Wembury Moths and Ford Park Cemetery Butterflies

Tuesday 25th June and my week off work was well and truly over with a dreaded night shift looming large and so we took a walk along the coast path at Wembury on a warm and humid morning, very warm especially when the sun peaked out behind the clouds.

I expected to find a few butterflies but was surprised to find very few on the wing. Painted ladies were again noticeable but they were in much lower numbers than the previous days sightings and I also saw a few meadow browns, a red admiral, a speckled wood and a small white.

It was quiet bird wise too with a grey heron, 3 male mallard and oystercatchers seen along the beach, blackcap and cirl bunting heard singing and whitethroats flitting about in the bushes including a few fledglings.

The toilet block actually held some moths for a change with a very smart common emerald, a single dotted wave and 2 dwarf cream wave being caught and released outside.

 Common Emerald

 Single-dotted Wave

 Dwarf Cream Wave

Dwarf Cream Wave

A nice walk despite the very sticky weather and my impending return to work on a night shift.

Friday 28th June and a hot and sunny day but with a strong easterly breeze saw me heading over to Ford Park Cemetery for a butterfly walk after meeting ex-work colleague Monica for a morning coffee on Mutley Plain.

It was with a bit of trepidation as I entered through the gate of the cemetery as back in February when I last visited here there was a bit of "tidying up" going on but it was all looking very good with lots of flowers and grasses as per usual.

Within a few minutes I was watching meadow browns, marbled whites and ringlets flitting about despite the breeze and I also found a red admiral, 2 painted lady and a large skipper.

 Marbled White

Ford Park Cemetery War Graves

I continued on to Central Park to see if there was any white letter hairstreak action yet but was horrified to find the elm tree where I had seen them flitting about in the canopy this time last year had been chopped down! There are other elm trees in the area so hopefully the colony has survived but it is so annoying to see as the tree didn't appear to be diseased and the new suckers now growing from the stump aren't looking too healthy either.

Elm Tree Massacre

I did however find my first comma of the year basking in the sun in a sheltered spot along with a speckled wood and a ringlet.

 Comma

 Comma

Ringlet