Wembury and a Grenofen Return

The morning of Wednesday 22nd May was warm and sunny and so I headed out to Wembury for a walk. I had hoped to catch one of the early buses but didn't get myself organised in time so ended up catching the 9am bus instead. This meant that the showers forecasted for late morning arrived before I began my journey back home and so I got a little wet (again) but never mind.

The tide was ebbing and so I headed straight down to The Point to see if any waders were about but the dog walkers had beaten me to it and there were just a few Oystercatchers out on the rocks along with 3 male Mallard, a Shelduck and Herring Gulls. However on my return walk when the tide was right out I did find 3 Turnstones looking very smart in their summer plumage, 2 Dunlin (1 larger and in full summer plumage, the other smaller and still moulting into summer plumage) and a Whimbrel.

I found 7 Green Hairstreaks at The Point, all but one were looking the worse for wear, and a Small White, a Green-veined White and 4 Speckled Woods were also seen. There was also plenty of other insect activity going on and 3 Common Lizards were found basking on fences.

Green Hairstreak 

Green Hairstreak

Ichneumon deliratorius

Bramble Sawfly - Arge cyanocrocea

Plum Tortrix - Hedya pruniana

Common Lizard

A surprise was a Jay, it was squawking away in the trees on the hillside above the wheatfield before I managed to get a brief flight view of it. The Cetti's Warbler was also heard calling in the valley to the beach and also gave a brief flight view.

Cirl Bunting

Saturday 25th May started out sunny as I headed off to Grenofen Woods again, arriving off the bus at around 9am. I haven't visited Grenofen so late in May before but I wanted to try and see Tree Pipits after only hearing one on my previous visit. I also wanted to look for Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary as there were none on the wing on my previous visit when it was probably too early in the month after the cool and wet spring we have had.

Clouds were already bubbling up so I made my way to the downland as quickly as possible before the sun disappeared and very luckily I found a smart Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary sunning itself just as the sky started clouding over.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

I carried onwards to the bench overlooking the valley and sat for a while listening to the bird song and scanning the skies. A Garden Warbler was very vocal and I managed some decent views of it too, another 2 males were heard only. A Redstart and a Cuckoo were briefly heard too but not seen with the hoot of a Tawny Owl a surprise, it called twice from a stand of trees before going silent. Willow Warblers were vocal and showy while overhead 3 Swift, at least 3 Buzzard and a Swallow were seen.

I found 2 Meadow Pipits but they were distant, mobile and elusive, quietly and briefly singing from the top of bushes and half heartedly songflighting. They always returned to the bush tops after songflighting and seemed very Tree Pipity but closer views of one of them confirmed the Meadow Pipit ID.

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

The sun eventually reappeared and so I headed back to the area where I had seen the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary earlier and this time I found at least 3 of them, I had forgotten how small and fast they are and how difficult they can be to keep track of as they dash low over the ground between the bracken stems! Unfortunately I never got a look at any of their underwings but I did get some good views of their upperwings as the perched up for brief periods in the sunny spells.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

A Red Admiral, a Holly Blue, 2 Small Heath, 3 Brimstone and 3 Green-veined White were also seen along with a few Silver Y, a Speckled Yellow, Common Gorse Moths (Cydia ulicetana) around the Gorse bushes, a few Beautiful Demoiselles and a Golden Ringed Dragonfly.

Golden Ringed Dragonfly 

A Dipper along the river from the bridge as I 

began the steep walk back uphill to the bus stop was a nice find just as the clouds rolled back in and by the time I arrived home the forecasted rain arrived.

Garganey and Pintail

Saturday 18th May saw me heading off on the train and bus to Exminster Marsh on what started off as a sunny and warm morning. It was around 9am when I stepped off the bus at The Swans Nest Pub and the sun was shining but it soon clouded over although it remained very warm and became increasingly humid. By 1pm the thunder rolled in and the heavens opened resulting in me getting quite a soaking but it didn't dampen my spirits and I had a very interesting and productive walk.

Mute Swan with 8(!) Cygnets

It seemed very quiet on the bird song front when I first arrived but eventually I heard Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Cetti's Warbler along with Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler, the Reed Warblers were very skulky and I only managed brief views but the Sedge Warblers showed amazingly well.

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Reed Buntings were vocal and showy too while Swift, Swallow and House Martins hawked for insects overhead.

Reed Bunting 

A male Tufted Duck and a male Shoveler were seen out on the Marsh along with a Redshank, 3 Black-tailed Godwit and at least 5 Lapwing which were regularly chasing after passing Carrion Crows. A Little Ringed Plover was a nice find, bizarrely it was in the company of a Ringed Plover despite a bit of tension and aggression between them both, another Little Ringed Plover then appeared before they both flew off out of sight leaving the Ringed Plover to itself.

Up to 3 male Garganey have been seen on the Marsh recently, I kept an eye out for them and eventually found a male busily dabbling away out on the water quite close to the road, certainly the most prolonged views I've had of Garganey before.

Garganey

A Peacock, a Red Admiral, a female Brimstone and Green-veined Whites were flitting about along with Blue Damselflys but a nice find was a Scarce Chaser looking freshly emerged.

Scarce Chaser

Even better was finally finding my first Alabonia geoffrella, a stunning little micro moth that I've been hoping to see for ages.

Alabonia geoffrella

Alabonia geoffrella, aka "Geoff"

Carabus granulatus

It was dry and sunny the next day on Sunday 19th May, I had considered an early morning walk to Saltram and The Plym and I was up and awake at 7am but I dillied and dallied about so that didn't happen. I was then going to give it a miss but I eventually headed out anyway, arriving off the bus at Marsh Mills at around 10am and it was already quite warm in the sunshine.

It was low tide and Blaxton Meadow was devoid of birds but out on the river I was surprised and delighted to find a pair of Pintail asleep on the shoreline on the opposite bank from the amphitheatre. They occassionally awoke for a preen and to move position as the tide headed in, a most unusual sight in May on The Plym.

Pintail

Pintail

Pintail with Canada Geese

Mandarins, Marsh Mills

I had a look in the Wet Wood for the Spotted Flycatcher but without any luck although 2 Treecreepers feeding together there was a bonus. Other sightings of note were a pair of Siskin together in a pine tree, a Green Woodpecker heard yaffling away, 2 House Martins flying overhead and a briefly songflighting Whitethroat.

Small Heath were on the wing along with 2 Common Blue, a Red Admiral, 2 male Orange-tip and a few Speckled Wood. There were also a few Bee Orchid and Southern Marsh Orchid coming into flower as well.

Small Heath

Bee Orchid

Southern Marsh Orchid

Local Catch Up

With it remaining hot and sunny on Saturday 11th May I headed out for a local walk and saw my first Small Copper and Common Blue of the year. A Burnet Companion and a Treble Bar were also year firsts and I found my first ever Small Yellow Underwing, a macro moth the size of a micro moth and which I initially thought was a Mint Moth until I got a better view of it.

A Broad-bodied Chaser was crashing around in the vegetation, presumably recently emerged and testing out its wings and there were a few Early Purple Orchids still in flower too. It was quiet bird wise but a Green Woodpecker was yaffling away, 2 Swallows were chittering away overhead and a noisy Ring-necked Parakeet regularly flew over.

Small Copper

Early Purple Orchid

Dingy Skipper

Dingy Skipper

Dingy Skipper

Dingy Skipper

Sunday 12th May was hot and sunny again but with heavy rain forecasted for the following day I headed out to The Plym to make the most of the good weather before it broke.

It was high tide and out roosting on Blaxton Meadow were 6 Oystercatchers and 4 Curlew, one of which was sporting a yellow flag J7 on its right leg.

Curlew J7 - from a Dartmoor Headstarting Scheme

The female Red-crested Pochard was back on the Duck Pond and 5 male Mandarin were loafing about too. Another male was present on Blaxton Meadow and out on the river near the railway bridge a female was busily keeping an eye on 14 small ducklings.

Red-crested Pochard

Mandarin with 6 of 14 Ducklings

I had a look in the Wet Wood and was very pleased to find a "singing" male Spotted Flycatcher checking out nesting sites whilst on Chelson Meadow a Whitethroat was found skulking in the brambles. A Raven was seen mobbing a Buzzard overhead and 2 distant Swift were also noted.

Spotted Flycatcher

There were lots of Silver Y flushed from the grass on Chelson Meadow along with my first Small Heath of the year with a very smart Peacock also seen. A female Beautiful Demoiselle at Long Bridge on the walk back to the bus stop was a surprise, I think my first for The Plym.

Small Heath

Peacock

Beautiful Demoiselle

Monday 13th May was wet and windy but Tuesday 14th May was showery and breezy and so I headed off to Wembury for a look about. I caught the 7am bus and despite the grotty weather conditions I didn't beat the dog walkers this time but never mind. I had hoped that they may have been some small waders along the beach on the incoming tide but it wasn't to be with just 2 Whimbrel, the Bar-tailed Godwit and the usual Oystercatchers (44) present.

Whimbrel

Bar-tailed Godwit

I had also hoped for a bit of sea bird action offshore but regular scanning with my binoculars as I walked to The Point only revealed passing Gannets. At The Point I stood by the 5-bar gate opposite The Mewstone and started scanning again with my binoculars but again I could only find passing Gannets until I picked up a pale morph Pomarine Skua high up in the sky before it dropped down low against the water. It was moving east into the wind and as I frantically assembled my telescope and tripod it headed out of sight behind The Mewstone, I then scanned the other side of The Mewstone in the hope that it would reappear but I never caught another sight of it.

Also offshore were the usual Fulmars, I also picked up a few Kittiwakes, distant Auks and a total of 11 Manx Shearwater, all singles bar a group of 3 and all heading east bar one. Even better were 2 single summer plumaged Great Northern Divers flying west and 2 Swifts together heading east.

The usual land birds were seen including Stonechats, Whitethroats, Cirl Buntings and Linnets with a Cetti's Warbler heard singing in the valley to the beach and a Swallow flying overhead.

Cirl Bunting

Thursday 16th May was warm, dry and mostly sunny so we headed out to Soussons on Dartmoor for a walk and some lunch in the Warren House Inn. On arrival it seemed fairly quiet but eventually the birds revealed themselves although Willow Warblers were vocal and showy from the off. A Garden Warbler, a Whitethroat and 3 Blackcap were heard only but 2 Redpoll were seen flying over, giving themselves away by their calls.

Soussons - looking gorgeous

Soussons

A distant Tree Pipit was songflighting from a tree top with Meadow Pipits also seen and heard. A Reed Bunting was also heard with another male and then a pair also seen. 

I kept a look out for Whinchat with no luck but just as we started the walk back to the Inn I saw a pair together close to the path before they flew off over the Heather. A male was then heard and after a bit of a search about I found it perched up in a Holly tree, a bonus was catching sight of a Hobby hawking insects in the distance while trying to find it. To finish things off I found another pair of Whinchat close to the path, the male soon disappeared from view but the female showed well before also flying off.

Whinchat

Whinchat

There was also no sight or sound of Cuckoo on our walk but on the drive home I saw one flying over the road just ahead of us as we came off the Moors near Dousland, a nice end to a nice day out.

Yellow-barred Brindle - first garden moth of the year