Wembury, October 26th 2016

It has been a very busy and stressful time at work - my 83 year old father-in-law ended up in hospital after falling over and breaking his leg and my sister-in-law has had her stem cell transplant on my unit resulting in me feeling very tired and emotional and in need of a wildlife fix and so I headed off to Wembury on October 22nd for a contemplative walk.

It was grey and dull but mild when I arrived off the bus at Wembury and my first stop was the toilet block where I actually found some moths - a bloodvein, a garden carpet, 10 rusty dot pearls and 2 feathered ranunculus.

 Feathered Ranunculus - one of my favourite moths

Rusty Dot Pearl

I constantly checked the undergrowth for small birds along my walk but only found the usual birds - robins (lots!), blackbirds, song thrushes, wrens, dunnocks, blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, goldcrests and a coal tit - but unfortunately no yellow browed warblers in what has been a bumper autumn for them.

On the rocks along the shore were a curlew and 3 little egrets with the oystercatchers while along the beach with the ripits and mipits were a few pied wagtails and a grey wagtail. Offshore gannets were flying around and 2 1st winter black headed gulls were coasting up and down the shoreline. It was strange to hear 3 male cirl buntings singing - a male near the horsefields before being chased off by a nearby pair and a male with an attendant female at The Point while a second male was heard nearby.

A few plants were still in flower in what has generally been a mild October - honeysuckle, bramble, toadflax, violets, red campion, etc.

 Honeysuckle

Violet Sp.

Overhead a buzzard, 2 kestrels, woodpigeons, skylarks and meadow pipits were seen and heard but there didn't seem to be any direct migration with birds moving in all directions. The antics of 2 ravens tumbling together kept me amused for a while with the stunning coastal backdrop behind them.

 Raven with Penlee, Cornwall in the background

 Raven

Ravens

I met David at The Point and we headed over to the cafe at Jennycliff for a breakfast bap and a slice of cake before heading home to veg out in front of the TV with 2 bottles of red wine - and by the time I went up to bed I felt a lot better after a chilled out and enjoyable day.