Local Wildlife Extravaganza

Work continues to piss me off, not helped by the current shit stirring and shit flinging going on following the very sad and tragic suicide of a lovely young woman from our team, and after working Long Day shifts on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th May and then Monday 1st June in baking heat and in PPE my plan for Tuesday 2nd June was to have a quiet chill out day. However with the good weather due to break on Wednesday 3rd I decided to get out wildlife watching instead to ease my weary soul and despite being absolutely knackered.

And so the first stop on Tuesday 2nd June was the south edge of Dartmoor to look for butterflies following a Twitter Tweet regarding a sighting of 4 fritillary species there (Silver-washed, Dark Green, High Brown and Small Pearl-bordered). I didn't get an early start as originally planned but I was on site by 09:45hrs and it was amazingly hot in the sun for the time of day.

I wandered around the area keeping my eyes open as I wasn't exactly sure where to actually look for the fritillaries but I did find a few Beautiful Demoiselles perched on vegetation, a Small Tortoiseshell, a Large Skipper, Meadow Brown, a brief flybe White Sp. (probably Large on size) and a male Brimstone.

Small Tortoiseshell

Large Skipper

Large Skipper 

Brimstone

I also soon found a few Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary flitting around but they never settled. Most were dull and tatty and worn but a few were smart looking and brightly coloured. Eventually I found a few nectaring on Blackberry flowers and managed some good views.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

It was good to hear Garden Warblers singing, at least 3 birds, but I couldn't catch a sight of them as they sang in deep cover. 2 Marsh Tit showed well as they foraged in an oak tree and 2 Grey Wagtail fed along a small stream. A Great spotted Woodpecker chipped away in the trees  and Willow Warbler were heard singing their meloudiously sad song.

Eventually I found a large Fritillary perched on the bracken, I expected it to be a Dark Green but was very pleased to find it was a High Brown and a very smart looking one too! It was very flitty and mobile and difficult to photograph, seeming always to land in a spot obscured by vegetation, and eventually it dashed off out of sight. I then continued to see single large fritillaries flying fast over the bracken and the ones that settled were all High Brown too. I did see 2 flying together at one point but neither settled before they dashed off in pursuit of each other.

High Brown Fritillary 

High Brown Fritillary 

High Brown Fritillary 

High Brown Fritillary 

High Brown Fritillary 

High Brown Fritillary 

High Brown Fritillary 

Brown Silver Line moths were everywhere amongst the bracken and I had a brief view of a Golden-ringed Dragonfly and a blue/green Dragonfly species but I had much better views of a male Broad-bodied Chaser patrolling back and forth along a small stream and occassionally perching on vegetation nearby.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Less pleasant to find was the mass of rubbish left by day trippers in the car park despite the No Litter signs, showing the general level of Common Sense and Social Responsibilty of the Great British Public - if you bring it out with you, take it home with you!

Clear and Concise

Obviously Not!

The weather remained hot and sunny all day with little breeze and so in the evening I headed up to Cann Woods for some Nightjar watching. It was a lovely evening only marred by the constant attentions of midges (I forgot the insect repellant) and after a long and hot walk I arrived on site at around 20:00 hrs. It has been a while since I have looked for Nightjars here (the last time was in 2015) and I have to say it turned out to be the best Nightjar session I have ever had anywhere.

There were other birders present, a total of 12 of us in the end, and we had a great time. Brief churring began at 21:05hrs with occasional churrs continuing until 21:30 hrs. It then all began properly and the action was still going strong when I left at 22:10hrs.

There was plenty of churring, wing clapping and "guicking" going on and I managed some good views of single birds flying around and occassionally two birds chasing each other with the white tail and wing markings of the males being easily seen. One bird even perched up on a fence post by the footpath to churr and I had a decent view of it despite the very poor light.

Nightjar Churring

A Green Woodpecker, a Tawny Owl, Willow Warblers, a Tree Pipit and Blackcaps were also heard and 2 Garden Warblers were having a sun down sing off and I managed a decent view of one of them in the area where I saw one back in April.

A Roe Deer buck sauntered nonchalantly across the path and a Common Spotted Orchid was found in flower in a hedgerow.

Roe Deer

Common Spotted Orchid

Common Spotted Orchid

The walk home was as spooky as ever through the dark woodland but with clear skies and an almost full moon it was quite well lit and I arrived back home safe and sound, having had an amazing wildlife day.

Moon

With the clear skies and warm temperature I had the moth box out in the back yard that night but I had to set the alarm clock for the morning as rain was forecasted from 06:00hrs. I managed to get the moth box sorted and packed away before the rain arrived despite the attentions of the Herring Gulls nesting on our chimney stack again this year who presumably now have a hatched chick or chicks in the nest as they squawked and dive bombed me before eventually giving up. The sight of a very large Brown Rat digging in the soil of one of the planters was also unwelcome before it disappeared into the shrubs.

The moth box had a good haul inside with the highlight being a very smart Broad-barred White, a new moth for me. Mullein Wave, Dwarf Cream Wave, Heart and Club, Peppered Moth, Ingrailed Clay and Bright-line Brown-eye were nice finds too and there were around 20 Heart and Dart also present.

Broad-barred White

Mullein Wave

Peppered Moth

Heart and Club

Ingrailed Clay

To finish my wildlife extravaganza we walked down to the allotment later that morning in between the rain showers and I found 4 Bee Orchids in flower nearby, looking very good despite the recent lack of rain.

Bee Orchids

Bee Orchids