Recent sightings

The 25th July saw us heading off for a walk around Stoke Point and lunch at The Ship Inn at Noss Mayo. It turned out quite sunny and we had a good walk but unfortunately no Dartford warblers were seen or heard again, I wonder if the 2 cold winters in a row we have had have wiped them out from this site.

Yellowhammers were much in evidence including a showy male singing. Cirl buntings were much more elusive with brief flight views only. 2 juvenile mistle thrush were seen with an adult feeding on the grassy clifftop near The Warren carpark. A bullfinch flew over calling and whitethroats were everywhere again. 

Butterflys (12 species) were everywhere again including a painted lady, commas, peacocks and holly blues but I didn't find any graylings. Mullein was seen but no mullein moth caterpillars. Autumn Squill was flowering on a bank near The Warren carpark. A Jersey tiger moth was seen flying around a garden near the Ship Inn in Noss Mayo.

Autumn Squill

Lunch at The Ship Inn was good as usual, David enjoyed his crab sandwich and we think there was a bit of a mix-up and David ended up not paying for lunch, not our fault but the dippy bar maids.

The 26th and we headed off to Cawsands for a day on the beach. Unfortunatley no marbled whites were seen in their usual field. Bullfinches were seen flying over including at least 2 smart males. Offshore a Sandwich tern was seen being followed by a noisey juvenile.

The 28th and we headed off to Wonwell beach where around 20 house martins hawked overhead and holly blues were seen along the hedgerows.

The moth box has been out in the back yard on quite a few nights as the weather has been so good with temperatures of around 14c at night and I have had quite a few nice moths including Jersey tigers, marbled greens, four spotted footmen and new for the garden ,dun-bar, again having only seen my first ones ever at Bude last week I have now caught them in the back-yard!

Dun-bar

Jersey Tiger Moth

Marbled Green

Four spotted footman - female