The overnight temperatures have been quite high of late but I didn't get around to putting my moth box out in the back yard again until Monday 12th August, unfortunately the night temperatures had dropped somewhat by then but I managed to catch a few moths none the less.
Singles of Jersey Tiger, Mullein Wave, Marbled Green and Four-spotted Footman (male) were present with other highlights being a Buff Ermine, 2 Ruby Tiger and a Cydia splendana. The best moth though was a Scarce Bordered Straw sat on a windowsill not far from the trap.
Wednesday 14th August was forecasted to be a good day of weather so I decided to visit Chudleigh Knighton Heath to look for Brown Hairstreaks. I've never visited the site before and wasn't sure where to look but after a bit of social media detective work I narrowed the search down to the site of the old football pitch, however I couldn't find out where the old football pitch was! I eventually turned to satellite mode on Google Maps and pinpointed a football sized grassy area on the Heath and decided to start my search for Brown Hairstreak there. Fortunately it was the right place, unfortunately the weather wasn't as forecasted and it was cool and cloudy and even rained a little before the sun finally appeared in the afternoon.
On arriving at the old football pitch I scanned around the surrounding trees and hedges and had a few brief sightings of Purple Hairstreaks in the Oaks, nice to see but not the colour of Hairstreak I was looking for. I did have a few brief sightings of a small brown and orange butterfly/moth flitting about in the trees, I assumed it was a Brown Hairstreak as I couldn't think what else it could be but it never settled and always disappeared from view.
With not much else going on in the grey skies I decided to go and explore more of the heath and very luckily bumped into Plymouth Birders/Butterfliers Jenny and Carol who very kindly showed me another area where Brown Hairstreaks are also present, they hadn't managed to find any there and neither did I on a look about so I returned to the old football pitch where it was more sheltered from the breeze and Jenny and Carol joined me too.
The sun did eventually appear and we had some nice views of Purple Hairstreaks in the trees, we also had more brief views of the orange and brown insect flitting about but again it never settled.
Also seen were Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, 2 Speckled Woods and a female Common Blue along with a few Common Darters. A few birds were seen too, the highlight being a juvenile Dartford Warbler and other highlights were a Jay, Swallows and House Martins overhead, Stonechats, Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap.
I headed out to Wembury on the 7am bus on Saturday 17th August, it was overcast and suprisingly cool and autumnal. I started my walk out along the cliff path past the church towards Noss Mayo in the hope of some migrant action but it wasnt to be with a few Whitethroats, Stonechats and a pair of Cirl Bunting seen. Offshore a swirling mass of Gannets were diving into the water above the messy splashes of a feeding pod of around 10 Common Dolphin but they were a little distant. The highlight was a Moorhen with 3 well grown juveniles on the small pond near the farm, the second time I've seen Moorhen here although I've only looked for them just once before!
I headed back to the main beach and began my usual walk out to The Point, the tide was already heading out and there were around 30 Mediterranean Gulls roosting on the rocks which included 7 juveniles. Also present were 2 Little Egret, a Mallard, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Curlew and a juvenile Wheatear along with the usual Oystercatchers.
There had been a report on the Devon Birds website the previous evening of a large number of Kittiwake roosting on The Mewstone and sure enough they were still there or resting on the water or flying around in small flocks with juvenile birds present too. There were around 150 birds present and they must have been roosting on The Mewstone for a while as the rocks were spattered white with all their droppings. I hadn't taken my telescope with me but luckily bumped into Jenny again who had her scope with her so I managed to get some good views of them.
An Emperor Dragonfly and 6 male Beautiful Demoiselle were seen along the stream and a Firecrest was seen in the village gardens before I caught the bus back to Plymouth, stopping off along the way at Laira Bridge for a River Plym walk. There had been a report the night before of a Pink-footed Goose on Blaxton Meadow and while I was out at Wembury another report of it still being present came through and so I headed upriver towards the Meadow as quickly as my little legs would carry me. I could see a large flock of Canada Geese roosting out on the mudflats near the gas pipe and when I got to the viewing platform I quickly found the Pink-footed Goose amongst them, a smart looking bird and one I rarely see living down here in Devon. There has been a bird present for the last few weeks on the pits at nearby Crownhill Down on Dartmoor so presumably this bird was one and the same, unringed and wary so also presumably a wild, lost bird and apparently the first sighting of one on The Plym since 1963!
The usual birds were also seen with a very smart Knot feeding out on Blaxton Meadow on the incoming tide and a Kingfisher dashing about the highlights. An Oak Eggar and a Double Striped Pug in the Marsh Mills underpass completed an interesting day out.
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