Another Wembury Wander

Wednesday June 20th and despite the grey, overcast sky I headed over to Ford Park Cemetery for a quick walk around to look for butterflies. It was breezy but out of the wind it was warm and humid and I managed to find a painted lady, marbled whites, ringlets, meadow browns, cinnabar moths and a burnet companion flitting about.

Marbled White

Ringlet

Painted Lady

Cinnabar

Burnet Companion

Rabbit

I had a quick look around the white letter hairstreak territory in nearby Central Park but there was no sign of them, not surprising in the breeze and grey skies and maybe a little too early for them. I did however see a good number of peacock butterfly larva feeding on nettles.

Peacock Caterpillars

The next morning a small fan foot that had flown into the bathroom overnight was a nice find, only my second sighting of one in the yard.

Small Fan foot

Small Fan Foot

Friday 22nd June and I headed out to Wembury again on the bus for a walk along the coast before yet another dreaded night shift. It was hot and sunny and as expected there was very little excitement on the bird front with a juvenile green woodpecker flying over the horse fields and a 1st summer Mediterranean gull feeding off the main beach with 2 summer plumaged adults being the highlights. Also seen were cirl buntings, blackcap, whitethroats, linnets, stonechats, a grey heron, a little egret, a curlew, 3 oystercatcher, a buzzard and a rock pipit.

There were plenty of butterflies on the wing - a small copper, a painted lady, speckled woods, small whites, common blues, a small tortoiseshell and a comma were all seen - and I saw my first 6 spot burnets of the year buzzing around but there were no moths in the toilet block.

Speckled Wood

Comma

Small White

Small White

Sunday 24th June and we had a walk around Jennycliff on yet another hot and sunny day. Speckled wood, ringlet, meadow brown, a large skipper, a small tortoiseshell, large white and a brief flyby large fritillary species were all on the wing along with a menacing peregrine over the cliff top which elicited an alarm response from a whitethroat skulking in the bushes.

Small Tortoiseshell

The weather is certainly very settled at the moment with a heatwave looming large but the garden, allotment and general countryside are looking very parched - I hate to say it but we realy could do with some rain soon although when it does eventually arrive it probably won't stop!

Wembury Wander

Friday 15th June and a warm and mostly sunny morning saw me heading off on the bus to Wembury for a walk. With it being the annual National Moth Night Weekend I kept a good eye out for any moths along the walk as unfortunately I was working a night shift that night and so would be unable to use my moth box in the back yard but I managed to see a few decent moths anyway.

The toilet block held a pale tussock, a willow beauty and a dwarf cream wave which I caught and released outside and on the coast path walk I found 2 nettle tap, a buff ermine, a sharp angled peacock and a wood carpet along with 5 mullein caterpillars on mullein and Depressia daucella caterpillars on hemlock water dropwort flower heads.

 Pale Tussock

 Dwarf Cream Wave

 Sharp Angled Peacock

 Wood Carpet

Mullein Caterpillar

It was quiet bird wise as expected with the highlights being 2 little egrets having a barney on the rocky foreshore where 12 oystercatchers were feeding with 3 male mallards moulting into eclipse plumage, 2 ravens, a swallow and a buzzard overhead, a songflighting rock pipit, songflighting whitethroats, 2 chiffchaffs heard, 2 singing cirl buntings with a third male seen and an adult gannet with 2 juveniles offshore flying west. It was nice to see a few fledglings too including blue tits, wrens, stonechats and carrion crows.

Cirl Bunting

Butterflies were on the wing too with speckled woods, a red admiral. large skippers, common blues, meadow browns and a small tortoiseshell all seen.

 Large Skipper

 Large Skipper

 Meadow Brown

Meadow Brown

A digger wasp was seen on the footpath attacking a bee which I disturbed as I walked by and the wasp flew off without the bee and disappeared into a burrow in the ground and later I found another digger wasp resting on some brambles. 

 Digger Wasp Sp.

 Digger Wasp Sp.

Digger Wasp Sp.

2 common lizards were seen, 1 the usual brown coloured and the other quite green.

 Common Lizard

A few small dark bush crickets were also seen along with what I think was a Roesel's bush cricket which disappeared into the grass before I could get a really good look at it.

 Dark Bush Cricket

Roesel's Bush Cricket?

Another great wander at Wembury with a Chunk pasty and a coffee from the beach cafe for lunch ending a very pleasant morning.

Moths and Bees

Monday 11th June and with David bringing home a scarlet tiger moth from the allotment for me to look at my interest in mothing was piqued and I finally dusted off the old moth box for its first outing in the back yard this year.

Scarlet Tiger Moth

I had forgotten that I had put the moth box out and didn't wake up until 07:45am the next morning to check it out but luckily the local house sparrows seemed to have forgotten what it was too - last year they were actively hunting the moths in the trap and as much as I am pleased to see them bounce back after a notable decline over the past few years I don't want to provide a moth buffet for them. Also the herring gulls are nesting on the chimney stack again and despite having at least 2 small chicks they decided not to mob me this morning.

It was warm and overcast overnight but the moth haul wasn't particularly great despite the recent hot and dry weather with a pale tussock and a clouded border being the highlights along with a white ermine, 3 buff ermine, a diamond back moth, a flame shoulder and a bright line brown eye.

 Pale Tussock

 Clouded Border

 Diamond-Back Moth

Vines Rustic and Uncertain

Wednesday 13th June and we started off with a visit to the allotment where a bee orchid had been reported nearby in a wildflower meadow and I easily found it amongst the tall grass.

 Bee Orchid

 Bee Orchid

Bee Orchid

Also seen were various bees, my first ringlet of the year which looked like it had just emerged and a false oil beetle.

 Red Tailed Bumble Bee

 Red Tailed Bumble Bee

 Red Tailed Bumble Bee

 Ringlet

False Oil Beetle

With a Risso's dolphin being reported in the River Tamar off Torpoint we headed off to Whitsand Bay with Davids Mum via the Torpoint ferry for a look. There was no sign of it on the crossing over nor on the return trip but it was reported later that afternoon - never mind.

Whitsand Bay was as beautiful as always and we enjoyed lunch in the Cliff Top Cafe while whitethroats songflighted from the clifftop and a speckled wood flitted about amongst the flowering stinking iris - a very pleasant day out.

Speckled Wood

Butterflies

Monday 4th June and it was hot and sunny as we headed off to Dartmoor for a walk but by the time we arrived at our destination it had clouded over. However it remained very hot and became increasingly humid too and meant that insect life remained very active despite the lack of sunshine.

Sightings included dipper, grey wagtail, marsh tit, blackcap, beautiful demoiselles, silver ground carpet, a keeled skimmer, my first meadow brown of the year, large red damselfly, brown trout, swift, swallow and house martins.

 Silver Ground Carpet

 Keeled Skimmer

Beautiful Demoiselle

The highlight though were heath fritillaries which showed very well, the most I have ever seen together. The site is managed for these rare butterflies and they have been introduced here so my snobby predjudices about introduced species came to the fore as usual but they were a joy to watch.

 Heath Fritillary

 Heath Fritillary

 Heath Fritillary

 Heath Fritillary

 Heath Fritillary - Lunch for a Crab Spider

Heath Fritillary

A single small pearl bordered fritillary was seen too, a brief view nectaring on flowers before dashing off never to be seen again.

 Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

It was a great walk but we were glad to drive home with the windows wound right down to cool off in the increasingly muggy conditions.

Wednesday 6th June and I met up with retired work colleague Jan for a walk along the coast path from Mount Batten to Bovisands on another warm and sunny morning. It was nice to catch up and chat about life, the universe and everything and along the way I watched songflighting whitethroats and swallows with a chiffchaff and blackcap heard as well but it was nice to see a few butterflies too - common blue, holly blue, large white, speckled wood, large skipper, red admiral and a green hairstreak.

 Plymouth Sound from Bovisand

 Green Hairstreak