Stuart's Wildlife Diary

Sunday, 16 June 2019

Large Blue, Somerset

The weather so far this June has been a total contrast to last year with mostly heavy rain, cool temperatures and cloudy skies but I decided to stick to my plans for Friday 14th and headed off to Somerset by train and bus to look for large blues despite the unfavourable weather forecast.

I had pre-booked my train tickets using the Split Ticketing website to save some money but after another gruelling shift at work the day before (due to an increase in patient beds of 60% and a 0% increase in staffing) I really didn't want to get out of bed when the alarm clock went off at 05:50hrs. Drawing open the curtains and the cloud and mizzle outside really made me want to go back to bed but with non-refundable train tickets in my wallet I carried on as planned.

The train journey to Taunton went smoothly and the mizzle eventually disappeared to reveal occasional sunny spells and things were beginning to look more promising. I had an hour's wait in Taunton in the increasing sunshine before I had to catch the bus to Street and so I had a look out for the Peregrines nesting on a church tower in the town centre but I was out of luck.

The bus journey from Taunton to Street also went smoothly and the sun continued to occasionally shine from behind the clouds. On arriving at Street I had a great sense of optimism as I walked to Collard Hill nearby, around a mile and a half away and navigated to by using my trusty smart phone and Google maps (as I am useless with maps and have no sense of direction). However on arriving at Collard Hill black clouds rolled in and it began to rain with a strong breeze and there appeared to be no end to the clouds on the horizon - typical!

Collard Hill in the rain

I sheltered from the rain under some trees and eventually it stopped and the sun reappeared in gaps in the clouds and it remained dry for the rest of my visit. It also became increasingly warm and sunny as the afternoon wore on despite the black rain clouds that continued to roll in over to the west but which avoided the Hill.

With the improving weather the butterflies began to appear and within 20 minutes of wandering around the site I found a male large blue harrasing a female common blue before dashing off out of sight in a blur, aided by the continuing strong breeze - result!

I managed a few more brief views of large blues dashing past but they were very difficult to track in flight and I always lost sight of them until eventually I found a very obliging female right by the footpath busily laying eggs on wild thyme flowers and which gave some fantastic views before flying off.

Large Blue

I managed to get a few more decent views of large blues across the site and I reckon there must have been 3 or possibly 4 individuals seen but it was very difficult to keep up with their movements in the breeze and also due to their total lack of flying activity when the sun disappeared behind clouds.

Large Blue

Other butterflies were flitting about too in the sunny spells and I saw my first marbled white of the year along with a small tortoiseshell, meadow browns, a large skipper, small heaths and a small white.

Small Heath

Meadow Brown

Small Heath

A few birds were seen too with flyover swift, raven, buzzard and kestrel noted and green woodpecker and 3 chiffchaffs were heard.

Orchids were flowering in good numbers and along with a few bee orchids I found pyramidal, common spotted and my first greater butterfly.

Bee Orchid

Pyramidal Orchid

Common Spotted Orchid

Greater Butterfly Orchid

I met the National Trust ranger India who is on site for the flying period of the large blues and she was very helpful and informative about the site and the large blues present there, the butterflies having been introduced to Collard Hill in the year 2000 from nearby Green Down where they had firstly been introduced from Sweden in 1992.

It was soon time to walk back to Street to catch the bus back to Taunton and despite the less than ideal weather conditions I had managed to get some good views of my first ever large blues on my first butterfly trip of the year.

Friday, 7 June 2019

Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Wembury

Wednesday 5th June and I headed off to Wembury again on the bus for a walk on a sunny and warm morning.

Despite the sunshine I only saw a few butterflies along my walk - a male common blue, 3 speckled wood and a lone green hairstreak in the usual spot at Wembury Point.

Green Hairstreak

Moths were much better represented with a very smart looking purple bar and a white ermine rescued from the toilet block while along the walk I found lackey and Depressia daucella caterpillars and a very nice oak eggar caterpillar and sadly a squashed ruby tiger caterpillar.

Purple Bar

Oak Eggar

Birding was slow but a group of 7 swallows flying west along the coast was unusual with a pair also seen around the stables and a feeding flock of around 20 house martins heading west was unusual too. 2 cirl buntings were heard singing with 1 seen distantly and briefly and there were plenty of fledglings around including linnets, stonechats, blue tits, carrion crows, robins, dunnocks and goldfinch.

Along the beach a grey heron and a little egret were feeding in the rock pools on the outgoing tide with oystercatchers and 2 male mallard. Whitethroats were also vocal and showy and blackcaps were heard along with a single chiffchaff.

The highlight were 3 first summer Mediterranean gulls feeding together along the beach, with one individual looking a bit on the scruffy side due to moulting its plumage.

Mediterranean Gull

Mediterranean Gulls

While waiting for the bus back to Plymouth I checked out the valerian flowers along the footpath nearby and was very pleased to find my first hummingbird hawkmoth of the year hovering around the flowers, always a joy to see.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth