I headed out to Wembury on Saturday 14th June for a walk, it's been a while since my last visit and I was hoping to catch up with some butterflies. It was cool and breezy despite the mostly sunny skies but I did find a Painted Lady, 2 Red Admiral, 3 Large Skipper and 4 Meadow Browns along with a single Small Copper and a very faded Common Blue. I also had a brief glimpse of a probable Small Skipper but it was off and gone before I properly got onto it along with a brief view of a flitty Marbled White which was my first for the year.
A few moths were seen too with the highlight being my first Hummingbird Hawkmoth of the year feeding on Valerian. A Silver Y, 2 Rush Veneer and a Double-Striped Pug were also disturbed from the vegetation and a worn looking Shears, a new moth for me, was found resting on a Mullein where 2 Mullein caterpillars were also feeding. A large Lackey Caterpillar was also seen basking on a fence post.
There wasn't much going on with the birdlife as expected, the highlights were 44 Oystercatcher roosting along the beach on the high tide before being flushed by dog walkers, Fulmars around The Mewstone, vocal and showy Whitethroats and a hovering Kestrel near the Church.
I headed out to Saltram for a walk on Sunday 15th June, it was warmer and sunnier than the previous day but still breezy and again I hoped to see some butterflies. I caught the bus to Laira Bridge and started off by having a look at the Elm near The Range where I found 3+ White-letter Hairstreaks flitting about amongst the leaves of a very healthy looking tree. They were keeping high up in the tree though and binoculars were needed for decent views, it's easy to forget how spoilt we are with the views we can get at the Oreston site.
I then headed along The Ride towards Saltram Beach where a Whitethroat was heard singing away with a second bird then seen flitting about on Chelson Meadow along with a juvenile Stonechat. There were also House Martins and 2 Swifts hawking for insects overhead, Skylarks singing away and lots of Grass Vetchlings in flower amongst the long grass.
A few Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns, Large Skippers and Common Blues were fitting about along with a Small Heath, a Red Admiral, a Large White and a Comma. I had a look for White-letter Hairstreaks at the site I first found them at last year but other than a very brief view of a potential Hairstreak disappearing over the tree tops I was out of luck.
It was hot and sunny on Monday 16th June and the breeze had died down as I headed up to Long Ash on Dartmoor to meet up with Dave the Buttefly Guy for a Fritillary walk. Long Ash is apparently a good site for Dark Green Fritillary and is not too far as the Fritillary flies from my High Brown Fritillary site and we were both intrigued to see if we could find High Browns at Long Ash too.
I caught the bus to Yelverton where I found a Small Fan Foot moth on the toilet block wall before I walked over the Down to Long Ash to meet up with Dave, birds I saw along the way included a female Bullfinch, 2 Coal Tit, a male Yellowhammer and 4 Long-tailed Tit with Willow Warblers and a garden Warbler also heard. At least 6 Silver-washed Fritillary were flitting about too and I managed some good views of 2 of them when they landed briefly before dashing off again.
After meeting Dave at Long Ash we headed off into the valley to look for Fritillaries, a few were seen dashing about over the Bracken but didn't settle for a second. Eventually we arrived at Daves Dark Green Fritillary hotspot where Brambles and Thistles were in flower and we settled down to stake them out for any nectaring butterflies. There were Fritillaries dashing about all over the place and again they rarely and only briefly settled on the flowers to feed but we positively ID'd 1 Dark Green Fritillary and an amazing 4 High Brown Fritillary!
Meadow Browns, a Small White, a male Brimstone and a Red Admiral were also seen along with a possible Ringlet while birds noted included 2 Stock Dove, a flyover Grey Heron and a pair of Bullfinch with Siskins calling overhead and Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and another Garden Warbler heard.
As we headed back to the car park at Long Ash we found a male High Brown Fritillary on the muddy footpath, presumably newly emerged and taking in minerals, and we finally got some proper views of the underwings.
It had been an interesting walk and I was very surprised to have seen High Brown Fritillaries, I really hadn't expected to find any at all but it does go to show what is out there if you go and look. The apparent lack of Dark Green Fritillaries is odd too, a situation echoed at Aish Tor where High Browns are also having a good season and Dark Green not so much, maybe the Dark Green are just running late this year.
With news of Purple Hairstreak amongst the White-letter Hairstreaks at Oreston I headed out there for a quick look on Tuesday 17th June. It was hot and sunny and on arriving on site at around 9:45am there were 3 butterflyers already present and they had been watching a Purple Hairstreak for around 30 minutes before it flew off just as I arrived - typical!
There were White-letter Hairstreaks flitting about though, there must have been at least 10 present and despite being very active I had some great views of them and they were all looking very smart.
Eventually a Purple Hairstreak showed itself and gave some nice views with a second individual briefly seen as well.
A Comma, 2 Speckled Wood and a Large White were also seen and on the walk over to the nearby Elm tree at The Range I found Bee Orchids and Pyramidal Orchids still in flower, I did also see at least 2 White-letter Hairstreak buzzing around the Elm but again the views were tricky and distant looking up into the tree top.
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