June Wildlife Sightings - Part 1

With the arrival of June the weather finally improved and it became warm and sunny, perfect timing as this is the time of year birding takes a back seat and insects and plants become more of a focus.

June 2nd and I headed off to Wembury for a walk in the sunshine wearing my shorts at last. Best birds were 2 female type wheatears feeding together on the beach near the sewage pipe, either late migrants or failed breeders. Another nice find was a red legged partridge feeding out in the open in the field above the horsefield, a bird I have only seen a few times at Wembury before.

Red-Legged Partridge



With the good weather insects were more noticeable and I saw my first green hairstreak of the year along with a false oil beetle and bloody nosed beetle larva. The toilet block held a new for Wembury scalloped hazel and I found a few Depressia daucella caterpillars feeding on the dropwort flower heads.

 Bloody Nosed Beetle Larva

 False Oil Beetle

 Scalloped Hazel

 Depressia daucella Caterpillars in Dropwort flowers

 Green Hairstreak

 Green Hairstreak

 Green Shield Bug

Enoplops scapha?

 Ladybird Larva

Pyrochroa serraticornis?

 Scorpion Fly

 Miner Bee?

On the way home I stopped off at Blagdons Meadow by the River Plym and found both purple and white forms of Early purple orchids along with a few Southern marsh orchids, all looking a little floppy in the very dry soil conditions.

 Early Purple Orchid -Purple Form

 Early Purple Orchid - White Form

 Southern Marsh Orchid

 Southern Marsh Orchid

Yellow Rattle, Blagdons Meadow



Burnet companion moths were easily disturbed from the vegetation and I saw my first common blue butterflys of the year along with a green veined white. I also found a very nice treble bar moth on the wall of a nearby subway.

 Burnet Companion

 Green Veined White

Green Veined White

Treble Bar



A further red legged partridge sighting was on a walk at Stoke Point on the 7th June along with a peregrine and a yellowhammer, and I had my first small copper sighting of the year at Cawsands in Cornwall on the 8th June.

A day trip to the caravan at Bude on the 9th June and there were no moths in the toilet blocks. A male wigeon was a strange sighting feeding at Maer Lake with mallards, actually upending in the water rather than grazing on the land and 2 summer plumaged dunlins were feeding on the muddy margins of the lake. A surprise was a singing lesser whitehtroat in the hedgerow by the road overlooking the lake but it kept within the leafy cover and I didn't manage a sighting. A young hare was another surprise as it fed out in the open on the grass right in front of the caravan late in the evening - it virtually disappeared as I approached it as it crouched down amongst a tuft of vegetation before running off.

Young Hare, Bude



With the good weather I have had the moth box out in the back yard and caught a new for the garden but sadly rather faded least black arches. Also of note were a treble bar and a poplar hawk moth.

Poplar Hawk Moth



My mates Mavis and Mike also held another moth night in the garden at Dousland on the 14th and I managed to see 2 new species in the trap, a broken barred carpet and a barred umber.

 Broken Barred Carpet

Barred Umber

 Iron Prominent

Common Marbled Carpet



After sorting out the moth trap at Mavis and Mikes house we headed off for a walk on Dartmoor and saw 2 cuckoos, a pair of redstarts, a garden warbler singing away in a leafy tree giving brief views only, a songflighting redpoll, a pair of whinchats and songflighting tree pipits along with sundew and heath spotted orchids.

 Male Whinchat

 Heath Spotted Orchid

 Sundew

Siskins, Dousland

 Cotton Grass

Lousewort



June 15th and I headed off to Weymouth for the day with Mavis on a coach trip organised by the Plymouth RSPB group. It was a long day with only 4(!) hours in Weymouth and 8(!) hours travelling but it was a very nice and chilled out day with some spectacular scenery on the drive between Honiton and Weymouth, and I got to see Maiden Castle too.

First stop was at Ferrybridges where a walk along the pebbly Chesil Beach in very strong winds gave some nice views of little terns nesting in a fenced off protected area and flying overhead. We walked to the top of the ridge of the beach where we were nearly blown away with the wind but it was beautifully exhilarating being blasted by wind and salt spray in the bright sunshine with the crashing waves against the beach. It was strange to see the little terns fishing amongst the wind and waves, managing to dive for fish despite their diminutive size.

Second stop was at the RSPB reserve at Radipole Lake in the centre of Weymouth. Bearded tits had been sighted that morning despite the wind and we were in luck with a sighting of a male bearded tit pinging away at the reed tops while 3 juveniles skulked in the reeds nearby before disappearing from sight as the male flew off. Mavis found a very nice female marsh harrier hunting over the reedbeds, it had a very pale crown and face, quite distinctive, and it gave some good views as it came quite close to the hide. Other birds included a female gadwall with 10 ducklings, a little egret, reed warblers heard singing but not seen and quite a few swift hawking over the reedbeds and open water areas.

 Male Bearded Tit

 Male Bearded Tit

 Male Tufted Duck, Radipole Lake

Feral Mallards, Radipole Lake



Southern marsh orchids were in flower along with a couple of bee orchids which were surprisingly easily overlooked right by the footpath. A nettle tap moth was seen flitting around some nettles and a male common blue was also seen.

 Bee Orchid

Southern Marsh Orchid