A Quite Quiet Autumn Continues

Autumn slowly marches on into Winter and things remain fairly quiet on the bird front after the excitement of the isabelline shrike at South Huish Marsh - it has certainly been quieter than this time last year.

October 22nd and it was an early start to drive the Outlaws to Exeter airport for their flight to Malta. After a trudge around the shops in Exeter we stopped off at Shipley Bridge for a walk to the Avon Dam before heading back to Plymouth. I had hoped to see some ring ousels but there was no sight or sound of any but I did see fieldfares, redwings and blackbirds feeding on the hawthorns - the blackbirds were regularly chasing off the fieldfares but seemed to tolerate the smaller redwings and it was nice to see a few immature male blackbirds, all black including their bill and with no yellow eye ring and looking very smart. There were quiet a few goldcrests around too, busily feeding in the trees and bushes.

October 23rd and a dreaded night shift but a walk at Wembury beforehand was a nice distraction. It was again quiet with the highlight being 2 peregrines overhead and spooking all the corvids feeding in the fields above the horse stables. Along the beach 5 feral type mallards were amongst the more usual mallards -  a white bird, 3 pale and dainty females and a pale and dainty male.

3 of the Feral Type Mallards

There was also a large flock of gulls roosting on the rocks, mostly herring along with great black backed and black headed but including a nice adult lesser black backed gull.

Lesser Black Backed Gull

A great black backed gull showed well feeding on a dead fish washed up along the beach.

 Great Black Backed Gull

Juvenile Great Black Backed Gull with Herring Gull

October 26th and another walk at Wembury was a bit more interesting despite being half term holiday hell and a little busier than on the 23rd. It was grey and breezey with mizzley rain at times but mild. My third ever (faded) green brindled crescent in the toilet block started things off well but a large bumble bee was the only other insect seen. A surprise was a slow worm on the footpath despite the lack of sunshine - it was a bit moribund but perked up after warming up in my hand and it slithered off into the grass when I let it go.

 Green Brindled Crescent

Slow Worm

The 5 feral mallards were still present and spending all their time together - they must have escaped from someones garden nearby. Scanning through the mallards and I was pleased to find an immature wigeon amongst them, easily overlooked as it slept on the water despite its noticeably smaller size.

 Wigeon with Mallards

 Wigeon

Wigeon

In the stubble field were 14 Canada geese and a male pheasant with a male cirl bunting very skulky in the hedgerow. Stonechats were seen all along the walk, showing very close at times.

Stonechat

After a pasty and coffee for lunch a feeding flock of small birds in the bushes on a slow walk up the valley from the beach to the car entertained me with views of goldcrests, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, long tailed tits, at least 2 chiffchaffs and 2 very smart firecrests. I had some good views of the firecrests with one bird seen flicking its wings and raising its crown in display before I found the second bird.

Slow Worms and Southern Marsh Orchids

My plans for a day out on Sunday 31st May went out of the window due to strong winds and rain but by 2pm the rain had cleared and I needed to get out of the house and so I went for a walk at Billacombe Railway and Blagdons Meadow.

Arriving at Billacombe Railway and it was cool and grey with a strong breeze but eventually the sun appeared and it was pleasant out of the wind. I checked out the felt squares again and found at least 30 slow worms, mostly small black and buff coloured ones but 6 large and brown coloured ones too. I also found a common lizard which played dead for a while before it scuttled off. I wonder if on my last visit the slow worms were there but hidden in the dead vegetation due to the warm weather but today they were closer to the surface as it was cooler.

 Slow Worm - small, and black and buff coloured

 

 Slow Worm - large and brown coloured

 

 Slow Worm

 

Common Lizard playing dead

 



Also seen were a Pyrausta aurata moth, a male common blue, a Southern marsh orchid and a flyover greenfinch. A chiffchaff was heard singing and I snacked on some wild strawberries, very small but very delicious.

 Pyrausta aurata

 

 Southern Marsh Orchid

 

Cricket Sp. Nymph

 



I headed over to Blagdons Meadow and quickly found more Southern marsh orchids in flower. The early purple orchids were starting to go over but there was no sign of any bee orchids. Male common blues were on the wing with quite a few burnet companion moths disturbed from the grass. Swallows were skimming low over the grass in the cool breeze and a pair of greenfinch flew overhead. So all in all not a bad couple of hours out and about and not far from home.

 This Maids Ocean Days are over - but a nest site for swallows on the River Plym

 

 Southern Marsh Orchids

 

Burnet Companion

 



Cuckoos and Whinchats on Dartmoor and a Wembury Walk

May 20th and it was time for my annual Dartmoor day with Mavis and Mike - well, just Mavis this year as Mike was away at their daughters. It was cold with a brisk North Westerly breeze but when the sun came out from behind the clouds it was quite pleasant, the sun appearing more and more as the day progressed.

We started off at Challacombe Farm where we saw many of our target birds for the day - a cuckoo heard calling, getting nearer and nearer to us before flying overhead; a male redstart heard singing but not seen; a pair of spotted flycatchers feeding in the trees before melting away, never to be seen again; a songflighting tree pipit, the first I have seen here; 2 stock doves flying over and later heard coo-ing; a very brightly coloured male redpoll songflighting overhead ; a treecreeper and a nuthatch feeding in the trees; and a pair of whinchat feeding together before chasing off a much brighter coloured male which interloped on their territory.

Four very cute and tame piglets at Challacombe Farm

 



David joined us for lunch at the Warren house Inn before Mavis and I headed off to Golden Dagger and Soussons for the afternoon. Despite the strong breeze we had some good sightings - a mobile cuckoo was heard calling and we had some lovely views of it perched in the top of a hawthorn bush; a tree pipit songflighted briefly; a male kestrel mobbed a hovering buzzard; a male redpoll songflighted regularly overhead; a pair of siskins briefly landed in a willow tree before flying off; 2 garden warblers were heard but not seen; and a male whitethroat songflighted in the usual area near the ruined cottage.

Cuckoo, Warren House

Most noticeable were whinchats, they seemed to be everywhere along the walk. The males were busily singing and most appeared to have attracted a mate for the summer. At times they were quite confiding, showing well quite close to the path but were always active and rarely stayed still for long.

Male Whinchat, Warren House



Also seen were a green tiger beetle, sundew, tadpoles in the stream that flows along the footpath, a female orange tip, a green veined white and a peacock butterfly but there was no sign yet of the heath spotted orchids.

 Green Tiger Beetle

Sundew



May 21st and I decided to head out to Wembury for a walk. It was warm and sunny with the breeze much gentler than yesterday. The highlight was a sedge warbler singing in the vegetation behind the boat yard but despite waiting and watching I couldn't catch a sight of it. Also seen were 9 whimbrel flying West along the coast, a shelduck roosting on the beach, 12 Canada geese resting and feeding in the wheat field, a singing cirl bunting and a little egret on the rocks at high tide. A female wheatear was seen feeding in the horse field, maybe a late migrant or a bird of the Greenland race?

Shelduck, Wembury



Whitethroats were very noticeable along the walk, busily songflighting, and I heard blackcaps and heard and saw chiffchaffs. Swallows were busily hawking around the stables and a male pheasant was feeding amongst the sheep in the sheep field.

Insects were much in evidence in the warm weather - bloody nosed beetle larva, green shield bug, scorpion fly and sloe bug along with speckled wood, orange tip, large white, green veined white, wall, common carpet and at least 5 speckled yellow.

 Green Shield Bug

Sloe Bug



Heading home and I stopped off at Laira Bridge to have a look around the nearby Billacombe Railway nature reserve, owned by Plymouth City Council. It has decreased yet more in size due to the continued building work at the old Billacombe Quarry site with areas gravelled over and a lot of vegetation cut back. I am assuming that the Council plans to extend the cycle path along the route of the old railway line now that the railway bridge across the River Plym has been renovated and opened for cyclists and pedestrians - indeed there are signs up for planning permission to build a bridge across The Ride to connect the railway bridge to the railway line, looks like the nature reserve will be no more, very sad.

I had a look around and saw a holly blue, a red admiral, a speckled wood, a Pyrausta aurata, a common carpet and what I think was a dingy skipper whizzing past.

Pyrausta aurata, Billacombe Railway



There were squares of roofing felt dotted around and I searched under each one, eventually finding a slow worm under one of them. I assume they are either being used for monitoring purposes or to capture and move any slow worms found under them before more disturbance and destruction of the reserve occurs for the new cycle path construction. A similar thing was done before the house building began in Billacombe Quarry but here it was much more organised - the felt squares were all numbered and pegged down unlike the ones today.

Slow Worm, Billacombe Railway



I headed onwards to Blagdon Meadow to look for orchids and butterflies and was quite surprised at how dry the meadow was. Swallows were flitting around the boat wreck by the footpath, some birds entering inside presumably to nest again. House martins were flying over chittering and I watched them collecting mud from the estuary as the tide went out. Early purple orchids were in flower including a few white forms but there was no sign of any Southern marsh orchids yet. A male common blue and at least 3 small heath were on the wing along with orange tips and green veined whites and I also found a burnet companion moth and a false oil beetle. A female broad-bodied chaser with yellow markings along the side of its broad abdomen was a surprise, perching briefly on vegetation before flying off.

False Oil Beetle, Blagdons Meadow

 Small Heath

 Burnet Companion

 Early Purple Orchid

Female Broad-bodied Chaser, Blagdons Meadow



Not a bad couple of days wildlife watching but it is getting to that time of year when birding slows down and insects and plants come to the fore.