I caught the 11:10am bus out to Wembury for a walk on Saturday 18th April, it was a warm and sunny day but Wembury wasn't as busy with people as I had expected.
I started off by walking along the coast path towards the farm ponds where I saw a Moorhen and a male Mallard but the Moorhen scuttled off into cover and the Mallard flew away. There were Whitethroats singing away all along the footpath and a Speckled Yellow moth flitted about in the Brambles. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a field full of Cowslips, I don't think I've ever walked this path at this time of the year before so I've never noticed them.
I met David back at the main beach where we had a pasty and coffee for lunch before we headed off towards The Point for a look about. It was a very low tide and out on the rocks were a roosting flock of 12 Whimbrel which occassionally gave the odd whistling call. There were also 3 Turnstone present along with the usual Oystercatchers and a single male Mallard, maybe the one seen earlier at the ponds.
A male Brimstone and a male Orange-tip were seen flitting about along with my first Small Copper of the year. The usual Peacocks were flitting about too including a female laying eggs on Nettles. No Green Hairstreaks were found in their usual spot and we didn't check out the Adder site but we did find a female Adder right by the footpath near the horse field, it was upright in the long grass and either hunting or warming itself up and it allowed a very close approach before disappearing into cover.
With the sluice gates for Blaxton Meadow at Saltram apparently being set to allow water to flood in on only the very highest of tides and with a forecasted high tide height of 5.5metres on Sunday 19th April I headed out to The Plym to see for myself. On arriving there was more water on the Meadow than on my last visit but it certainly wasn't any where near the amount that would usually be present. However there were waders to be seen here and along with the usual Herring Gulls and Shelducks there was an unringed Curlew, 4 Redshank and 6 Greenshank. I also heard the whistling call of a Whimbrel but failed to catch a sight of it.
Otherwise the usual birds were seen on my walk with a Mistle Thrush, a Green Woodpecker, 2 Common Sandpiper, 8 Mandarin Duck (7 males), 3 Stonechats (2 males), Swallows, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps the highlights. A Large White, a Green-veined White, a male Orange-tip and 2 Peacocks were also seen but considering the warm and sunny weather I had expected more in the way of butterfly sightings.
It was mostly sunny but chilly in a north easterly breeze as we headed out to Burrator for a walk on Monday 20th April. The water level in the reservoir was still pretty high but no water was going over the dam this time as a relatively dry spell of weather continues.
There were birds to be seen and heard on our walk with Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Nuthatch and Song Thrush all in good voice along with a distant call of a Cuckoo. A Mistle Thrush and a Green Woodpecker were also heard along with Siskins twittering away in the tops of the pine trees and a single male Siskin was actually seen. Out on the water a Great Crested Grebe, a pair of Mandarin Duck, a Muscovy Duck, the regular 2 white farmyard Geese, 7 Canada Geese, 3 Cormorant and 2 Great Black-backed Gulls were of note.
Just a single butterfly was seen, a male Brimstone, and an Oil Beetle was rescued off the road and placed in nearby vegetation. On the drive back to Plymouth the usual Orchids (Early Purple?) were flowering on the road verge at Yelverton.
I met up with my friend Jan on Tuesday 21st April, we walked from Mount Batten to Bovisand and back and along the cliffpath through the trees it was at least a little bit more sheltered from the strong easterly wind blowing away. Whitethroat and Chiffchaff were seen and heard and a Sparrowhawk flew overhead with a small bird for dinner in its talons. Despite the strong wind I did see some butterflies with single Large White, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Wall Brown all noted.
With some good birds being reported around The Plym I decided to go and take a look about on Thursday 23rd April. It was a lovely sunny day but with a continuing strong easterly wind blowing and I headed out with fingers crossed. I did find a Collared Dove feeding on the beach near the gas pipe, a tricky bird to catch up with on The Plym, and I did see 3 Whimbrel roosting on Blaxton Mud in the company of an unringed Curlew and looking tiny next to it but all the other recent goodies eluded me.
I had an enjoyable walk anyway despite the wind and the highlights were a Sparrowhawk overhead, 4 Greenshank, a Common Sandpiper and a Redshank along the river, the male Red Crested Pochard back on the duck pond, a pair of Canada Geese with 3 small goslings and 12 male Mandarin Ducks, 7 along the stream at the back of Blaxton Mud and 5 at the duck pond including a very early eclipse plumaged bird.
Friday 24th April was yet another beautiful sunny day but with a continuing strong easterly wind as I headed out to Wembury again for a walk. I caught the 7am bus and it was cold in the wind when I arrived but it did warm up in the sunshine as the morning wore on. The wind felt even stronger than yesterday although being on the coast meant I experienced the full blast of it and despite it now getting on my pip a bit I had an interesting walk.
The tide was heading in and along the beach there were at least 15 Whimbrel but they were flighty and mobile. There were 4 Turnstones also present along with the usual Oystercatchers plus 4 Little Egret, 3 Canada Geese, 5 Shelduck and 7 Mallard (1 female).
On arriving at The Point I found a sheltered spot to set up my scope and on scanning about I picked up distant Auks and Manx Shearwaters moving around offshore and 2 flocks of Common Scoter moving east, 2 birds together and then a group of 9. There were Kittiwakes feeding a little closer in and amongst them were a few Manx Shearwaters and closer in again were the usual Gannets and Fulmars. I also picked up Whimbrel moving through and heading east, a flock of 8, then 20, then 21.
Swallows were coming in off the sea or moving east and a flock of 4 Sand Martin arrived and headed straight inland while at Heybrook Bay 9 House Martins were flying about over the buildings. Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and Blackcap were singing away and a brief Wheatear was seen in the sheep field. A Sparrowhawk dashed through the areas of cleared Gorse at The Point while being followed by 2 Linnets and single Buzzard and Kestrel were also noted.
I found 2 Green Hairstreaks in the usual place but they were perched low down on the grass by the footpath to escape the wind, I was also very pleased to find a Green Hairstreak in a new area as it sheltered amongst a Gorse bush. No Adders were found on this visit but I did finally see a Common Lizard as it scuttled across the footpath in front of me as I walked up the valley to the beach, an area I haven't seen them in before.
