Wembury - 27th May 2012 and 2nd June 2012

A walk along the coast at Wembury on the 27th May in the sunshine (after the sea mist had cleared!) was quite productive with 2 whimbrel and a winter plumaged bar-tailed godwit with oystercatchers along the beach indicating wader passage was still ongoing. A male cirl bunting showed very well and chiffchaffs and whitethroats were busily singing away.

Moth wise the toilet block held a common marbled carpet, a mullein wave and a green carpet. I found another lackey moth caterpillar nest different to the one I saw on the 15th May and Depressia daucella moth caterpillars were feeding on the dropwort but in much lower numbers than seen last year.

Mullein Wave

Depressia Daucella caterpillar on Dropwort

Lackey Moth caterpillar nest

A smart male common blue was on the wing, my first of the year, along with speckled wood and a single wall.

Male Common Blue

Wall

A repeat walk on the 2nd June in the sunshine and a dunlin was disturbed by walkers along the beach with the oystercatchers. A yellowhammer was singing near the sewage farm and a cirl bunting was also heard nearby. 2 adult ravens were feeding 3 very noisey fledglings in the field above the sheep field and single adult gannets were seen offshore.

Moth wise the toilet block held a silver-ground carpet, a common swift and a riband wave and the Daucell depressia caterpillars were still feeding on the dropwort. My first six-spot burnet moth of the year was on the wing and I found a caterpillar feeding on Birds Foot Trefoil.

Riband Wave

Silver Ground Carpet

Common Swift - male

Six-Spot Burnet Moth caterpillar

A large skipper was seen, another first for the year, along with false oil beetles, bloody nosed beetles, speckled wood and a male common blue.

Large Skipper

In the valley to the beach ragged robin and yellow flag iris was flowering and I found some thyme-leaved speedwell, a new species for me.

And so two nice walks at Wembury with not much excitement on the bird front but with some nice sightings of other wildlife to compensate.

Red Kites on Dartmoor - 26th May 2012

My mates Mavis and Mike had placed a bid at a silent auction in aid of Childrens Hospice South West for a moth trapping night to be held at their garden in Dousland and had placed the successful bid. It had been arranged for the night of 25th May and on the morning of 26th May I headed off on the bus to Dousland. It was bright and sunny but with a very strong Easterly wind and I was a bit worried that the moth trap would be empty as the wind had howled all night long. However when the moth guy leading the moth trapping night emptied the trap to the expectant audience who had come along in order to raise more money for the charity there were 13 moths of 11 species - not overly impressive but it did contain crowd pleasers in the form of poplar hawkmoth, green carpet and white ermine and 2 new moths for me - oak tree pug and red-green carpet.



Poplar Hawkmoth

Red-Green Carpet - an overwintering female as males only fly in the autumn

Green Carpet

After the moth trap was all put away we headed off to Warren House for our annual Moor walk. The usual species were seen and it was a pleasent if windy walk from Warren House to Challcombe Farm. A tree pipt was songflighting in the strong wind and willow warblers were busily singing away. A cuckoo was heard calling once and then 2 birds were seen flying fast and low between the trees at Challacombe Farm before disappearing towards Soussons. A female whinchat was watching 2 male whinchats fighting nearby on the ground. Spotted flycatcher and redstart showed very well and 2 redpolls were seen songflighting overhead in a wide circuit giving their cha-cha-cha call.

Best bird was a very smart and confiding male crossbill we disturbed from a puddle in Soussons, it flew in to a nearby tree where it called and sang quietly.



Crossbill

However best bird was then usurped by 3 red kites that flew overhead! We were watching a buzzard over the trees at Soussons when we noticed 3 raptors in the distance, expecting them to be buzzards too but we were delighted to realise they were red kites which then turned and soared right overhead giving excellent views before disappearing from view. There had been many recent red kite sightings especially in Cornwall so it was nice to see some birds in Devon.



Red Kites - 2 of the 3 seen

After a lunch of rabbit pie at The Warren House Inn we headed off to Cuckoo Rock at Burrator Reservoir for a short walk, seeing a pair of redstarts, grey wagtail and nuthatch but no cuckoos.

Despite the wind we managed a few sightings of non avian flyers including small heath, a pearl bordered fritillary, beautiful demoiselle, large red damselfly, a brown silver-line and another new moth species for me - a white-pinion spotted.



Brown Silver-Line, Challacombe Farm

White-Pinion Spotted, Cuckoo Rock

It had been a long day but in brilliant sunshine and warm despite the very strong wind and with some great wildlife sightings in good company - excellent!