National Moth Night

After all the wildlife excitement of last weekend this week has been very quiet with work, chores and weather hampering any opportunities to get out and about.

Friday 28th August was cool and showery and so we visited Saltram with Mother-in-law for a short walk and a spot of lunch. We walked down from the car park to the bird hide and back and on Blaxton Meadow on the high tide there were the usual Curlew, Oystercatcher, Little Egret, Herring Gull and Black-headed Gull along with a Stock Dove and 2 White Doves while Ring-necked Parakeets screeched in the trees nearby.

Scruffy looking Mandarin Ducks in eclipse plumage were seen roosting around the Cafe Pond with Mallards and Moorhens while we ate our lunch. A Mistle Thrush was feeding on Yew berries in the tree by the Pond and a Sparrowhawk flew overhead while Swallows swooped into the roof space of the stables to feed young in their nests.

Mandarin Duck

Moorhen

I had the moth box out in the back yard that night for National Moth Night and the next morning I had 25 Moths of 11 Species. The theme of this year's moth night is Red Underwing, no chance of one of those in my trap, but I did have a Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing and 12 Large Yellow Underwing although the numbers of Large Yellow Underwing this year are noticeable lower than usual (so far). A Spectacle was a nice first for the year and the other moths seen were a lovely Marbled Green, 3 Vines Rustic, 2 Brimstone Moth, 1 Double-stripe Pug, 1 Square-Spot Rustic, 1 Light-brown Apple Moth, 1 Common Marbled Carpet and 1 Eudonia Angustea.

Spectacle

Spectacle

Marbled Green

After sorting out the moth box I headed out to Wembury for a walk on what was a sunny but cool day with a strong northerly breeze. Being a Bank Holiday weekend I expected it to be busy and indeed it was but it wasn't too bad.

A Double-striped Pug in the toilet block and 2 Silver Y along the coast path were the only moths noted but there were many Red Admirals, Small Whites and Large Whites seen along with a Comma, 2 Common Blue, Meadow Browns, Speckled Woods, a Green-veined White and 2 Small Copper. A male Beautiful Demoiselle and 3 Hawker Sp. were also seen.

 Green-veined White

 Green-veined White

 Green-veined White

 Comma

Comma

On the incoming tide there were 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Curlew, 12 Dunlin, 5 Turnstone and 20 Redshank out on the rocks with the Oystercatchers and 6 Little Egret and a Grey Heron. 7 adult and 5 juvenile Mediterranean Gulls were roosting amongst the Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls on the rocks too. 

 Dunlin

 Turnstone

Dunlin

Chiffchaff, Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat, Stonechat, Linnet, Swallow and House Martin were also noted along my walk with a Buzzard overhead, Pied Wagtails along the beach and 6 Wheatear in the top horse field.

Stonechat

On checking the wildlife sightings pages on the Internet that evening I read that a juvenile Woodchat Shrike had been found at Wembury that day but it was along the footpath past the church heading towards Noss Mayo, a route I have only walked once in all the years I have been visiting Wembury and so I wouldn't have seen it anyway (and I did see the cracking male Woodchat Shrike at Wembury Point back in May of this year). 

Sunday 30th August and with 2 night shifts looming I headed out in the morning to Ernesettle Creek to look for 2 reported Osprey seen fishing along the River Tamar the previous day. It was sunny but cold in a biting northerly breeze and I was hopeful of catching up with them.

I set up my scope and scanned around briefly before hearing Oystercatchers in a bit of a kerfuffle and flying down river and on looking up I found an Osprey circling around over the water and heading over towards Kingsmill Lake on the opposite bank - a result in just 5 minutes of arriving on site!

River Tamar from Ernesettle

I watched it flying around and making a few aborted dives before it flew back to the mouth of the River Tavy where it eventually caught a fish and flew upriver and out of sight. On view for around 30 minutes and some lovely scope views and my first in the Plymouth area - very pleased.

I hung around for another hour in the hope that the second bird would appear to fish but it wasn't to be so instead I kept myself amused watching 3 Raven and a Sparrowhawk flying over, a Wheatear feeding on seaweed along the foreshore, 5 Great-crested Grebes out on the river including 2 Juveniles, 2 Dunlin flying upriver and the usual Redshank, Oystercatcher, Little Egret, Grey Heron and Gulls.

A look along Ernestettle Creek revealed a Greenshank and 2 Common Sandpipers while a Chiffchaff was heard singing and Swallows flitted about overhead.

Greenshank

A very pleasent morning indeed and something to help me get through the joys of a double night shift on a Bank Holiday weekend.