Wednesday 6 June 2012

Wembury - 27th May 2012 and 2nd June 2012

A walk along the coast at Wembury on the 27th May in the sunshine (after the sea mist had cleared!) was quite productive with 2 whimbrel and a winter plumaged bar-tailed godwit with oystercatchers along the beach indicating wader passage was still ongoing. A male cirl bunting showed very well and chiffchaffs and whitethroats were busily singing away.

Moth wise the toilet block held a common marbled carpet, a mullein wave and a green carpet. I found another lackey moth caterpillar nest different to the one I saw on the 15th May and Depressia daucella moth caterpillars were feeding on the dropwort but in much lower numbers than seen last year.

Mullein Wave


Depressia Daucella caterpillar on Dropwort


Lackey Moth caterpillar nest

A smart male common blue was on the wing, my first of the year, along with speckled wood and a single wall.

Male Common Blue



Wall

A repeat walk on the 2nd June in the sunshine and a dunlin was disturbed by walkers along the beach with the oystercatchers. A yellowhammer was singing near the sewage farm and a cirl bunting was also heard nearby. 2 adult ravens were feeding 3 very noisey fledglings in the field above the sheep field and single adult gannets were seen offshore.

Moth wise the toilet block held a silver-ground carpet, a common swift and a riband wave and the Daucell depressia caterpillars were still feeding on the dropwort. My first six-spot burnet moth of the year was on the wing and I found a caterpillar feeding on Birds Foot Trefoil.

Riband Wave


Silver Ground Carpet


Common Swift - male




Six-Spot Burnet Moth caterpillar

A large skipper was seen, another first for the year, along with false oil beetles, bloody nosed beetles, speckled wood and a male common blue.

Large Skipper

In the valley to the beach ragged robin and yellow flag iris was flowering and I found some thyme-leaved speedwell, a new species for me.

And so two nice walks at Wembury with not much excitement on the bird front but with some nice sightings of other wildlife to compensate.

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