Clouded Yellow

A busy few days at work after an enjoyable but tiring visit from Mum and nephew Jack saw me tired and cranky by the time of my day off on Sunday August 14th. It was warm and sunny so we headed off to the caravan at Bude for the day to check the wheels and brakes prior to its imminent move later in the year.

Only one moth was found in the toilet block, what I think is a faded rivulet, and a large micromoth was flitting about in the awning, not sure of its ID as yet as I haven't bothered to look it up in my guide book. More interesting were 2 chamomile shark caterpillars feeding on the flowerheads of the Michelmas daisies at the back of the caravan, a new moth species for me.

 Chamomile Shark Caterpillar

Chamomile Shark

It was nice to see at least 3 speckled woods along the caravan hedgerow, I have seen very few of them this year, and I also had sightings of a small tortoiseshell, large whites, red admirals and a painted lady.

 Speckled Wood

Hoverfly Sp.

Nothing of note offshore except for a fulmar along the cliffs and 2 oystercatchers on the beach and Maer Lake was still full of water with no sign of any green- or wood sandpipers and the glossy ibis from last week had moved on. A black tailed godwit, 7 eclipse plumage/juvenile teal, 3 grey herons and 300+ noisy Canada geese (including quite a few juveniles) were seen along with a chiffchaff along the lane and gatekeeper butterflies.

I had the moth box out in the backyard on returning home but in the morning I only had a disappointing 8 moths in the trap, the highlights being a ruby tiger and a knot grass. More noteworthy from the previous few nights were an old lady moth flitting about the breakfast room before being released outside, a flyover oystercatcher heard calling in the dark and a hooting tawny owl heard in the nearby park.

 Ruby Tiger

Knot Grass

Plans for a day on the beach at Cawsands on Monday 15th August were scuppered when the ferry from The Barbican in Plymouth was cancelled due to the increasingly strong easterly wind and so we caught the ferry to Mountbatten and walked to Jennycliff beach instead. The view from the beach across The Sound is stunning but the beach itself is a little scruffy and rubbish strewn although it wasn't too bad on this visit. 2 Sandwich terns (an adult and juvenile) were flying around offshore making a lot of noise, and a kestrel patrolled the cliffs causing great consternation to the chiffchaffs, long tailed tits and goldfinch heard in the bushes.

A speckled wood, a small tortoiseshell, a comma, large whites, gatekeepers, red admirals and at least 2 painted ladies were seen but best of all was my first clouded yellow of the year on the walk back home which actually allowed a close approach for some decentish photos, not a bad end to the day before back to the grindstone and another busy week at work.

 Clouded Yellow

 Clouded Yellow

Clouded Yellow