Double Dartmoor Days

Wednesday 2nd May and it was off to Warren House with Mavis and Mike for our annual Dartmoor Day. It had been very wet and windy overnight so we headed out later than usual, meeting up at Yelverton at 09:30, and the clouds were just beginning to clear away in the strong, cold breeze. By the time we arrived at Warren House the sun was beginning to shine and a skylark was singing away overhead as we got out of the car but the wind remained bitter.

We headed off down the valley towards Soussons and along the way we saw and heard meadow pipits, tree pipits and more skylarks, reed buntings, willow warblers, wrens and chaffinches with the highlight being a cuckoo calling and seen briefly flying over - it continued to be heard calling away but we never caught another sight of it again. A male whinchat was also briefly seen along with a male stonechat and swallows and house martins were hawking for insects in the shelter of the trees at Soussons Plantation.

An oil beetle was a nice find along with a green tiger beetle which unfortunately had a damaged wing and wing case.

 Oil Beetle, Soussons

 Green Tiger Beetle, Soussons

Green Tiger Beetle

Onwards to Challacombe Farm and more swallows and house martins were seen overhead along with a great spotted woodpecker, 2 coal tit, 2 mistle thrush, a stock dove, a nuthatch and a nice singing male redstart. A single male orange tip and a green veined white fluttered by despite the cold wind but a walk along the road towards Grimspound failed to produce any whinchats although we did see a couple of wheatears.

Wheater, Challacombe

Onwards for lunch at the Warren House Inn which was very delicious as always and then it was time to head back home on what had been a very enjoyable day out despite the less than ideal weather conditions.

Sunday 6th May was a total contrast with clear skies and little breeze and it became a very hot day indeed. I had planned to visit Dawlish Warren for the optics day being held there but with it being Bank Holiday weekend and a gorgeous day I decided to give the packed trains and hordes of tourists a miss and headed off to Grenofen Woods again for a look around.

Gorgeous Grenofen Woods

There was no sight nor sound of garden warblers in their usual place but 2-3 male blackcaps were busily singing away instead, the same situation as in 2016. Willow warblers, chiffchaffs, mistle thrush and chaffinch were also seen and heard but the highlight was a cuckoo continuously calling and flying back and forth across the downland - I managed to get 2 flight views of it as it moved around the area and it pretty much called the whole time I was there despite the building heat.

I managed to find 3 singing tree pipits on the usual hillside, the territories being quite close together resulting in the birds constantly singing and songflighting much to my enjoyment.

 Tree Pipit

 Tree Pipit

 Tree Pipit

 Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit

A male stonechat, linnets and yellowhammers were also seen and blackcaps were heard but eventually I picked out the song of a garden warbler in an area I have never seen or heard them before and after a bit of a wait I eventually managed some nice views of the bird singing in a small tree before it flew off into cover.

Brimstones were flying around everywhere and I watched a female laying eggs on young leaves of a small alder buckthorn. A small tortoiseshell, a speckled wood, green veined whites, a male orange tip and a painted lady were also seen along with some small micro moths buzzing around some gorse flowers and a carpet species flitting around in the leaf litter.

 Brimstone

 Micro Moth Sp.

 Carpet Sp.

Nuthatch, a pair of bullfinch, a song thrush, a buzzard, long tailed-, blue- and great tits, siskin, robin, wren, a swallow and woodpigeons were also seen before it was time to get out of the heat and head home after another enjoyable day on Dartmoor in totally different weather conditions.