River Plym Birding

Monday 9th August was warm but overcast and so we took a walk around Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor. It was relatively quiet but by the time we left the cars and crowds were beginning to arrive.

A winter plumaged Great Crested Grebe out on the reservoir was a nice find (a presumed immature bird), 6 noisy Raven were displaying overhead and 6 Cormorant were roosting on the barrage but the highlight were at least 3 Silver-washed Fritillary flitting about despite the lack of sunshine.

Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

Tuesday 10th August and a sunny morning and an 8am high tide on the River Plym saw me heading out for my usual Plym/Saltram walk. It has been 9 weeks since my last visit and it was nice to be back on site.

The high tide roost on Blaxtons Meadow provided the most interest with 2 Common Sandpiper, 4 Greenshank, 3 Oystercatcher, 37 Curlew, Redshanks, 2 juvenile Shelduck, 2 Kingfishers, an adult winter plumaged Mediterranean Gull, 2 Grey Heron and 14 Little Egrets all noted with 4 Ring-necked Parakeets and 2 Stock Doves flying around overhead with Swallows.

Kingfisher with Black-headed Gulls

Common Sandpiper

I had a good scan through the assorted gulls out on the Meadow as Yellow-legged Gulls have recently been reported here but other than the Mediterranean Gull I couldn't find anything more unusual.

Around the Park a Treecreeper, a Whitethroat, a Swift and a juvenile Willow Warbler were the highlights with a yaffling Green Woodpecker and a mewing Buzzard also heard.

Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Common Blue and Peacock were flying around and 3 Emperor Dragonflys were seen (2 around the duck pond and 1 over the grassland). 3 juvenile Moorhen with 2 adults and 2 Mandarin Ducks were also noted around the duck pond with 13 more Mandarin Duck noted along the river.

Peacock

Small Heath

Meadow Brown

A not so nice sighting was surprisingly my first tick of the year, discovered on the back of my right calf the following day! 

Another Butterfly Trip to Cumbria

Sunday 1st August and we headed off on the train to Lancaster in Lancashire for a 4 night stay. We wanted to get away for a few days and I had plans to look for Scotch Argus at their only 2 known sites in England - Arnside Knott and Smardale Gill, both in neighbouring Cumbria and fairly close to Lancaster. 

We decided to treat ourselves and travel by train despite the cost as this would be a more relaxing and enjoyable experience and despite a small delay on the trip to Lancaster and a 2 hour delay on the trip home we had a pleasent journey. We had planned to hire a car for a day for the drive from Lancaster to Smardale Gill but as it turned out we didn't need to do so.

We stayed at The Toll House Inn in Lancaster, close to the railway station and the city centre, and we had a very pleasent stay with Lancaster proving to be a very interesting city.

The weather on our journey to Lancaster was not very promising with grey skies and rain but the forecast for the following few days was looking good with sunny periods and no rainfall predicted.

Monday 2nd August saw us heading off on the train to Arnside, just over the border into Cumbria and only a 20 minute ride away. It was warm with sunny spells but by the time we had walked from the train station up to Arnside Knott (highest point 159 metres) the skies had clouded over somewhat and there was a noticeable lack of butterflies on the wing.

David found a few Grayling camouflaged amongst the scree and a few worn Meadow Brown were disturbed from the grass but eventually we found a sheltered glade amongst the trees where Gatekeepers were feeding on Marjoram flowers and with them was a very smart looking Scotch Argus. It was very flitty and eventually flew off and out of sight but I was very, very pleased to find one.

Scotch Argus, Arnside Knott

We wandered around the Knott and eventually the sun began to appear more frequently from behind the clouds and as a result more butterflies appeared - Brimstone, Comma, Common Blue, Wall, Small Skipper, Red Admiral, Small Copper, Green-veined White and Small Tortoiseshell all put in appearances and I also found at least another 4 Scotch Argus which gave some great views.

Scotch Argus

Scotch Argus

Scotch Argus

Scotch Argus

Wall

Tuesday 3rd August and we headed off on the train to Kendal, again just over the border in Cumbria and only around a 30 minute train ride away. It was warmer than the previous day and with more frequent sunny periods and on arriving at Kendal I headed up onto Kendal Fell by the golf course where a colony of Scotch Argus have recently been discovered. It was difficult to find out much information about this colony and I wasn't sure where to look but I found some patches of Blue Moor Grass, the larval food plant, and so I guessed I was in the right place.

I wandered around but again butterflies were sparse although I did see a Painted Lady and 2 Peacock along with a few Small and Large Whites, Speckled Wood, Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Browns. 

Kendal Fell

Painted Lady

Small White

An Orange Swift and a Common Wainscot were disturbed from the grass and Harebells were in flower everywhere. However there was no sign of any Scotch Argus but just as I was about to call it a day and head back down into Kendal to meet up with David I found one flitting over the grass. Again it was very flighty, landing a few times on the ground before flying off and out of sight but very nice to see at a site I had only found out about just a week before my visit.

Orange Swift

Harebells

Harebells

Scotch Argus, Kendal Fell

Scotch Argus

Scotch Argus

Wednesday 4th August and I caught an early  train to Silverdale, just a 15 minute ride away and close to the RSPB reserves of Leighton Moss and Morecambe Bay. I walked to the hides at Morecambe Bay first where in beautiful light I had great views of 5 Spoonbills, Little Egrets, a Teal, a Greenshank, 2 Snipe, Lapwing, Dunlin, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Avocets along with Reed Warbler, Kestrel and Greylag Goose. 

Spoonbills, RSPB Morecambe Bay

Spoonbills

Spoonbills

Lapwing

Snipe

Avocet

Avocet

Avocet

Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank

Avocet

Avocet

Snipe

Avocet

I then visited Leighton Moss which was very busy with visitors and in the increasing heat of the day I managed to get distant views of 2 Great White Egrets along with Grey Herons, more Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit, a Sparrowhawk, Coots and a Stock Dove with Cettis Warbler and Willow Warbler heard. Brown Hawkers and Common Darters were buzzing around too but were too quick and restless for any photos in the warm sunshine. 

Great White Egret, RSPB Leighton Moss

It had become very warm by the time I headed back to Lancaster on the train and I then met up with David for a quiet afternoon wandering around Williamson Park where I added Holly Blue to my butterfly trip list. 

Ashton Memorial, Williamson Park

Ashton Memorial

Thursday 5th August and it was time to head back to Plymouth with cloudy skies and rain greeting us along the way. We certainly had been very lucky with the good weather during our time away as we had been on our trip to The Lake District in June and it had been a very enjoyable trip indeed with Scotch Argus nicely added to my UK butterfly list.