Grenofen Woods and Wembury

Sunday 23rd April and after a brief visit to father-in-law at the nursing home at Woolwell we headed off to Grenofen Woods for a walk on a gorgeous sunny day. Bird wise it was very quiet with the highlights being a male yellowhammer, 3 mistle thrush, a swallow and a buzzard with blackcap, chiffchaff and willow warbler seen and heard. I thought I heard the alarm call of a redstart but it quickly went quiet and I couldn't find it amongst the trees.

On checking the web sighting pages that evening it seems that Wembury was the place to have been with a mini fall of waders - sanderling, ringed plover, dunlin, grey plover and a very nice curlew sandpiper - and so I headed out there on Monday 24th April on the bus although I held out little hope of seeing them.

Needless to say there was no sign of the waders other than oystercatchers and at least 5 mobile and flighty whimbrel but I did eventually see 3 grey plover, 1 in winter plumage and 2 in partial summer plumage. They were pointed out to me roosting on the rocks by another birder and they were quite vocal and flighty. Another 5 whimbrel were also seen flying east offshore.

Whimbrel

Whitethroats were much in evidence with singing and songflighting males all along the walk and chiffchaffs and blackcaps were seen and heard too. A few swallows were flitting about and a lone house martin was flying around at Wembury Point with another 3 seen over the village. Otherwise the usual birds were seen - stonechats, cirl buntings, linnets, 2 Canada geese, 5 shelduck, a little egret, a grey heron, a pair of mallard, a gannet, a coal tit in the pines at The Point and a rock pipit.

I found a brimstone moth and a wormwood pug in the toilet block which I caught and released outside and along the coast path walk I found 3 lackey moth caterpillar nests and a speckled yellow. Male orange tips were very noticeable flying around and I also saw 2 holly blue and 2 peacock butterflies.

 Brimstone Moth

 Wormwood Pug

 Wormwood Pug (without flash)

 Wormwood Pug (with flash)

 Faded Peacock

 Lackey Moth Caterpillar Nest

Lackey Moth Larva