Grenofen Woods

I first visited Grenofen Woods in 1988 and immediately fell in love with the place. I had moved to Devon from Suffolk and wanted to see Pied Flycatchers in their springtime breeding woodlands instead of migrating along the Suffolk coast in the autumn and I had discovered in the Devon bird report that a nest box scheme for them was active in Grenofen Woods. Even better was the fact it was so close to Plymouth and very close to a bus stop on a regular bus route and despite not knowing exactly where the nest boxes were in the woods I quickly found them situated close to the car park and from where I saw and heard my first Devon Pied Flycatchers.

The view over Grenofen Woods

The woods also held singing Wood Warblers which rapidly became one of my most favourite birds and a trip or two to Grenofen Woods every springtime quickly became a firm fixture on my birding calendar. However the nest box scheme was eventually abandoned, the nest boxes rotted away and fell off the trees and the Pied Flycatchers moved away. Even more sadly the Wood Warblers disappeared too as they have in most of Devon now but there is still plenty of other wildlife interest to be had here and I still always visit the Woods in the spring.

Sunday 8th May was forecast to be warm and sunny and so I made plans for a visit. However on waking up that morning it was cool and overcast and I nearly changed my plans but I eventually decided to go anyway and I'm glad I did as the skies cleared as I stepped off the bus at Grenofen at around 10am. It became very pleasant in the sunshine but by the time I left to catch the 3pm bus back to Plymouth it became very hot indeed, quite unpleasantly so, and I was glad to return home. 

Despite the building heat of the day I had a fabulous walk as always, enjoying the sunshine, the stunning scenery and the fantastic wildlife on show and all reminding me of why I love this place so much.

Garden Warblers were vocal and surprisingly showy for a change with at least 4 singing males seen and heard. It was interesting to see one in a hawthorn tree with a Robin and a male Blackcap with some aggressive interactions noted between them before they all flew off into cover.

At least 3 Redstarts were singing away but they were very mobile and elusive and I only managed brief views of one of them. A Tree Pipit was much more showy, singing and songflighting away for short periods at a time.

Yellowhammer 

The gentle cadence of Willow Warbler was heard everywhere with one bird singing away for some time on a telegraph wire and from where it regularly sallied forth to catch passing flies. The strident song of Chiffchaffs was also heard and it was interesting to listen to Blackcap and Garden Warbler side by side allowing for easy comparison.

I scanned overhead regularly for any passing Red Kites but without any luck but I did see a very smart Hobby catching flies and eating them on the wing as it drifted over before disappearing from view.

The warm weather brought out the butterflies and there were Brimstone everywhere including egg laying females. Speckled Wood, Green-veined White, Orange Tip and a Peacock were also seen along with 2 Small Heath, the first time I have seen them here. A female Beautiful Demoiselle and a Large Red Damselfly were also noted. 

Brimstone

Large Red Damselfly

The highlight though were at least 3 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary flitting about, constantly mobile and rarely settling for long but lovely to watch as they flew back and forth low over the ground and occasionally ending up in an aerial tussle with each other.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary