Wednesday 5th June and I headed off to Wembury again on the bus for a walk on a sunny and warm morning.
Despite the sunshine I only saw a few butterflies along my walk - a male common blue, 3 speckled wood and a lone green hairstreak in the usual spot at Wembury Point.
Green Hairstreak
Moths were much better represented with a very smart looking purple bar and a white ermine rescued from the toilet block while along the walk I found lackey and Depressia daucella caterpillars and a very nice oak eggar caterpillar and sadly a squashed ruby tiger caterpillar.
Purple Bar
Purple Bar
Oak Eggar
Birding was slow but a group of 7 swallows flying west along the coast was unusual with a pair also seen around the stables and a feeding flock of around 20 house martins heading west was unusual too. 2 cirl buntings were heard singing with 1 seen distantly and briefly and there were plenty of fledglings around including linnets, stonechats, blue tits, carrion crows, robins, dunnocks and goldfinch.
Along the beach a grey heron and a little egret were feeding in the rock pools on the outgoing tide with oystercatchers and 2 male mallard. Whitethroats were also vocal and showy and blackcaps were heard along with a single chiffchaff.
The highlight were 3 first summer Mediterranean gulls feeding together along the beach, with one individual looking a bit on the scruffy side due to moulting its plumage.
Mediterranean Gull
Mediterranean Gulls
While waiting for the bus back to Plymouth I checked out the valerian flowers along the footpath nearby and was very pleased to find my first hummingbird hawkmoth of the year hovering around the flowers, always a joy to see.
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
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