wembury on the 7am bus the next morning (Tuesday 26th August), it was cooler and breezy following a little overnight rain and I wished I had put on a jumper before leaving the house. The sun soon got going though and it became warm and humid and a jumper was no longer required.

Wembury

It was coming up to high tide and the breeze was whipping up the waves which were surging up the beach, the Gulls were loving it as they fed in the surf but the Oystercatchers and Little Egrets trying to roost along the beach weren't so keen. A Curlew, a Whimbrel and 6 Turnstone were also present along with the usual Mediterranean Gulls, none of which were sporting any leg rings. 

Whimbrel and Black-headed Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Little Egret

With The Plym throwing up some good birding in the past week I was hoping for Wembury to do the same but it was fairly quiet on my walk with the highlights being 3 Wheatear on the rocks below the horse field, 5 Swallows over heading west, a Moorhen heard at the farm ponds, Whitethroats flitting about in the bushes and a Sandwich Tern flying west offshore.

There were good numbers of Small Copper flitting about, they seem to have suddenly had a good emergence, and also seen were Common Blue, Meadow Brown, Large White, Speckled Wood, Small White, Red Admiral, a Peacock, a Painted Lady and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth. A male Beautiful Demoiselle was resting by the stream in the valley to the beach  and 3 Rabbit were feeding in the horse field.

Peacock

Small Copper

Yellow Wagtails, Ospreys and a Yellow-legged Gull

I headed out to Exmouth for the day on Wednesday 20th August and kept my fingers crossed that the usual curse of Exmouth wouldn't strike again. I caught the 9:15am train with a return ticket costing just £9.75 with my railcard, any earlier train than this one would have cost an extortionate £28.20(!) but it did mean I didn't arrive in Exmouth until around 11:20am, later than I would have liked but never mind.

On arriving off the train I had a quick scan of the Exe from the nearby carpark but there was no sign of any Ospreys on the low tide and so I continued on my walk to Orcombe Point to look for Yellow Wagtails.

I checked out the fields containing herds of Cows along Gore Lane and eventually found 2 Yellow Wagtails but they were distant and often obscured by vegetation around the Cows feet. I did get some nice views through my scope though before they were spooked by something and took to the air along with the Linnets and Goldfinch also present, 2 Yellow Wagtails became 4 or possibly 5 in the melee and it was lovely to hear their flight calls as they flew overhead. They returned to the field for a short time before being spooked again and I watched 3 of them flying off high to the east, never to return, and I don't know where the other 1 or 2 went either.

There wasn't much else around at Orcombe Point with a Green Woodpecker, a Whitethroat, 3 Swift, Swallows and a Chiffchaff seen before I headed back to Exmouth for a look at The Exe on the incoming tide.

I had a scan of the river from the car park by the train station again and had a very distant view of an Osprey perched on a pole way upriver on the opposite side towards Topsham so I walked along the riverside path to get a little bit closer. I stopped off at a viewing area where 2 other birders were already present and rescanned the estuary, the Osprey had gone but shortly after I picked up 2 Ospreys circling high over Exminster Marshes before they drifed off towards Haldon. Eventually they reappeared and flew downriver towards Lympstone where 1 of them briefly perched up on a pole before they both flew upriver again and I lost track of them. 

A Little Tern was picked up by one of the other birders as it flew around over the water before heading upriver while small groups of Common Terns were also seen purposefully flying upriver on the incoming tide. Greenshank, Redshank, Whimbrel, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, a Common Sandpiper, a Bar-tailed Godwit and a Knot where seen out on the mudflats while 5 Wigeon amongst the feeding Mallard were an early taste of the winter to come. There were plenty of Little Egrets about too but a surprise was a Great White Egret flying high and west over Starcross, again picked up by one of the other birders.

I returned to Exmouth and had a quick look for the regular Yellow-legged Gull that is often present around the recycling centre and now in its 5th calendar year plumage. Initially there was no sign of it but eventually I found it and had some nice views but it was a swine to try and photograph.

Yellow-legged and Herring Gulls 

Yellow-legged Gull 

 

It had been a very productive and interesting visit (4 year ticks!), Exmouth behaved itself again and I was pleased to catch up with the Yellow Wagtails and Ospreys, hopefully I'll see some more of them in the next few weeks and this time maybe a bit closer to home.

We had a walk around Stoke Point on Thursday 21st August, it was overcast to begin with but the skies eventually cleared and it became quite warm in the sunshine. It was quiet on the wildlife front but the highlight was a juvenile Dartford Warbler associating with some Stonechats, my first one here for quite a few years now (I think it was 10 years ago I saw my last one here). Other sightings of note were 2 Kestrel, 2 Wheatear, a Clouded Yellow, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, Autumn Squill and good numbers of both Small and Large Whites.

Autumn Squill

Large and Small White, Small Tortoiseshell

With the weather forecast set fair for Friday 22nd August I planned to catch the 6:30am bus again and revisit Wembury for the early morning high tide. Unfortunately I had forgotten about my opticians appointment that morning so didn't get out to Wembury until 11:45am on the low tide but never mind.

On arriving it was hot and sunny and there were butterflies everywhere, I eventually gave up counting the Clouded Yellows as they were flitting back and forth over the fields and I was probably double counting them, it's certainly been famine and then feast with them this year. Again there were Small and Large Whites everywhere too and 2 male Beautiful Demoiselles and a Golden-ringed Dragonfly were seen in the valley to the beach.

Clouded Yellow

Small White

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

I headed out to The Point to look for a Spotted Flycatcher reported yesterday, I passed local birder Graham who had just seen 2 of them there so I kept my fingers crossed. I eventually found them both and had some nice views along with a bonus sighting of a juvenile Firecrest.

Spotted Flycatcher

Along the beach I found 3 Dunlin and 3 Ringed Plover despite the low tide, the usual Oystercatchers and Mediterranean Gulls were present too but best of all was a very smart looking juvenile Common Gull, a plumage phase I rarely see.

Juvenile Common Gull

With a Little Stint having been found on The Plym the previous day and with it still being present that morning I decided to catch the bus home from Wembury, collect my telescope and tripod and head out to Blaxton Meadow for a look about on the incoming tide. 

On arriving at the viewing bench I had a scan around and eventually found the Little Stint feeding on its own, I had some nice scope views of what is only my second Plym sighting of one before it went to sleep as the water levels on the Meadow rose.

Also out on the Meadow were Curlews and Redshanks, 2 Whimbrels, a Common Sandpiper, 7 Dunlin, 8 Greenshank, 4 Ringed Plover, 3 Oystercatcher and a juvenile Black-tailed Godwit. A surprise find was a female Shoveler out on the water and the juvenile Great Crested Grebe was still present too.

Ringed Plover

I had been joined at the bench by local birders Sam and David and when everything suddenly took to the air eagle-eyed Sam quickly found the cause of all the commotion with an Osprey flying over the river picked out amongst the melee of birds. We watched it make an unsuccessful dive for a fish but second time around it caught one and headed off into Saltram Park to eat it's meal, a great end to the day.