August has arrived and the landscape is as parched as a fart with huge swathes of browned grass and vegetation as far as the eye can see and no sign of any proper rain in the weather forecast.
The forecast for Monday 1st August was for occasional sunny spells and with a night shift looming again I headed out to Wembury for a short walk. It was overcast when I left Plymouth but on arriving at Wembury it was clear skies and sunshine and it became very hot indeed, so much so that I returned home early to escape the building heat.
The insects are certainly loving the good weather though and there were plenty of butterflies on the wing including Small Copper, Clouded Yellow and Wall. Just 1 Small Copper was seen but 4 Clouded Yellows were patrolling back and forth across the parched fields including a very nice helice form.
A Common Darter and a Golden-ringed Dragonfly were also seen and it was good to see 6 male Beautiful Demoiselle flitting about as well. A faded Hummingbird Hawk Moth was a nice find too.
Birding definently felt autumnal with a Redshank, a Turnstone, 6 Common Sandpiper and 3 Whimbrel roosting at The Point on the high tide along with 4 Little Egret, 3 Curlew, 69 Oystercatcher and 6 Mallard. Mediterranean Gull numbers are building too with at least 20 birds seen, mostly moulting adults and all mobile and flighty along the shoreline or feeding offshore with other Gulls.
Recent overnight temperatures have been high and it has been quite humid too but I have been unable to get the moth box out in the back yard to make the most of it. However I decided to go for it overnight on Tuesday 2nd August despite the forecast of potential showers in the early hours and in the morning I had a nice selection of moths and a soggy moth box as the potential showers had become definent.
Marbled Green, 4 Jersey Tiger, a male Four-spotted Footman and 2 Mullein Wave were great to see but Black Arches, Meal Moth, Lime Speck Pug and Silver Y were new for the year.
A Garden Warbler busily eating blackberries at The Point before diving into cover was a very pleasant surprise and the usual Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Stonechat and Cirl Bunting were also seen.
The sunshine meant plenty of insect activity again with 2 Clouded Yellow, a Ruby-tailed Wasp that actually stayed still for more than a second, Sand Tailed Digger Wasps, 5 Beautiful Demoiselle (2 females) and 2 Common Darter all seen.
More sunshine, high temperatures and no rain forecasted for the next 7 days - getting a bit bored of it now.
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