The Return of the Squatter

After last weeks events it has been much quieter here in the mornings now that the Herring Gulls have left. My sleep may be less disturbed but bizarrely I do miss all the early morning kerfuffle. I was however very pleased to see The Squatter back on the flat roof on the morning of Wednesday 6th August, he was begging for food and making quite the din and an adult bird eventually came in and fed him so it looks like his adoption is complete. It also meant that the adults were back at 5:30am the next morning and giving their usual territorial calls but it was good to hear them again after all the recent sadness.

The Squatter - a regular sight again on the roof

Old Lady - rescued from the bedroom and released outside

I headed out to Wembury for a walk on Friday 8th August, it was overcast and cool as I stepped off the bus at around 9:45am but as the day wore on it became warm and humid in the increasing sunny spells. It didn't feel particularly birdy as I started my walk and neither did I after a few days of not feeling that great but I kept my fingers crossed for some interesting sightings.

The lack of any real proper rain for months now is beginning to show, it is dry and dusty everywhere with lots of brown and scorched vegetation to be seen and along my walk the smell of both horse and dog poo and pee was all pervasive. We have yet another heatwave in the offing as well and there is no rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future but at least the butterflies are enjoying it.

I finally found my first Wembury Clouded Yellow of the year as it dashed about along the flower belt in the wheatfield in the company of a Painted Lady, a male Common Blue, a Holly Blue, Small Whites, Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns while also seen elsewhere along my walk were a Large White, a Red Admiral, Speckled Woods, a Comma and a Green-veined White. There were 2 young Common Lizards basking on the wooden fencing and it was good to see 2 Hummingbird Hawkmoths feeding together on the Red Valerian.

Painted Lady

Common Lizards

The bird highlight was a Jay heard screeching away in the trees above the wheatfield which I eventually got a brief look at as it flew amongst the branches. It was low tide and a Whimbrel and a Common Sandpiper were out on the rocks with 2 Little Egret, 10 Mallard (9 males), Oystercatchers and Mediterranean, Herring and Black-headed Gulls. A few Great Black-backed Gulls were also about and 2 very smart looking adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew west along the shoreline towards Plymouth.

Offshore Gannets were moving east for a change, usually they are mostly seen moving west, and there were quite a few juvenile birds in with the adults. On land the usual Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Cirl Bunting and Stonechat were noted with a Sparrowhawk and a single Swallow also seen overhead.

Pont Aven coming into Plymouth from Santander - we should have been onboard but I wasn't feeling well and had to miss the trip

I headed out to The Plym for a walk on Sunday 10th August, it was a lovely sunny day and became a very hot one as yet another heatwave begins. High tide was around 8am and when I finally arrived at Blaxton Meadow it was still flooded with 28 Curlew, a Whimbrel, 7 Greenshank, Redshanks, Little Egrets, Grey Herons, Herring Gulls and Black-headed Gulls all present and waiting for the tide to drop. 

Along the nearby river the 4 Mute Swans were still present and feeding together and also seen here were a Common Sandpiper and my first 4 Goosanders and Kingfisher of the autumn.

Goosanders

Highlights around the Park included yet another beautifully yellow juvenile Willow Warbler, a flyover Raven, a Great Spotted Woodpecker seen and a noisey Green Woodpecker heard. A Sparrowhawk circling overhead attracted a gathering of noisey Swallows and House Martins and I was pleased to see 3 Swifts amongst them, worryingly my first sighting for this month. The female Red-crested Pochard was still at the duck pond with the Mallards, Moorhens and Mandarins and hidden in plain sight amongst them was the female Wood Duck.

Wood Duck

Insect highlights included a very dingy Dingy Skipper and at least 4 Clouded Yellows dashing about along with Common Darters, Azure Damselflies and Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Dingy Skipper

Blue-tailed Damselfly 

Blaxton Meadow still held quite a bit of water on my return walk despite the Plym mudflats now being fully exposed, most of the birds had departed to the estuary but an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was seen feeding a noisey juvenile bird while a tatty looking adult Mediterranean Gull in winter plumage was seen hawking insects overhead.