Birdy 2025 Arrives

I headed out to Wembury for a short walk on Tuesday 1st July but a late start meant I didn't arive there off the bus until 10:45am. It wasn't too busy though along my coast path walk which was surprising as it was a hot and sunny day. The tide was high and beginning to ebb and along the beach 2 Little Egret, 7 Mallard (6 males) and 7 Oystercatcher were seen. A Whimbrel and a second summer Mediterranean Gull were also present and hinting that while it may be July Autumn is already appearing on the horizon.

The hot weather brought out plenty of butterflies with an impressive 15 species seen. Ringlets were very noticeable, they seem to be having a good year this year, and Small Whites were also present in good numbers too having presumably arrived recently from the Continent with many looking quite worn. Also seen were a Small Copper, a Wall Brown, a Green-veined White, a Painted Lady, a Peacock, a Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Common Blue, Large White, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral and Small Skipper. 

Gatekeeper

There were good numbers of Sand-tailed Digger Wasps along the bone dry mud path, all busily buzzing around their nesting holes in the soil, and I was pleased to find my first Bee Wolf and Ferruginous Bee-Grabber of the year too.

Sand-tailed Digger Wasps (Cerceris arenaria or Weevil Wolf)

Ferruginous Bee Grabber - funky name, funky looking

I had to cancel a butterfly trip up to Aish Tor with Mavis on Wednesday 2nd July due to not feeling well but I did have a gentle walk around Mount Edgecumbe with David on Thursday 3rd July on what was another hot and sunny day. I didn't take my binoculars or camera with me which was a big mistake as I had some nice wildlife sightings including Silver-washed Fritillaries flitting about, 2 Hummingbird Hawkmoths feeding on flowers, an adult Mediterranean Gull flying down river and a Dark Giant Horsefly which was very large and quite ponderous in flight as it buzzed around people sat outside the cafe.

Dark Giant Horsefly - sat on my shoulder and taken with my phone

Birdy 2025 duly made his grand entrance into our living room grate on Monday 7th July and fortunately just as we were leaving the house to go for walk at Saltram. Noises were first heard in the chimney on Saturday 5th July with an increase in activity the following day. It was quieter on the Monday though until a lot of scrabbling, falling soot and then a loud thump was heard as he plopped down on to the grate flap. He was uninjured as we quickly got him out of the fireplace with the help of a towel, he looked very cute and also bemused by his experience but was silent and quite docile. I quickly ran over to the nearby Tesco and bought some tinned Mackerel to feed to him and which he wolfed down before we placed him on the flat roof next door.

Birdy 2025

Mum quickly came down from the chimney stack to investigate, there was no aggression and she quickly regurgitated some food for him. Soon after Dad arrived and did the same and without any hint of aggression either so they appeared to have quickly re-accepted him after his 2 day abscence from them. However this year he is one of two chicks and the second chick is still up on the chimney stack so we may have to go through all of this again, hopefully this one will avoid the chimney flue route altogether and jump down onto the flat roof himself as has happened in other years but we will have to wait and see.

Our slightly delayed walk around Saltram was enjoyable despite my still not feeling that great, there was not much going on as expected but there were 21 Curlew roosting on Blaxton Meadow as the tide headed in and it was nice to see a good number of juvenile Black-headed Gulls amongst the adults roosting there too.

Mandarin

I caught the bus out to Wembury again on Wednesday 9th July to meet up with my mate Mavis for a wildlife walk. It felt pleasantly warm on arriving off the bus at 9:45am with the skies mostly sunny and with just a gentle breeze and we started things off by watching the activity around the Bee Wolf and Sand-tailed Digger Wasp burrows at the main beach.

Bee Wolf

Things soon started to warm up though as the cloud cleared and the breeze dropped and by the end of our walk it was feeling very hot indeed although a bit of sea mist did briefly roll in. The hot conditions did mean we had plenty of insect activity to keep us occupied though and we had an interesting walk.

We found 13 species of Butterfly on the wing - a Small Tortoiseshell, a Painted Lady, 2 Peacock, 2 Green-veined White and 4 Red Admiral along with Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Common Blue, Small White, Speckled Wood, Large White, Ringlet and Wall Brown.

Small Tortoiseshell

Wall Brown

A few 6-Spot Burnet were seen feeding on Thistle flowers but an interesting find was a Sitochroa palealis (or Carrot Seed Moth), a new moth for me.

Sitochroa palealis (or Carrot Seed Moth)

Sitochroa palealis (or Sulphur Pearl)

It was quiet on the bird front as expected but the 8 adult Mediterranean Gulls roosting out on the rocks on the dropping tide were all still sporting their breeding plumage and we were very pleased to find a pair of Dartford Warbler with 2 juveniles flitting about at at The Point while worryingly a female Sparrowhawk was stealthily hunting nearby. There were also 2 noisy Green Woodpeckers in some dead trees around the upper horse field where 4 Ravens were feeding and the only other sighting of note was a Swift overhead at the bus stop while waiting to catch the bus back to Plymouth.

Moths

The recent heatwave has meant some very warm nights and I had planned to get the moth box out in the back yard at some point but circumstances conspired against me and it wasn't until the night of Saturday 21st June that I finally managed to do so. Unfortunately for me a cold front moved east overnight and cooled things down somewhat, it was still a warm night though but the moth haul the next morning was a bit disappointing with a Marbled Green the highlight amongst 18 species of moths. A nice surprise though was finding a mating pair of Scarlet Tiger Moths in the shrubbery, the first I've seen in the garden before.

Rustic/Uncertain, Heart and Club, Heart and Dart with Heart and Club, Marbled Minor Agg.

Scarlet Tiger Moths

While I was putting out the moth box in the back yard at dusk it was interesting to see Ring-necked Parakeets flying over the house as they headed to their roost, I often see them flying over to their roost in the wintertime but I don't remember seeing them do so in the summertime before. 

The Herring Gulls have also nested on our chimney stack again this year and a small chick is occassionally visible or can be heard calling away, who knows how long it will be before it decides to leap down into our living room grate. There are no other Herring Gulls nesting again nearby but our pair are delighting at heading down to the flat roof below the bedroom window at around 5:30am and making a hell of a din as they assert their territory.

I headed out to Wembury for a walk on Wednesday 25th June, it was warm and humid despite the heatwave having abated somewhat although it was quite cloudy. The lack of sun didn't seem to bother the butterflies though with Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Small White, Common Blue, Small Skipper, a Green-veined White, Common Blue, a Red Admiral, a Comma, a Small Copper and my first Gatekeeper of the year all seen.

Common Blue

Small White

Gatekeeper

For the first time this year I took a walk along the cliffs heading towards Noss Mayo to check out the farm ponds for Moorhens, I heard one calling at the first pond and had a brief view of a juvenile bird flying across the water at the second pond so presumably another successful year's breeding. An Emperor Dragonfly was also seen patrolling over the water while an Azure Damselfly was seen flitting about in the pondside vegetation.

Wembury 

Azure Damselfly

The only other sightings of note on my visit were 2 Ravens overhead, 5 Gannets offshore (3 adults, 2 juveniles) and a very high count of 18 Swifts (2 over the village amongst the House Martins, 4 over the cliffs towards Stoke Point amongst the House Martins and a flock of 12 heading west offshore). 

Curious Foals at Wembury Point

We had a gentle walk around Burrator Reservoir on Friday 27th June, it was warm and humid with occassional sunny spells and there were butterflies flitting about in the pleasant conditions with a Small Copper, a Red Admiral and a Marbled White seen along with Ringlets, Meadow Browns and Small Whites. I also had a brief view of a large and bright orange butterfly, probably a Silver-washed Fritillary, and a smaller, duller orange butterfly which I think was a High-brown Fritillary.

The 2 white farmyard Geese were present out on the water and were keeping themselves apart as usual, there were 9 Cormorant, a female Mandarin, Mallards and Canada Geese present out on the water as well. House Martins were busily hawking insects overhead, Chiffchaff and Blackcap were singing away, a Grey Wagtail was feeding on the main dam and a pair of Bullfinch were skulking in the shrubbery and it was good to see Sundews growing in the usual spot by the side of the road.

Feral Goose

Sundews

With another heatwave on its way it was overcast but warm and humid on Saturday 28th June as I headed out to The Plym for a quick walk. I caught the bus to Laira Bridge and walked up to Marsh Mills on the dropping tide, it was quiet as expected but interesting none the less.

Waders are starting to return for the winter with 3 Curlew, 4 Oystercatcher and 5 Redshank roosting on Blaxton Meadow before moving over to the estuary as the mud became exposed. Out on the estuary there were 2 Mute Swan, 44 Canada Geese and the usual Shelducks including a pair with 6 very well grown young.

A Kestrel was hovering over Chelson Meadow and a Sparrowhawk caused panic amongst the Swallows as it hunted along The Ride. Chiffchaff and Blackcap were heard singing away, 3 Swifts were hawking insects high overhead and 4 Raven flew over calling, presumably a pair of adults with 2 youngsters.

I had the moth box out in the back yard again that night, it was warm, still and humid and this time I had a pretty good haul of moths in the morning with 27 species identified. I'm a bit rusty though and 2 Box Moths escaped my potting up attempts but successful catches included 2 Marbled Green, 2 Coronet, a Mullein Wave, 3 male Four-spotted Footman, a Lime Speck Pug and a Knot Grass.

Marbled Green

Coronet

Mullein Wave

Uncertain/Rustic and Knot Grass