Gulls and Butterflys

The Herring Gull chicks out on next doors flat roof continue to grow while making lots of poop and lots of noise but they are quite fun to watch. The adults are attentive and protective of them and also make lots of territorial noise and especially so at around 5 O'clock in the morning but hopefully the chicks will fledge soon. Birdy is still larger and more advanced than Burdy who is still sporting downy feathers on his head and we are just hoping that they do not end up being run over on the nearby busy road when they finally fly away.

Herring Gull parents

Birdy and Burdy

Birdy and Burdy

Burdy - smaller and still with downy feathers around the head

Birdy - just about ready to fledge with plenty of noisy wing flapping and lift-offs going on

The nights remain "tropical" as this heatwave continues so I have had the moth box out in the back yard to see what's about. With the bedroom windows remaining open overnight the Gulls are my early morning alarm call and on checking the moth box out on Tuesday 14th July I had a rather disappointing catch considering the weather and the number of moths caught in Mavis and Mikes garden last week.

A yellow form of Jersey Tiger was the highlight but it was gone before I could pot it up. A Pinion-streaked Snout was also an unusual find but I fluffed up the photos. A Small Mottled Willow, a Rush Veneer and 2 Silver Y represented the migrants and a good range of micro moths included Phycita roborella, Metalampa italica, 3 Crassa unitella and Spilonata ocellana.

Swallow-tailed Moth

Phycita roborella

Crassa unitella

Small Dusty Wave

Spilonata ocellana

Metalampa italica

Pinion-streaked Snout

We had a recall by Vauxhall regarding the airbags in our car and after having them replaced (for free) at Vospers at Marsh Mills we had a walk around nearby Saltram. It was a very low tide but a Kingfisher along the river near the sewage outlet was a nice sighting. What wasn't a nice sight was the state of Blaxton Meadow, it was bone dry and not helped by the lack of any recent rain and the back-to-back heatwaves, and it was also covered in weeds and resembling the cricket pitch it once was - so much for salt marsh conservation work.

Blaxton Meadow - becoming more and more depressing

Blaxton Meadow

"Owzat" indeed

The usual birds were seen on our walk around the Park with 3 Swift feeding overhead, a singing Blackcap, Mandarins around the duck pond and noisy Ring-necked Parakeets in the trees the best of it. It was looking dry and parched everywhere but there were good numbers of Gatekeeper flitting about and a male Beautiful Demoiselle was a good find.

I planned to visit Roborough Down with my mate Mavis on Thursday 16th July to look for Grayling but I know from previous experience how difficult they can be to locate here at times. The Down is managed by The Maristow Estate with areas of vegetation regularly cleared or burnt to improve grazing for animals, as it regrows it becomes suitable and then unsuitable for Graylings, an area that is good for them one year can become too overgrown the following year and they move on. With this in mind I decided to visit Roborough Down for a bit of a recee on Wednesday 15th July to try and pin down the best areas to look for them the next day.

It was overcast, breezy and cooler than of late when I arrived off the bus at around 9am but it was still feeling warm and humid. Eventually the sun did start to break through the clouds and it became another hot day again with a warm breeze.

All the small ponds had dried up with the main Dragonfly pond diminished to a small patch of watery, muddy sludge. I did find a Golden-ringed Dragonfly patrolling along the long dried up Leat and I had a brief view of a Common Darter but no other Odonata were seen.

I had a good search for Grayling but after a good look about I had failed to find any,  eventually I was in the right place at the right time and managed to see just 2 individuals resting on the ground.

Grayling

Grayling

There were lots of Gatekeepers on the wing though, they seemed to be everywhere along with Silver-Y moths and there were also good numbers of Hornet Robber Flies seen resting on animal dung and waiting for a passing meal.

Hornet Robber Fly

Hornet Robber Fly

A female Brimstone, a Small Copper, Meadow Brown, a Small Heath, a Peacock, a Small White, a brief fly-by Silver-washed Fritillary, Red Admiral, Painted Lady and a Wall Brown were also seen flitting about.

Bird wise it was quiet but 2 Green Woodpecker, a male Bullfinch and a male Yellowhammer were of note but the highlight were sightings of 3 singing male Dartford Warbler, they were keeping down in the Gorse but I had brief views of them as they flew between the bushes.

With the heat building again I was glad to return home on the bus after grabbing an iced bun from the Strawberry Fields Cafe. Unfortunately my Roborough Down visit with Mavis had to be cancelled but I did meet up with my old work friend Monica that morning as planned (Thursday 16th July) and while waiting for her to arrive I watched an Emperor Dragonfly and around 4 Small Red-eyed Damselfly buzzing around at Drakes Reservoir on North Hill.

Dartmoor Mothing and Cornwall Butterflying

The third heatwave of the summer continues to build and it is becoming increasingly hot and humid again, most unpleasant, but I guess this weather suits the insects. With that in mind I took my moth box up to Dartmoor on Thursday 9th July and set it up in Mavis and Mike's garden to see what we could catch and on checking it out the next morning we had caught an interesting range of species although many were familiar to me from my efforts in my inner city courtyard garden here in Plymouth.

Mavis had woken early to turn off the bulbs and cover over the trap but there had been quite a few moths resting on the white walls of the house. The box was full of moths too but some had managed to escape and some had fallen prey to birds including a young Robin which was in the box having a massive breakfast feast!

The highlights were Elephant Hawkmoths, a Lobster Moth, a Sycamore, a Marbled Beauty, a female Ghost Moth, a very worn Jersey Mocha, a male Black Arches, a Rosy Footman and a Mother of Pearl.

Lobster Moth

Sycamore

Mother Of Pearl

After packing away the trap David and I headed up to Burrator for a walk where it was baking hot even in the shade. As a result it was quiet on the wildlife front but Silver-washed Fritillary, a Clouded Yellow and a Comma were the best of the butterflies and a flyover Siskin, 2 Swallows and 8 Cormorant were the best of the birds. A few Sundew were found in the remaining wet areas by the roadside and there were quite a few Keeled Skimmers buzzing around with 2 mating pairs also seen

Keeled Skimmer

Keeled Skimmers 

Keeled Skimmer

Against all my better judgement I decided to head down to Hayle by train on Saturday 11th July to go and look for Silver-studded Blues and Brown Argus at the nearby Upton Towans nature reserve. It was another hot and sunny day but temperatures were forecasted to be a little lower at Hayle than in Plymouth and there was going to be a bit more of a breeze so I packed lots of water and set off. 

The first train of the day was meant to leave Plymouth at 07:40hrs but it was cancelled, luckily I had checked the GWR App before I left the house so I caught the next train at 08:07 hrs which only had 2 carriages instead of 3 and was packed. One of the 2 carriages had some fierce air-conditioning and was delightfully cold, like travelling in a fridge, and so it wasn't too uncomfortable a journey.

The train was late into Hayle by 15 minutes and after a 45 minute hot and sweaty uphill walk with little shade along the way and a hot breeze that offered no cooling I eventially arrived at Upton Towans at around 11am to start my butterfly walk. By this time it was seriously hot and to begin with it seemed butterfly-less but eventually I began to find them.

Upton Towans

The usuals were present - Red Admiral, Peacock, Painted Lady, Gatekeeper, Small Skipper and Meadow Brown - and eventually I found what I was looking for with Silver-studded Blues seen flitting about low over the turf. I had forgotten how small they were and they were very active in the heat, most were looking worn but a few still looked smart although I never managed to get a view of their upperwings. The numbers present were much lower than on my previous visits too but I've never visited at such a late date before.

Silver-studded Blue

Silver-studded Blue

Silver-studded Blue

Silver-studded Blue 

Silver-studded Blue

Silver-studded Blue

I also found a few Brown Argus flitting about, again they were very active in the high temperatures with some looking smart and some looking worn.

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Dark Green Fritillary were also dashing about but I never saw one stop for a second and also seen were a Small Copper, a Clouded Yellow, a Large White and a male Common Blue. Pyramidal Orchids were dotted about in the dunes but were looking the worse for wear with the lack of rain and the only birds of note were a Stonechat, a singing Skylark and a pair of agitated Meadow Pipits which must have had a nest nearby so I quickly moved on.

I had had enough after 2 hours and was starting to feel a bit dizzy, my camera was also starting to play up with the heat and so I began my walk back to Hayle. I had a look along Copperhouse Creek along the way where a Greenshank was in amongst a flock of 22 Redshank, Mediterranean Gulls were in amongst the Black-headed Gulls and 2 Little Egret were having a spat. I also saw a female Pintail swimming past with a female Mallard, later on checking my photos I noticed it had a blue plastic ring on its right leg.

Pintail

A Philps pasty for a late lunch was very tasty as I waited for my train at Hayle, it arrived on time with only 5 coaches instead of 10 so I expected it to be packed out but it wasn't too bad and was again delightfully air-conditioned. Things were going well until we reached Par where the points jammed and we were stuck there for 90 minutes while they were fixed, at least we had the air-conditioning keeping us cool and we were also given complimentary bottles of water by the train crew.

In hindsight it probably wasn't the wisest decision to head down to Hayle by train on a Saturday during a heatwave with the trains being a bit of a nightmare as per the warnings given out by GWR before I even left the house. The dunes at Upton Towans also have no shade and while the breeze was a little cooling when up on the top of the dunes it was unbelievably hot and airless down in the dips where the butterflies were with the heat really starting to make me feel ill. But I saw my butterfly's, I got to spend nearly 6 hours on air-conditioned trains in a heatwave and I managed to claim back £6.10 of the £9.75 ticket price with Delay Repay so it wasn't all bad.