Grenofen Bliss and Waders in the Rain at Wembury

Easter 2019 has been a hot and sunny affair, very unusual for Easter but more likely when Easter is late in the month of April as it has been this year.

Good Friday April 19th was spent in bed between 2 dreaded night shifts and so I missed a hoopoe found just across the River Tamar in Saltash and which was never seen again.

I had Easter Monday April 21st off and with the good weather continuing I headed off to Grenofen Woods on Dartmoor for a walk, figuring that this was probably the best place to go to avoid the crowds. I wasn't sure what to expect as this has been the earliest date I have visited the Woods in the Spring but I wasn't disappointed.

The first bus of the day saw me arriving at the Woods just before 10am and bird song was filling the air along with the sounds of children and dogs but once I had walked across the car park and up the hillside to the open rough grassland above the Woods there were very few people to be seen and I had a lovely wander around in peace.

Willow Warblers and Blackcaps were singing away and I quickly heard a Garden Warbler singing in the usual area which eventually gave some lovely views as it fed in the tree tops for brief spells before disappearing back into cover. Onwards and I heard a Redstart singing away but it proved to be very mobile and elusive in the tree tops and I only caught a few brief views and mostly in flight.

A male Yellowhammer, a male stonechat and 2 songflighting Tree Pipits showed well on the usual hillside but the highlight was a high and distant red kite which drifted off east and easily overlooked, I just happened to be looking in the right place at the right time.

Yellowhammer, Grenofen

 Tree Pipit, Grenofen

Red Kite, Grenofen

A Cuckoo was heard distantly on West Down with a green woodpecker also heard yaffling and other birds of note were 2 jay, 2 great spotted woodpeckers, a Raven flying over being mobbed by 2 carrion crows, a grey Wagtail along the river, 3 buzzards soaring over the trees together and 5 swallows chittering and chasing each other overhead.

Great-spotted Woodpecker, Grenofen

A holly blue, a green-veined white, speckled woods and peacocks were flitting about but the most noticeable butterflys were brimstones which seemed to be everywhere including many females busily laying eggs.

 Brimstone, Grenofen

Brimstone, Grenofen

The sunshine became increasingly hazy and by the time I caught the bus home it had clouded over but it had been a great walk as usual with some good birds and stunning views and without too many people around.

Wednesday April 24th and with another dreaded night shift looming I headed out to Wembury for a quick mornings walk but the weather had turned and it was cool and breezy and mizzly. I wasn't expecting much but things started nicely with a foxglove pug and a water carpet found in the toilet block and caught and released outside.

 Foxglove Pug, Wembury

Water Carpet, Wembury

Lackey Caterpillars, Wembury

The tide was high and along the beach at The Point there were 26 oystercatchers on the rocks with 7 mallards and 5 flighty and mobile shelducks but the best birds were a curlew, a winter plumaged and vocal grey plover, 3 bar-tailed godwits including a summer plumaged bird and 9 vocal whimbrels. The waders were all flighty due to the usual dog walkers along the beach but I managed to get some good views of them in the wet conditions.

 Bar-tailed Godwit, Wembury

 Bar-tailed Godwit, Wembury 

 Bar-tailed Godwit, Wembury

 Bar-tailed Godwit, Wembury

 Bar-tailed Godwits, Wembury

 Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit, Wembury

 Grey Plover, Wembury

 Whimbrel, Wembury

Sea Kale, Wembury

Whitethroats. chiffchaffs and blackcaps were singing away despite the rain along with 2 cirl buntings and I also saw stonechats, a song thrush, a flyover kestrel and a fulmar flying low over the coastal footpath before I gave up and caught the bus back to Plymouth (although it stopped raining not long after I arrived home!).

Dorset and Wiltshire Butterflies

My original plan had been to visit Salisbury in Wiltshire for a few days away for my birthday so I could visit nearby Bentley Woods to look for purple emperors, a little late in the season in normal years but too late this year due to the amazing hot and dry weather we have been experiencing recently so curtailing the season early - hence my visit to Bentley Woods by train back in June.

And so on Wednesday 18th July we drove to Salisbury but with Bentley Woods no longer on the itinerary and on the drive there we stopped off at Athelhampton House and Gardens in Dorset for a visit. The house was very interesting and the gardens were lovely and I managed some interesting wildlife sightings.

Comma, holly blue, red admiral, large white, meadow brown, gatekeeper and small white were all seen along with a hummingbird hawkmoth, beautiful demoiselle, flyover siskin and a family party of spotted flycatchers moving through the trees.

Comma

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

Beautiful Demoiselle

Driving on to Salisbury and we stopped off in a layby on the A35 near Bere Regis where I wandered around the very dry vergeside vegetation looking for Essex skippers which are found here. I had a very brief view of a skipper before it dashed off, it had the black tips to the underside of its antenna indicative of an Essex skipper but despite searching I couldn't refind it.

Common blues were flying around and I watched one checking out what I thought was a female common blue but on closer inspection I realised it was a brown argus, appearing newly emerged and in beautiful condition.

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Further searching in hot and humid conditions while the traffic thundered past along the carriageway was proving fruitless and just as I was about to give up and head back to the car I eventually found an Essex skipper which was quite flighty and a swine to observe but I managed to get a few photos of the black undersides of its antenna - I was very pleased to find one as it has been over 32 years since I last saw one back in Suffolk.

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper 

Essex Skipper 

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper

On to Salisbury and The Grasmere Hotel where we stayed for 3 nights was very nice, the room was cool and quiet and with no noisy herring gulls nearby so we actually slept very well. The hotel was on the river and with views of the cathedral and we had a very pleasent stay.

Thursday 19th July and it was hot and sunny and humid as usual and we headed out to Old Sarum for a visit, somewhere we have visited twice before in the winter but never in the summer. It was very interesting but for me the butterflies stole the show, they were everywhere - small white, brimstone, peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral, ringlet, common blue, brown argus, large white, gatekeeper, meadow brown, marbled white, chalkhill blue, green veined white and clouded yellow - amazing!

 Brimstone

 Large White

 Small Tortoiseshell

 Chalkhill Blue

Clouded Yellow

Also seen was a dusky sallow feeding on a thistle flower, a new moth for me, along with the usual silver y and 6 spot burnet, and yellowhammers were busily singing away.

Dusky Sallow

Onwards to nearby Woodhenge, a new place for us, and we followed a National Trust walking trail around the nearby area. A corn bunting and another spotted flycatcher family were the bird highlights with more brown argus and common blues being the butterfly highlights. I checked out all the skippers flitting about but all the ones I was able to identify were small and not Essex. The views on the walk were lovely across Salisbury Plain towards Stonehenge and the Barrows were interesting too but the traffic jams on the A303 didn't look much fun.

 Spotted Flycatcher 

 Brown Argus

Small Skipper - orange underside to the antenna tips

Small Skipper

Our last visit of the day was to Figsbury Ring, a National Trust managed Iron Age Fort and another site awash with butterflies - chalkhill blue, brown argus, large white, meadow brown, brimstone, small white, common blue, marbled white, holly blue and gatekeeper all flying with small heath and faded dark green fritillary also seen along with a Pyrausta nigrata.

 Dark Green Fritillary

 Small Heath

 Chalkhill Blue on Harebell

Chalkhill Blue 

Pyrausta nigrata

Friday 20th July and another hot and sunny day greeted us as we drove to Old Wardour Castle near Tisbury for a visit, a very peaceful and interesting place with a red kite flying over adding some avian interest.

Next stop was Heale Gardens near Salisbury where another family party of spotted flycatchers were seen in the trees, a hobby dashed past overhead and brimstones and green veined whites flitted about with a Pyrausta aurata.

 Spotted Flycatcher 

Spotted Flycatcher 

Pyrausta aurata

The final stop of the day was Woodhenge again where we had another wander around, seeing small heath, yellowhammers and a roe deer on a walk around the area.

Yellowhammer with House Sparrow

Saturday 21st July and our final day before heading back to Plymouth was spent looking around Salisbury and admiring the amazing architecture. A look along the river bank in the hotel garden before checking out revealed a few banded demoiselles resting on the vegetation along with a brief view of a green looking damselfly, probably an emerald damselfly.

We visited the cathedral and did a tour of the spire, something we did 20+years ago and which was a great experience then as now. I didn't manage a sighting of any peregrines which usually nest on the spire (but not this year) although I did hear a bird calling a few times.

Salisbury Cathedral

And so a great trip away, good weather, some interesting sight seeing and loads of butterflies - perfect!