Autumnal Wildlife

Autumn continues to arrive with birding now becoming the main focus of my activities instead of butterflying but with Mum and nephew Jack arriving for a few days stay at relatively short notice, work and the usual ongoing family issues I've not had much time to get out and about.

Mum and Jack arrived on August 19th and the following day we headed off to Hope Cove for a wander around and some lunch. It was very busy on a warm and sunny day but Jack and myself managed to get away for a quick walk along the clifftops to South Huish Marsh for a brief look around. With a wood sandpiper reported on the marsh the previous day I had a good scan around but only managed to find a ringed plover hunkered down at the waters edge and the only other birds of note were a sand martin hawking over the marsh with swallows and house martins and a flyover raven and kestrel.

Wednesday 21st August and it was off to Bude for the day despite the cool breeze and mostly cloudy skies. We had a great day there and I managed a brief look at Maer Lake too where 2 spotted redshanks and 4 flyover yellow wagtails were the highlights along with 10 black-tailed godwits, a small tortoishell and a peacock butterfly.

Spotted Redshank, Maer Lake

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank 

Spotted Redshank 

Spotted Redshank

Friday 23rd August and with Mum and Jack having departed for home we caught the ferry across to Mount Batten for a walk where the highlights were painted lady butterflies and a Volucella zonaria hoverfly which looked very large and very orangey/yellow amongst the other hoverflies and bees feeding on the ivy flowers.

Painted Lady, Mount Batten

Volucella zonaria

Volucella zonaria

After working all of the August Bank Holiday weekend I headed off to Wembury on the bus on Tuesday 27th August for a walk on a warm and mostly sunny morning. From the bus I saw autumn ladies tresses flowering in the grass verges by Laira Bridge and on arriving at Wembury there was a very autumnal feel in the air and I had a very enjoyable walk.

There were 3 rusty dot pearl moths on the outside window of the toilet block and  2 oak bush crickets inside (1 unfortunately squashed on the floor and the other caught and released outside) and along the walk I also found a Jersey tiger, a hummingbird hawkmoth and a faded Pyrausta despicata.

Oak Bush Cricket, Wembury

 Hummingbird Hawkmoth

 Hummingbird Hawkmoth

 Pyrausta despicata

Pyrausta despicata

Waders were on the move and amongst the oystercatchers along the beach I found a short billed whimbrel, 2 curlew, 2 dunlin, 2 redshank and a good count of 7 turnstone. 3 little egret, a grey heron and a pair of mallard were also seen while offshore in flat calm conditions I picked up a couple of adult gannets and a fulmar.

Redshank

There were many chiffchaffs flitting about in the bushes and trees with a few birds heard singing, always sounding mournful in the autumn, and there were also good numbers of whitethroats and 2 male blackcaps seen. 3 wheatears were feeding in the horse field with Alba wagtails and linnets while stonechats were very noticeable along the walk especially at The Point. The usual nervous and flighty cirl buntings were also seen flitting about in the now harvested wheatfield and surrounding hedges.

White Wagtail

Small whites were very noticeable along the walk and I also found 2 small coppers, a red admiral, a meadow brown, 2 speckled wood, 2 painted lady, male common blues and a small tortoiseshell. The highlight though were 2 clouded yellows, an all too brief flight view of one dashing past and a slightly less brief view of an hellice form female flying past being chased by an amorous small white.

 Small Copper

 Painted Lady

Meadow Grasshopper

I had a good search for wryneck and yellow wagtail along my walk but with no luck before David and mother-in-law duly arrived to pick me up for lunch at the nearby Otter Garden Centre, a nice end to a pleasant late August walk.

Fifth Hairstreak of 2019

The August weather continues to be consistent with lots of wind and rain and with a big storm arriving on Friday August 9th the sea watching community was all in a twitter. However the storm failed to deliver much in the way of birds but on Saturday 10th we drove to Rame Head for a quick look offshore. It was very windy and the seas were rough but the light was appalling and I only managed to pick out a few very distant gannets, mostly dark juveniles, and I also picked up a few distant Manx shearwaters belting along over the water and only really visible when they briefly sheared out of the wave troughs.

With another night shift on August 12th I headed out to Wembury in the morning for another quick walk. It was quieter on this visit than last week but I did get good views of 10+ cirl buntings feeding in the wheatfield and flitting up into the hedges and there were noticeably more whitethroats around in the brambles at The Point. A wheatear in the horse fields was the first of the autumn and chiffchaffs were seen and heard calling.

With it being low tide the oystercatchers were strung out along the rocky shoreline with 3 curlews and 7 little egrets. 2 common lizards were seen on the fence and the usual butterflies were dashing about including a smart red admiral. A male beautiful demoiselle was again seen from the bridge in the valley to the beach but unfortunately there were no moths in the toilet block.

Common Lizard, Wembury

Red Admiral, Wembury

A scruffy looking robin was seen on the fence by the horse field and later another scruffy individual was seen stealing pasty crumbs at the cafe.

Robin, Wembury

Robin, Wembury

With a brief spell of good weather forecast for Wednesday August 15th sandwiched between 2 grotty days I decided to visit Neatherclay near Taunton to look for brown hairstreaks.

I caught the 07:25 train to Taunton (but boobed by not using the Split Ticketing website which would have saved me £7!) and then the bus to Neatherclay and arrived in the woodland reserve at around 10:00am. It was cloudy and breezy, not ideal weather, but there were increasingly sunny periods and along the woodland rides it was quite sheltered and quite warm in the sun.

A fellow butterflyer was already on site and showed me a brown hairstreak egg he had seen being laid by a female a week previously but there had been no sign of any adults so far that morning.

Brown Hairstreak Egg, Neatherclay

I wandered along the woodland rides and managed to find southern hawkers, common darters and both banded- and beautiful demoiselles plus small whites, speckled woods, a comma, gatekeepers, meadow browns, a silver washed fritillary, green veined whites, red admirals and painted lady but no brown hairstreaks.

Banded Demoiselle, Neatherclay

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker

Common Darter

Common Darter

 Ommon Darter

Green-veined White

Small White

Silver-washed Fritillary

Painted Lady

Fly Sp.

Time was marching on but eventually I found a female brown hairstreak resting low down on a sloe bush right by the footpath just as it flew off into the nearby trees. I eventually refound it basking on a leaf in the weak sunshine before it flew off again but a short time later I located it inspecting sloe bushes by the path, creeping down and around the branches looking for somewhere to lay its eggs.

Brown Hairstreak, Neatherclay

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

 Brown Hairstreak 

 Brown Hairstreak 

 Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak

Another brown hairstreak was seen flitting about in a tree top and later another female was found egg laying by the footpath, a different individual than the one seen earlier with both its hairstreaks intact.

Brown Hairstreak, Neatherclay

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

It was soon time to start the journey back to Plymouth but before catching the bus back into Taunton I had a look around the Silk Mills Nature Reserve behind the park and ride bus station, somewhere I haven't visited before. I had an enjoyable walk around the reserve and added peacock, common blue and brown argus to the days butterfly list and also saw 2 kingfishers, a male reed bunting and a small red eyed damselfly.

Brown Argus, Silk Mills

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

It was soon time to head back to Taunton to catch the train back to Plymouth and along the way I saw 2 adult lesser black backed gulls bathing in the river with herring gulls and a pair of holly blues mating in a tree outside the train station.

 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Taunton

Holly Blues, Taunton

And so a great day out - the trains all ran to time, 14 butterfly species were seen and I have managed to see and photograph all 5 of the UK hairstreak species in one season.