Heatwave Wildlife

The heatwave continues, the grass is brown and shrivelled and Birdy and Burdy the herring gull chicks continue to squawk and mewl and grow, Mum and Dad continue to be arsey and noisy and menacing and the flat roof next door is fast becoming a white poop fest due to the lack of rain. The birds are especially noisy at dawn which isn't helpful for sleeping especially in these hot and sticky nights but I am enjoying watching their antics.

Birdy or Burdy with poop

I had another look for the white-letter hairstreaks in Central Park on Friday 6th July but this time with no luck. A bonus sighting though on a quick look around Ford Park Cemetery on the walk home was my first hummingbird hawkmoth of the year, skimming over the shrivelled grass looking for flowers to feed on. 

Monday 9th July and I decided to head out to Wembury for a walk on a blisteringly hot day. It was baking hot at 09:30hrs when I stepped off the bus and I ended up cutting the walk short and returning home on the 12:00hrs bus as it was just too much for me.

A few moths were found in the toilet block which I caught and released outside - double striped pug, dingy footman and a meal moth - and along the walk I found another hummingbird hawkmoth, six-spot burnets and silver y's. Butterflies were very noticeable too with peacock, red admiral, common blue, ringlet, gatekeeper, meadow brown, comma, small skipper, large white and small white all seen and a golden ringed dragonfly along the stream in the valley to the beach was a good find too.

 Dingy Footman

 Meal Moth

 Small Skipper

 Comma

Comma

Large White

Very quiet bird wise but chiffchaff, whitethroat, blackcap and cirl bunting were all still in song with a pair of cirl buntings also seen and there were a few swallows flitting about over the stables, hopefully adults with a successful brood of young.

On the way home I foolishly decided to stop off at Laira Bridge for a quick look around Blagdons Meadow which was brown and bone dry too. Small skipper, small tortoiseshell, marbled white, meadow brown and red admiral were all seen along with a few silver y and six-spot burnet and the underpass held a single dotted wave but the heat was brutal and I soon returned home to get into the shade and cool down.

Single Dotted Wave

I haven't had the opportunity to get the moth box out in the yard despite the good weather due to work but I did find a four spotted footman caterpillar on the rubbish bin outside Tesco's across the road which was a nice surprise.

Four Spotted Footman Larva

Wednesday 11th July was cooler and cloudier and quite pleasant so we headed out to Stoke Point for a walk along the coast path. Again it was dry and shrivelled and there was no sign of any autumn squill in flower but we managed to see 2 hummingbird hawkmoths and more six-spot burnet and silver y's along with peacock, common blue, red admiral, gatekeeper, ringlet, meadow brown, speckled wood, comma, small copper, large white, marbled white, 2 wall and small white.

 Gatekeeper

 Wall

 Peacock

 Gatekeeper

Small White 

Small White

Stonechat, whitethroat, linnet, kestrel, buzzard, swallow, house martin, chiffchaff and a green woodpecker provided the bird highlights but there was no sign of any Dartford warblers.

Green Woodpecker

A strange sighting in the dry conditions was a frog crossing the road in the woods leading down to The Ship Inn in Noss Mayo where we had a lovely lunch before walking back to the car at Stoke Point.

Frog

The heatwave looks set to continue for a while yet but my sister is visiting Cornwall next week for a holiday and so I imagine the weather will take a turn for the worse as it always does when she heads down this way!