With a bit of a heatwave going on at the moment I had the mothbox out in the back yard overnight on June 30th and in the morning I had a nice catch of moths, 16 species, with the highlights being a barred yellow and 2 coronets.
Barred Yellow
Coronet
Heart and Club
I had been woken up by thunder, I had originally thought it was the delivery lorry for the Tesco across the road, and I had to quickly sort out the box before the rain fell. I also had to keep an eye on the 2 adult herring gulls flying around and making loads of noise as they protect the young bird still residing on the flat roof. At least the young bird is growing quickly now, its wings are noticeably getting longer and it is flapping them regularly to build up muscle.
Despite the thunder and rain and the grey sky I still headed off to Aish Tor for a butterfly walk. I have wanted to return to Aish Tor after our visit a few weeks ago and so I caught the bus to Ashburton and then a taxi to the Tor about 4 miles away, a little decadent but well worth it, and I arrived at the Tor at just after 10am.
It was hot and humid and still despite the lack of sunshine and within a minute of arriving a fritillary flew by. A short time later and a second one flew by before I found a third one resting on the bracken with its wings open - a high brown fritillary at last! I managed to get a few rubbish photos before it flew off but I was very pleased to have finally seen one.
My first High Brown Fritillary!
And so the sightings continued but it was all a bit frustrating. The fritillaries were either belting across the bracken and difficult to see any detail on or mostly fluttering low over the ground between the bracken stems where they were difficult to keep track of or observe easily. They would settle on the ground or bracken stems or bramble flowers but only for a few seconds before flying off again. I managed to ID some as high brown and some as dark green but most were unconfirmed on the views I had as frustratingly most settled too briefly with their wings open, nice to see but unclinchable without a view of their underwings. I did get a few decent-ish photos but it was hard work to get them. Despite my photo frustrations they were lovely butterflies to look at and observe and they came in a variety of conditions - some were very smart and brightly coloured but many were a little faded and worn - and there was some slight variation in markings.
High Brown Fritillary
High Brown Fritillary
High Brown Fritillary
High Brown Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary
I also had a tantalisingly brief view of a silver washed fritillary - it was noticeably larger when seen in flight chasing after the other fritillaries - but I only managed a crappy record shot when it settled on the bracken briefly before quickly flying off.
Silver Washed Fritillary
Also seen were 3 faded green hairstreaks, small heath, meadow brown, small tortoiseshell and ringlet. Lots of brown silver line moths were flitting about amongst the bracken and I also found a smart yellow shell moth.
I couldn't find the Dartford warblers but stonechats were noticeable perched on the gorse bushes including quite a few fledglings. A green woodpecker flew over and a great spotted woodpecker was heard in the line of trees at the base of the Tor. Yellowhammer, whitethroat and chiffchaff were singing and swallows and house martins flew overhead.
Meadow Pipit
Meadow Pipit
The taxi arrived as booked at 3pm to take me back to Ashburton for the bus home to Plymouth and the time had just flown by. I was glad the sun didn't shine as it would have been unpleasently hot but I might have gotten some better underwing shots of the fritillaries if it had. It had been nice to chat to the butterfliers I met while wandering around - they are just as "quirky" as birders so I guess that makes me doubly "quirky" - and it was also nice not to have to watch my footing due to dog poo like I had to do at Upton Towans. It was also good to see volunteers with the Devon Wildlife Trust cutting back the bracken to keep the habitat ideal for the fritillaries and I take my hat off to them for doing excellent work in the hot and humid conditions.
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