Gales and rain for the August Bank Holiday, and it turned out to be an amazing day for seawatching in Devon, but I had to work - however I don't think it would have been much fun in the atrocious weather.
Tuedsay 28th August and we headed out to Hope Cove for a coast walk. It was warm and sunny and breezey but very pleasent. On getting out of the car at Hope Cove a big clump of Red Valerian had feeding on it a Meadow Brown, a Large White, 6 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Red Admiral and best of all, 2 Painted Ladies, only my second sighting of the year. Further along the coast path I saw more of the same and a further Painted Lady along with a Jersey Tiger Moth and a Rush Veneer, and a Sexton beetle (complete with mites) was chomping away on a dog turd on the footpath.
I had a look for the reported wood sandpiper at South Huish Marsh but only managed a brief sighting of a green sandpiper. A raven flew over with half a rabbit in its bill and a juvenile wheatear was perched on a fencepost. A common tern flew West along the coast and a juvenile guillemot looked a little moribund sat on the sea close to the beach. Around 70 dunlin were roosting on the beach where South Milton Ley enters the sea, being ridiculously close to the sun bathers on the beach ( the Thurlestone Bay bird website gave a final count of 86).
The toilet block at Thurlestone had some nice moths - 2 Magpie moths, a Brimstone moth, a Chinese Character, a Lime Speck Pug, 2 Bloodvein and what I think was a pale Flounced Rusic.
On the way home we stopped off at Aveton Gifford at the new South Efford nature reserve set up by the Devon Wildlife Trust to look for a reported wood sandpiper but I failed to see it (again) but I did hear one giving its distinctive flight call. 2 Egyptian geese were with some Canada geese and 9 little egrets were seen along with a flyover stock dove.
Unfortunately the photos I took for the day are lost as when I got home I realised I had lost my camera, I had the camera bag but the clasp was open so I don't know if I had put the camera down somewhere and forgot to pick it up or it fell out of the bag while walking - ohh dear. I am more f'd off at losing the memory card and the days images than anything else and now I will have to buy a new camera. We did head back to Thurlestone to have a look for it but with no luck, at least my photos are all on the laptop except that days snaps. And I had failed to see a wood sandpiper twice!
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