Moor and Coast (Or Burrator and Rame Head)

Despite the grey skies and continuing strong and bitter easterly wind I met up with Mavis on Monday 15th April for an afternoons walk around Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor. Conditions for birding were challenging but we managed a few good sightings anyway, the highlight being around 30 Sand Martins flying low over the water hawking for insects with the odd Swallow and House Martin amongst them. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them in the very chilly conditions but they appeared to be robust enough to cope with the less than ideal weather.

Out on the water a pair of summer plumaged Great Crested Grebes were a nice find and also seen were 2 Canada Geese, the now lone white farmyard goose, Mallard, 2 Cormorant and 2 adult GBBGulls and 1 adult LBBGull with variously aged Herring Gulls.

The woods held Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits with Nuthatch calling and Siskins flying over. Despite the weather Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Willow Warbler were singing and a Grey Wagtail was found feeding along a stream near Cuckoo Rock.

We luckily arrived back at the car just as it started to rain and as we drove back to Yelverton a Mistle Thrush was seen feeding by the roadside, a nice end to an enjoyable but windy afternoon.

The next day was a total contrast with a gentle breeze and sunny skies and by the afternoon it was pleasantly warm. We had a quick walk around Plymouth Hoe and I finally saw my first Sandwich Tern of the year being hassled by a 1st Summer Herring Gull before it headed off out towards The Breakwater and was lost from sight.

Wednesday 17th April and with the improving weather I decided to catch the bus out to Rame Head for a walk. It was cold and grey and breezy as I stepped off the bus at Polhawn Fort at around 9:15am but the skies did eventually brighten and it became a pleasantly warm day again.

The first birds I saw after getting off the bus were 2 Sand Martins which flew in off the sea and headed straight inland and were quickly followed by another 2 birds. I then picked up 3 Swallows which also headed off straight inland and over the course of the morning there was a constant trickle of birds arriving, mostly Swallows but with a few Sand Martins and just 1 House Martin.

Walking along the cliff path and a Jay was a surprise skulking in the bushes down on the cliffs but more usual birds included a pair of Stonechats, singing Blackcaps, 2 singing Willow Warblers, a singing Chiffchaff and 2 singing Whitethroats. A fulmar flew along the cliffs along with a male Kestrel, 2 Buzzards and a pair of Peregrines while down on the rocks Shag and Cormorant were resting and 4 Oystercatcher were making an almighty racket.

Offshore a few Gannets were diving for fish and I picked up a distant Sandwich Tern slowly flying East into the breeze.

Fallow Deer were seen on the cliffs including a skittish group of 15 animals that were running back and forth along the paths before disappearing into the undergrowth and a Minotaur Beetle was a nice surprise as it trundled along the footpath.

 Fallow Deer, Rame

 Fallow Deer, Rame

 Minotaur Beetle, Rame

 Minotaur Beetle,  Rame

Minotaur Beetle,  Rame 

A few butterflies were seen flitting about with at least 3 Wall basking on the rocks below the Chapel along with 2 flyby Holly Blue, Peacocks and 2 Green Veined Whites.

 Wall, Rame

 Wall, Rame

 Wall, Rame

 Green-veined White, Rame

Green-veined White, Rame

I walked along the road to Rame Church and along the roadside hedge I found a beautifully bright looking male Yellowhammer, a female Blackcap, a male Cirl Bunting and a silent Chiffchaff while Skylarks were singing high overhead.

It was soon time to meet up with David and Mum-in-law back at Polhawn Fort and we headed off to the nearby Clifftop Cafe for lunch where we admired the stunning views in the warm sunshine as we ate our sandwiches, a nice end to a very enjoyable morning of wildlife.

Red-Breasted Flycatcher, Rame Head

October malaise post holiday has kicked in with a vengeance, not helped by a general lack of birds around at the moment. October is always my least favourite month of the year and I hate it when the clocks go back - it also means the "joys" of Christmas aren't too far away as well.

Anyway, I managed to get off my butt on October11th and had a quick walk along the River Plym to look again for the elusive and erratically reported female red crested pochard but with no luck. A female mandarin duck with mallards was some conciliation along with a noisy flyover ring necked parakeet and I had nice views of a kingfisher and 3 little grebes along with the usual fare (curlew, oystercatcher, little egret, Canada goose, shelduck, etc.).

October 16th and with hurricane Ophelia arriving overnight it was a sunny but very windy morning as I caught the bus to Rame Head for a walk. Walking along the sheltered cliff path to the chapel from the bus stop at Polharn and I was pleased to see a very vocal and mobile firecrest in the bushes with at least 3 more birds heard in what has been a bit of a recent influx of birds. A hunting female sparrowhawk, 2 stonechats, a red admiral, speckled woods, a small copper and 4 fallow deer were also seen.

 Red Admiral

Fallow Deer 

The walk up to the chapel was very blowy and as I hunkered down out of the wind by the doorway I scanned the sea to find the usual gannets milling around and diving for fish in rough seas. A few kittiwakes were picked up along with herring gulls, great black back gulls and a lesser black back gull along with a distant great skua heading east which I lost track of as it must have landed on the sea. It was interesting to watch the skua flying into the wind in shearwater style, flying low over the waves, banking up and then back down to the water.

A big surpise was a swift species flying into the wind but losing the battle as it was blown inland and out of sight, first seen high offshore and looking a very pale brown in the bright sunshine but swift or pallid swift? I' ve never seen an October swift before nor pallid swift in the UK but it was too distant and brief a view to confirm either way - it certainly looked exhausted as it was blown along by the strong wind.

 Violet Sp.

 Ponies, Rame Head

Pony, Rame Head

An early finish at 13:30hrs from work on October 17th meant a free afternoon and so we drove out to Buckland Abbey for a walk around the grounds and gardens. It was gloomy and misty but mild and on our walk I managed to see a flyover raven, jays collecting acorns, mistle thrush feeding in the fields and goldcrests flitting about in the bushes. A surprise was a red legged partridge which flew over my head and landed in the chicken coup before disappearing into the vegetation.

With news of a red-breasted flycatcher being found at Rame Church on the 17th I decided to head out there again for a look on October 18th. It was grey and gloomy again and still mild but the sea was flat calm unlike my visit on Monday during the storms. Arriving at the church and 2 birders were present and both had seen the flycatcher so I was pleased to find it was still present. However after 30 minutes of searching the small group of trees near the church where the bird was supposedly present there was no sign of it and I was beginning to feel like a dip was coming. There were plenty of small birds flitting around amongst the still leafy trees - blue tit, robin, goldcrest, chiffchaff, blackcap, wren, great tit, long tailed tit, chaffinch, goldfinch, coal tit and firecrest - and they were all very mobile and active and flighty and difficult to keep track of. I had a very brief view of what I think was a yellow browed warbler before it disappeared amongst the leaves but the views of the firecrests were excellent despite their constant movements, there must have been around 10 birds present. Eventually I managed to find the flycatcher, a brief but good view before it was chased off by a chiffchaff and lost to sight but at least I had seen it. I managed a few more brief but good sightings before it eventually gave itself up and showed very well, even allowing me to take a few of my usual quality record shots. A lovely little bird, very charismatic and handsome looking and a British tick for me.

 Red-Breasted Flycatcher

Red-Breasted Flycatcher

 Red-Breasted Flycatcher

Red-Breasted Flycatcher

 Red-Breasted Flycatcher

 Red-Breasted Flycatcher

Red-Breasted Flycatcher

With more birders arriving to see the bird I decided to walk off down to the coastguard lookout, seeing a painted lady sunning itself in the weak sunshine, meadow pipits and skylarks calling overhead, a flyover swallow and a group of around 10 cirl buntings feeding in a stubble field. From the coastguard station a brief scan around offshore picked up a few gannets and shags and herring gulls before I headed back to the church for another look for the flycatcher. With yet more birders arriving it was beginning to feel uncomfortably twitchy and so after getting a few more brief but good views of the flycatcher along with red admirals, speckled woods, a male black redstart briefly on the roof of a nearby house and a male yellowhammer in a nearby hedge I decided it was time to leave and head off home.

Painted Lady

A Lack of Hairstreaks

Birdy the herring gull chick was still on the flat roof next door on our return from Dorset which was a surprise as I expected him to have fledged while we were away. He looked bigger and had lost all his downy feathering but appeared lethargic and less vocal. I was a bit concerned but on Saturday 22nd July as I left for work in the early morning I watched him fly across the roof making his awful shrieking noise and on my return home that evening he had gone - hopefully a successful fledgling.

White leter hairstreaks were reported in Central Park in Plymouth on July 14th (the day I was there looking for them) and again on July 17th (when we were away in Dorset) and so with the sun shining on Sunday 23rd July I headed off to have a search for them, this being the first opportunity I had since returning from Dorset. I walked through Ford Park Cemetery along the way and saw a marbled white, a male common blue, a small copper, a ringlet, a peacock, gatekeepers, meadow browns and 6 spot burnet moths flitting about and as I entered the park I could hear ring necked parakeets squawking in the trees. I headed to the area where I had been informed they were present and met a lady butterflyer called Jenny who was looking for them too. She had been there for nearly 2 hours and hadn't found any although neither of us were exactly sure where the butterflies were actually seen. We wandered around the area checking out all the elm and ash trees but with no luck although I did see comma, holly blue and red admiral along with Volucella zonaria and Volucella pellucens hoverflys.

 Volucella pellucens

?

Just as we were about to call it a day we met a man staring up into a tree and he informed us that he was watching what he thought was a white letter hairstreak in the top branches. Scanning the leaves I eventually found the butterfly but it was a female common blue looking a little lost at the top of a tree. He confirmed which trees the hairstreaks were being seen in though so at least I know where to look next time I try to find them.

That night I had the moth box out in the back yard and in the morning of July 24th I had a grand total of 14 moths of 12 species - I haven't had the mothbox out much this year and when I have the haul has been disappointing, maybe I'm just picking the wrong nights? The moths caught were 2 male four spotted footman, a dunbar, a Jersey tiger moth, a Crassa unitella, a small magpie, a marbled conch (Eupoecilia angustana), an Anania coronata, a common rustic agg., a grey/dark dagger, a brimstone moth and a crambus sp. - quality if not quantity.

 Brimstone Moth

 Grey/Dark Dagger

Dunbar

I was feeling quite unwell while I was sorting out the mothbox and as the morning progressed spent a lot of time on the toilet being very unwell and the afternoon laying on the sofa feeling awful and like I had been kicked in the guts by a mule so a planned trip to the beach at Cawsands went out of the window. I had to phone in sick the next day due to infection control policy, something I hate to do, but with the sun shining and with my guts feeling better but still incredibly sore we decided to head over to Cawsands for the day. I was a little trepidatious but the day went ok although laying on a beach was most uncomfortable and I spent quite a bit of time covered up and asleep.

There were quite a few butterflies on the buddlea flowers along the cliff base at the beach and so I did a count for the Big Butterfly Count being run by Butterfly Conservation and saw a comma, a wall, 3 meadow brown, a gatekeeper, a female common blue, 2 painted lady, 10 peacock, 1 small white, 4 large white and 7 red admiral in the 15 minutes counting time.

Walking back through Mount Edgecumbe park to Cremyl to catch the ferry back to Plymouth and I added a ringlet and 4 worn silver washed fritillary to the days butterfly species list but there was no sign of any purple hairstreaks again in the tree where I saw them 2 years ago. David found some fallow deer hiding amongst the trees, 4 adults and 2 fawns, before they ran off out of sight.

 Silver Washed Fritillary

Silver Washed Fritillary

Fallow Deer

At Cremyl a Sandwich tern was diving for fish and from the ferry back to The Barbican I saw another Sandwich tern and an adult winter and juvenile Mediterranean gull. Arriving home and I was very glad to sit down and relax on the sofa after a hot and busy and achey day out.