I met up with Mavis at Wembury for a walk on Monday 18th September, it was grey and overcast and breezy and it didn't look very promising but eventually the sun did appear and we ended up having an interesting time.
The highlight was a Turtle Dove, a Wembury first for me. It was flushed out of the sewage farm hedge by a hunting Sparrowhawk, it then flew around in a broad loop before settling briefly in the stubble field and then flew off inland where it was nearly taken out by the still present Sparrowhawk. A shame it didn't linger but very nice to see.
There were still a few waders present along the beach on the high tide - 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, 4 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Curlew, around 20 Turnstones and Oystercatchers - and there were still around 60 Mediterranean Gulls roosting on the rocks.
A Common Lizard, a Speckled Wood, a Painted Lady and Red Admirals were seen when they sun did appear and a few Ivy Bees were seen feeding on the Ivy flowers.
I returned to Wembury early the next morning for a seawatch as the weather was foul with strong winds and rainy spells. After getting off the bus I headed out to The Point and set up my scope on the usual bench but it was too open and windy and so I moved up the slope and stood in the lee of a large fir tree below the radar station where it was a little less exposed. The light wasn't great, the birds were distant and it was misty and mizzley at times as the rain belts swept in but I managed to see a few sea birds all the same.
Birds were passing west offshore, most were too far out to call except for the usual and obvious Gannets, but a few birds were closer in just out past The Mewstone and I managed to log 2 Cory's Shearwaters, 4 Balearic Shearwaters, 5 Manx Shearwaters, 11 Arctic Skuas and a Great Skua along with Kittiwakes and Gannets.
At one point 4 Arctic Skua and the Great Skua were harrassing a small flock of Kittiwakes as they passed by, the Arctic Skuas being noticeably smaller than the chunky Great Skua. It was also interesting to note how Shearwater-like the Arctic Skuas flight was at times as they headed into the strong wind.
(And from Penlee just across Plymouth Sound from Wembury Point there were some very impressive counts of seabirds passing west (eg., 80+ Cory's, 2 Great, 400+Balearic, 4 Sooty, 2 Long-tailed Skua), they were seen over a longer period of time than I watched off The Point but it highlights just what was out there and how Wembury isn't really very well placed to view it!)
I watched from 08:15hrs to 10:30hrs before I'd had enough of the wind and with the bird numbers appearing to trail off closer to shore I headed back to the bus stop for the journey home. Along the way I had a look at the waders along the beach on the high tide and found a Whimbrel, a Knot, a Ringed Plover, a Dunlin, 16 Turnstone, 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, a Curlew and Oystercatchers. There were also still around 60 Mediterranean Gulls roosting on the rocks or sheltering in the stubble field, at least 10 1st winters and 6 2nd winters were present amongst the adult birds. I also found the adult bird with the green leg ring again but it flew off before I could get a read of it with my scope.
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