Butterflying may be pretty much done for the year and birding should start to pick up now but there are still some legs in mothing and with the current hot weather I've had the moth box out in the backyard to see what's about. Catches have been small but varied and with some interesting migrant moths turning up including Small Mottled Willow, Rush Veneer, Palpita vitrealis, Turnip Moth and Vestal.
I caught the 7am bus out to Wembury on Monday 7th August, it felt pleasantly cool when I arrived but was baking hot again by the time I headed home. It felt very non-birdy and it was slow going but I did eventually find a Reed Warbler in the bushes around the cattle water trough at The Point before it disappeared amongst the foliage. The male Common Scoter was still in close to the beach and busily diving away, maybe it's moulting it's flight feathers and is sticking around at a good food source as they regrow?
The wheatfield has been cut and the hay bales were being loaded onto a trailer but the strip nearest the footpath remains uncut, presumably for a winter feeding area for the Cirl Buntings.
Plenty of Clouded Yellows were still on the wing including an helice type while at the main beach at least 2 Bee-wolf were present and a make Common Darter was found along the stream in the valley to the beach.
We had a partial solar eclipse here in Plymouth on Wednesday August 12th, 27 years and a day after we had a total eclipse which was unfortunately marred by cloudy skies. This time round the skies were totally cloud free on yet another scorching hot day and we headed up to Plymouth Hoe to watch it with our special viewing glasses bought back in 1999 (although in hindsight they probably weren't the best things to use after all this time). The totality was around 95% but the temperature noticeably dropped as we reached that percentage cover at around 19:15hrs when the light became eerie and unusual and the shadows had blurry edges to them.
As the sky darkened House Sparrows started to come in to roost in some nearby bushes, they were being quite noisey but then went totally silent until the light levels began to rise again when they returned to their noisey chirpings. The Herring Gulls also started calling noisely as the eclipse waned and the skies brightened, just as they do at first light in the mornings. All in all an interesting experience and later topped off by watching the first night of the National Firework Championships at Sutton Harbour.
We attended the funeral of dear Mike, the husband of Mavis, on Friday 14th August, it was held at a new crematorium near Roborough in a very peaceful setting amongst the trees and it was a lovely service. Mike used to come out with myself and Mavis on our birdy days out but in recent years health issues have meant he couldn't join us although he always kept his interest and love for the natural world with him. I will remember him as always being cheerful and laughing, always interesting to talk to and a proper gentleman who will be sadly missed.
I headed out to Wembury on Saturday 15th August, it was cool and cloudy when I arrived off the 7am bus but as usual it was baking hot, sunny and humid by the time I caught the bus back to Plymouth. It was coming up to high tide and at The Point there were 2 Curlew, 3 Redshank, a Common Sandpiper and a Dunlin roosting amongst the Oystercatchers and also present were at least 28 Mediterranean Gulls including 3 juveniles and a ringed adult bird (details awaited). The male Common Scoter was also still present close in to the beach and was watched diving away and bringing up Crabs to eat at the surface.
A Grey Heron was picked up offshore flying west low over the sea but otherwise the sea was quiet. A Feral Pigeon flew over The Point shortly followed by a Peregrine and other birds of prey seen were a Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk and 3 Buzzards. A beautifully yellow-looking juvenile Willow Warbler was flitting about in The Pines, my first at Wembury this year, a juvenile Wheatear was feeding in the sheep field and 2 Swift were feeding overhead amongst the Swallows and House Martins.
There were still plenty of butterflies flitting about although with the heat there are fewer and fewer plants in flower for them to feed on. There seemed to be even more Clouded Yellows on the wing than previously and a smart helice type was also seen.
An Icterine Warbler had been found last Thursday in the valley to the beach by local birder David, it was higher up the valley than I would usually walk and I had a half-hearted look for it in the tangle of vegetation there but with no luck, as expected.
On the bus heading back to Plymouth I had a message about a Great White Egret being found along The Plym and so I jumped off the bus at Laira Bridge and walked up to Marsh Mills to look for it. I eventually found it feeding along the river off Blaxton Meadow where it towered over the Little Egrets fishing nearby, a nice ending to my birding day out.
