Freedom!

My last actual working day was Saturday 8th July but due to annual leave accrual my last contractual working day was Sunday 23rd July and so from Monday 24th July I am officially unemployed until I claim some of my NHS Pension from 1st August! It feels very weird, I haven't been without a job since May 1988, some 35 years ago, and it feels odd to say the least. I also feel quite sad that I ended up feeling the way I did in my last job, I don't really know what happened but I guess that is just the way life goes sometimes.

Anyway, I now have endless possibilities ahead of me (as I and everybody else always has ahead of them without properly knowing it) but for the moment I just want to sit quietly in the corner and let everything go on around me while I try to catch my breath and sort out the mess in my head.

One thing I have noticed is how much my sleep has improved, I still feel absolutely knackered all the time but I am sleeping better, probably due to no longer having to work night shifts but also helped by Birdy 2023 having fledged and leaving the chimney stack resulting in quieter dawns. Just the one chick fledged this year but an improvement on last years failure and this one didn't come down our chimney for a change. It has also been quieter than usual in the mornings as the 2 other Herring Gull nests on nearby chimney stacks have been vacant this year so all in all it has been a relatively drama free nesting experience.

Anyway, I attended the Hen Do of the lovely Catherine from work on Saturday 22nd July where I was able to say my Goodbyes to all the people I liked from work but afterwards I felt a bit rough with a cold. By Tuesday 25th July I felt better and with a small window of some sunny weather forecast for a change I headed off to Berry Head.

I endured the usual train and bus delays but eventually I reached the quarry at Berry Head  to be greeted with the sight of lots of butterflies flitting about. However after around 10 minutes it had clouded over and the heavens opened for a good 20 minutes and apart from brief spells of sunshine appearing through the cracks in the clouds now and then it remained mostly overcast afterwards.

I had hoped to see Small Blue as there had been reports of them on the wing a few days before but despite searching around and getting fooled by flypast female Common Blues I had resigned myself to a dip. However I eventually managed to find one as it flew into cover, I had a brief view of it before it flew off but I never refound it.

Small Blue

Small Blue

Other butterflies were much showier and I had lovely views of Peacock, Red Admiral, Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Small Skipper, Large White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small White, Speckled Wood, Wall Brown, Common Blue, Holly Blue and Silver-washed Fritillary. There were also plenty of Silver Y and Six Spot Burnet around too as well as Hummingbird Hawkmoths including egg laying females.

Peacock

Common Blue

Silver-washed Fritillary 

Silver-washed Fritillary

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 

A Peregrine flying over the quarry and a flock of around 20 Common Scoters seen distantly flying into Torbay were the bird highlights but it was good to see Razorbill, Gannet, Kittiwake, Shag, Herring Gull, Guillemot, Black-headed Gull and Great Black-backed Gull offshore. Also offshore were a distant but showy pod of around 10 Common Dolphins leaping out of the water and which included a small calf.

Autumn Squill

Blunthorn Nomad Bee

Wednesday 26th July was grey and overcast and with rain forecasted by lunchtime I headed out to Wembury for a short walk. I has planned to catch the bus at 7am but overslept so I caught the 9am bus instead. It was overcast and cool and grey and after a few heavy showers the forecasted rain arrived just as I was heading back to the bus stop to catch the bus home.

The lack of sunshine meant a lack of insects but I did find 2 Gatekeeper resting on leaves and I flushed a Shaded Broad Bar and a Common Carpet from the grass as I walked by.

Gatekeeper

Shaded Broad Bar

It was a high low tide and it was heading in when I arrived and along the beach I found 4 Little Egrets, 3 Curlew, 2 Whimbrel and 2 Common Sandpipers amongst the increasing numbers of Oystercatchers.

There were Gulls roosting on the rocks and feeding on the washed up seaweed mass and I counted 16 Mediterranean Gulls (14 moulting summer plumaged adults, 2 juveniles) but they were mobile and flighty so more may have been present. Sadly none were sporting any leg rings.

Mediterranean Gull (Juvenile)

I scanned through the Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls present and eventually found 2 juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls amongst them. Both caught my eye initially but neither were especially striking amongst the numerous juvenile Gulls present, a case of hidden in plain sight and not helped by the poor light and rain.

Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

They were doing the usual Yellow-legged Gull  thing of being aloof and keeping apart from the rest of the Gulls but occassionally bickering with any Gull coming too close. Interestingly they would move out of the way of any Great Black-backed Gull that ventured too near!

Fledgling Blue Tit, Chiffchaff, Pied Wagtail, Whitethroat and Stonechat were seen and Cirl Buntings were vocal and showy and included fledglings too. Swallows were skimming low over the grass around the cattle, House Martins were flying around the houses in the village and I was pleased to finally see my first Wembury Swifts of the year with 4 also feeding over the village too.

Offshore was quiet but Gannets were on the move, both east and west and a mix of adults and juveniles, and a few Fulmar were flying around The Mewstone.

The poor weather meant a short visit only, I don't know what is going on with the summer at the moment but I hope it improves soon. I guess we have been spoilt by the last few years of good summer weather we've had and I've just forgotten how grotty summer in the UK can be.