Wednesday, 8 July 2015

The Wrong Coloured Admiral

My original plan for a butterfly walk at Ashclyst Forest to look for white admirals went out of the window today as the weather was cool, breezey, cloudy and showery. Instead I had a quick walk this afternoon at Wembury where the sun eventually appeared amongst the clouds from around 4pm.

A very confiding red admiral was seen along with 2 large white, 1 large skipper, small skipper, meadow brown, ringlet and gatekeeper. Not a bad range of butterflies considering the weather.

Red Admiral

 Gatekeeper

 Small Skipper

Large Skipper

Bird wise it was quiet again but 2 juvenile black headed gulls resting on the rocks and a juvenile gannet offshore with adults were a sign that summer is here. Singing blackcap, chiffchaff, whitethroat and at least 2 cirl buntings indicated otherwise although a male blackcap was seen feeding a well developed fledgling. Also seen were 2 scruffy adult goldcrests feeding 5 noisey fledglings in the trees by the road leading down to the beach, 2 little egrets and a curlew with oystercatchers amongst the rocks as the tide receded, and a very nervous looking female pheasent running along the footpath at The Point.

 Common Carpet

Common Lizard

And so not the Admiral I had planned to see but a nice walk anyway.

And on a sad note I read today that 2 fin whales have been caught and killed and brought in to Reykjavik Harbour in Iceland - not a nice sight for those who have travelled to Iceland to go whale watching.

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