Sea Watching (Light) and a New Butterfly

With the remnants of Hurricane Bertha set to hit the UK today I decided I might have a go at sea watching, something I have not done before. The thought of sea watching seems a little daunting to me, conditions and location need to be just right, and I have always baulked at potentially spending time getting cold and wet and not seeing very much. I have only seen Manx- and Balearic shearwater from land in the UK but have had excellent views of Corys, great, sooty, Manx, Balearic and little shearwaters from the ferry to Spain as it crossed the Bay of Biscay. I thought about visiting either Berry Head or Rame Head but public transport is not at its most frequent on Sundays so I was a bit hesitant. And so on checking the bird sightings on the inty-web thing early Sunday morning and seeing reports of great shearwater at Dawlish Warren I decided I would head there instead.

It was sunny and very windy and there was a great swirling mass of gulls off Langstone Rock as the train arrived in to Dawlish Warren station at 10:30am (the earliest I could get there) and so I headed off straight away to the sea wall for a quick scan across the sea. There were plenty of gulls around, mostly herring gulls but with a few great black backed- and black headed gulls amongst them, and I also picked out a few common scoters, 2 great crested grebes and a grey seal. Scanning through the gulls I picked out a dark phase Arctic skua flying West before it disappeared behind Langstone Rock and so I headed off along the seawall path but by the time I had got there it had moved on. Scanning again through the swirling gulls I found a nice juvenile Mediterranean gull and another great crested grebe along with 4 male and 7 female common scoter close in to the shore. Heading up to the top of the Rock I met a birder on holiday from Hull who had earlier seen 3 Arctic skuas and then a single one (presumably the one I saw) but no sign of any shearwaters. I spent some time scanning and apart from a swift heading West and a few gannets I saw nothing else new and so decided to end my seawatching light session and head off to Greenland Lake on the Warren for a look around.

Greenland Lake was sheltered from the wind and it was warm and humid with lots of butterflys flitting around - small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, common blue, small copper, green veined white, small white, large white, gatekeeper and meadow brown - and I found a nice clouded yellow and best of all at least 3 brown argus, a new butterfly for me. The heat and humidity meant they were very active and mobile and it was hard to get a decent photo of what is a very attractive butterfly despite its small size.

 Brown Argus - a worn individual and the first one I saw

 Brown Argus- underwing showing figure of 8 mark

 Brown Argus - underwing of a less worn individual

 Brown Argus -  a much smarter looking individual showing a blueish tinge

 Brown Argus

Clouded Yellow



Also on show were a few dragonflys which were equally active and mobile in the warm conditions but I eventually managed a few photos. Around the Main Pond I also saw a few small red eyed damselflys including a pair laying eggs in the water and yes, they were small with red eyes, well the males had red eyes, and were a new damselfly species for me too.



Common Darter - female



Common Darter - male

 Emperor Dragonfly

Emperor Dragonfly - close up



Yellow Shell



Heading home and there was the usual chaos on the trains with no one seeming to know what was going on with trains being cancelled and rescheduled, but I did see a hare with a smaller leveret near Newton Abbot as they ran away as the train passed by which made up for the delay.

A Duo of Sandpipers (Alas)

Having worked for 9 days out of the last 10 I have had no free time to get out and about but finally, with 3 days off from the 8th August, I managed to get to Stoke Point for a walk along the cliff path and lunch in The Ship Inn at Noss Mayo with David.

The sea was flat calm and there were a few large groups of gulls offshore in a bit of a feeding frenzy with the odd adult and juvenile gannets passing by. A few minutes of scanning while David collected bits of gorse twigs for kindling and I managed a few brief and distant views of around 4 small shearwaters flying low over the water before they just seemed to disappear. Best of all though were around 6 harbour porpoise in 2 pods moving West through the water. They were distant and gave the usual brief views as they surfaced but they are the first sightings I have had in the Plymouth area.

Stonechats were much in evidence along the cliffs and included many juveniles so it looks like they have a good breeding season this year but despite searching I couldn't find any Dartford warblers. A lone male and a pair of cirl buntings were seen along with a male yellowhammer carrying a beakful of food and with very short tail feathers. A few whitethroats were seen but were very skulking while 2 kestrel, 2 ravens and buzzards passed overhead.

Butterflies were much in evidence including 3 clouded yellows along with plenty of wall brown, meadow brown and gatekeeper. A rose chafer was a first for me as it fed in a bramble flower and there were more Autumn squill in flower along the usual bank than I have ever seen before.

 Rose Chafer

 Autumn Squill

Jersey Tiger Moth, Noss Mayo



Saturday 9th August and I headed off the South Efford Marsh at Aveton Gifford for a look around in the hope of finding a wood sandpiper. I visited the Marsh exactly a year ago and had good views of wood, green and common sandpipers but this time there were 3 green- and 3 common sandpipers on show but no wood sandpiper. None have been reported from South Efford so far this Autumn although they seem to be cropping up elsewhere in Devon and Cornwall so I guess I will have to try again later in the month.

A greenshank and an oystercatcher were seen along the River with curlews roosting on the Marsh and a pair of winter plumaged dunlin busily feeding. A kingfisher gave some good views fishing along a drainage ditch and other birds of note were a stock dove and a pair of bullfinch. A worn female golden ringed dragonfly with a damaged ovipositor (presumably from ovipositing) gave some amazing close views and I was most annoyed to find I had left my camera at home! An helice form of clouded yellow and a common blue damselfly likewise gave some amazing close view and a usual form of clouded yellow was also seen flying by.

Other wildlife highlights from the last 2 weeks include a swift over Mutley Plain on the way to work on the 7th, most likely my last of the year, what looked like a dead barn owl by the side of the A38 near Smithaleigh as we drove by, and a peregrine watching the pigeons from The Guildhall Tower while I waited for the bus to work in the morning.

Back yard mothing has been uneventful with Jersey Tiger, mullein wave, rusty dot pearl, lime speck pug, marbled green and a new for me pebble hooktip being the highlights.

 Mullein Wave

Pebble Hooktip