Wembury and a Dartmoor Moth Morning

Saturday 1st July and it was a warm and sunny morning and so I headed off to Wembury for a quick walk. It was quiet on the bird front as expected with the highlights being 3 male and a female mallard, 27 oystercatcher and 2 curlew along the beach at high tide, a lone gannet offshore, chiffchaffs and whitethroats seen and heard, blackcaps heard, stonechats including fledglings and 2 cirl buntings singing with 1 seen.

A buff ermine was found in the toilet block and was released outside and along the walk I saw a few silver y and a rush veneer in the grass. Butterflies were on the wing too with a small copper, a small skipper, a red admiral, a comma, meadow browns, ringlets and 3 marbled whites seen and I also saw a very pretty hoverfly which I think is Chrysotoxum bicinctum.

Meadow Brown

Marbled White

Spider sp.

Chrysotoxum bicinctum

I met David and Julie at The Eddystone pub at Heybrook Bay and we had a nice lunch followed by a short walk and we sat on the beach putting the world to rights while admiring the stunning scenery and enjoying the sunshine before we headed back home.

Sunday 2nd July and with a dreaded night shift looming I headed out in the morning on the bus to Yelverton where I met Mavis for a charity moth morning at Welltown near Walkhampton in aid of Childrens Hospice Southwest. It was held in a local couples large and stunning gardens complete with rills, streams and mini cascades which looked beautiful in the sunshine. The opening of the moth trap was fun if a little disorganised but everybody was very interested and amongst the ususal crowd pleasers - elephant hawkmoth, poplar hawkmoth, buff arches, buff ermine, buff tip and white ermine - were a few more interesting moths - lobster moth, rosy footman, green silver-lines, fan-foot and what I think is a royal mantle.

Marbled White Spot

Green Arches

Elephant Hawkmoth

Elephant Hawkmoth

Rosy Footman

Common Footman

Purple Clay

Mullein

Lobster Moth

Lobster Moth

Buff Tip

Royal Mantle

Buff Arches

Elephant Hawkmoth

Elephant Hawkmoth

Elephant Hawkmoth

A very pleasent morning with good company and warm sunshine and all for charity - and I won a bottle of red wine in the raffle which was an added bonus too.