Local Wildlife and a Better Mood

I headed out to Saltram for a look about on Sunday 10th May, it was a sunny day but feeling cool in the brisk north-easterly wind unless sheltered from it. With a bit of a Clothes Moth infestation going on at home at the moment and with the new moth killer sprays we've bought nowhere near as effective as the old (and now banned) ones that we've used in the past we've had to resort to using special smoke bombs so hence my need to get out of the house for a few hours.

I had a look for Dingy Skippers in the 2 areas of Chelson Meadow that I saw them in last year, I couldn't find any but I wasn't able to  linger there for long and the site was very exposed in the brisk wind. The only butterflies I saw here were a Small Heath and a male Common Blue while 5 Swifts feeding overhead were a nice sighting.

Blaxton Meadow was depressingly back to being virtually waterless despite the high tide and only Gulls, Shelducks, Carrion Crows, a Little Egret and a Grey Heron were present - The National Trust are doing such a great job here - while out on the river near the gas pipe sign an Oystercatcher was roosting on the small area of mud with 4 Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls and an immature Cormorant. There was no sight or sound of the Willow Warbler on todays visit but to finish off my walk there were 2 moths in the Marsh Mills Underpass, a Small Dusty Wave and a Pale Tussock.

Pale Tussock

I met up with my old work friend Sue on Monday 11th May, we ended up going out to lunch at the Strawberry Fields Diner on Roborough Down where we sat upstairs in front of a large picture window looking out across the countryside towards Cornwall. The grass fields near the Diner were being cut for sillage/hay making and this had attracted in 4 Red Kites along with 2 Ravens, 3 Buzzards and Carrion Crows which we enjoyed watching as we ate our lunch and chatted.

Red Kite

Wednesday 13th May was sunny but cool in a brisk north-westerly breeze and with more Cloths Moth smoke bomb detonations scheduled I had to vacate the house and so I headed out to Wembury for a walk. I didn't get going very early and ended up catching the 10am bus but it actually ended up working out very well as the cool wind was keeping people away and there wasn't too much disturbance along the beach on the incoming tide.

There were 31 Turnstones out on the rocks near the main beach, all looking smart in summer plumage and presumably migrants and not local wintering birds. I also picked up a flock of 10 small waders offshore and flying west, they quickly disappeared from sight before I could get a good look at them but they appeared to be heading into the beach at The Point so I carried on with my walk in the hope of refinding them.

At The Point the usual Oystercatchers were present out on the rocks along with at least 6 flighty and mobile Whimbrel which often gave their delightful whistling call as they flew along the beach. I also heard the plaintive call of a Grey Plover and eventually found it out on the rocks where it was surprisingly very well camoflagued before it flew onto the beach to feed. I then heard the plaintive call of a Ringed Plover which was easier to find out on the rocks, it was in the company of 2 Dunlin before they all took off and headed west and out of sight.

Grey Plover

As the tide came in the waders moved closer to the shore and I found a presumed 1st summer Bar-tailed Godwit in non-breeding plumage feeding along the waters edge before roosting on the nearby rocks where it was joined by 2 Sanderling. 

Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit and Whimbrel

Bar-tailed Godwit and Oystercatcher

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

To finish off the mini-waderfest a flock of 9 waders suddenly flew in to the waters edge, possibly 9 of the 10 I had seen earlier and consisting of 5 Dunlin and 4 Sanderling, but with time now marching on I had to leave to head back to Plymouth.

Along the walk back to the bus stop I had a quick scan offshore and picked up Manx Shearwaters moving about and circling around in a feeding flock with Gannets and Fulmars, about 100 birds in total but I couldn't see any cetaceans underneath them. To finish off my walk I found a Common Lizard sunning itself on the wall near the bus stop, my first proper view of one this year.

Common Lizard

With time still to kill before I could return to our smoke filled house I stopped off at Laira Bridge for a walk along The Plym up to Marsh Mills. An Osprey had been seen catching a fish here around lunchtime the previous day so I kept my eyes open along my walk but without any luck.

I had another quick look around Chelson Meadow where it was a little more protected from the wind than on my last visit and I finally found a Dingy Skipper but in a different area than where I've seen them before. It was quite faded and I only managed a record shot before it was gone but I was glad to have finally found one here.

Dingy Skipper

Common Blue

Despite the high tide Blaxton Meadow was in the same depressing state as usual but there was some water slowly trickling in through the sluice gates. The usual birds were present - Canada Goose, Shelduck, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Herring Gull - and there were also 4 Little Egret roosting along the back wall and 2 very smart looking adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls in amongst the Herring Gulls.

Hairstreaks, Skippers and a Bad Mood

A report of a Spotted Flycatcher at Saltram on Thursday 7th May had me heading out there for a quick morning walk in cool and overcast conditions, needless to say I didn't find the Flycatcher but they can be tricky to catch up with here and it's a case of right place, right time to see one. A bonus though was actually getting to see the Willow Warbler that is still singing it's heart out by the gas pipe sign, distant views only from the opposite side of the river but it was regularly perched up right at the top of the trees as it sang.

There was some water on Blaxton Meadow again as the flowing tide trickled in through one of the sluice gates but when the tide dropped the water quickly started to drain away through the new and improved drainage pipe. There were birds roosting on the Meadow on the high tide though with a Curlew, a Whimbrel, 3 Oystercatchers, Shelduck, a Little Egret and Gulls all present.

The male Red-crested Pochard was back at the duck pond, 3 Swifts flew around overhead, a Goldcrest and a Nuthatch were having a bathe in a puddle and a Grey Wagtail was feeding on the Saltram House lawn while along the river there was a good count of 7 Mute Swans.

Red-crested Pochard

Mute Swan

Willow Warbler record shot 

Friday 8th May was warm and sunny as I headed out to Wembury on the 9am bus, it was coming up to high tide so I headed straight out to The point for the wader roost. I could see Oystercatchers roosting on the rocks so it appeared that the roost hadn't been disturbed that morning but just as I was nearing the sewage pipe a man with a telescope appeared and flushed everything as he walked along the beach. He then turned around and set up his scope to scan the now empty beach he'd just walked along! Eventually the birds returned to the rocks and I began to scan through them but then a woman with a dog walked out onto the rocks and threw her dogs ball into the water right by the roosting birds which all scattered again as the dog jumped into the water to retrieve it. 

To make matters even worse a fishing boat appeared from the direction of Plymouth, a new boat I've not seen before but one emblazoned with the name and number Azzurro and E566. It headed to the mouth of the River Yealm and began pulling up fishing nets before moving along the coast towards The Point and even pulling up nets close off the main beach. From my position at The Point it was too distant and the light too harsh for any useful photos but I managed to snap a few as it passed by me on its way back towards Plymouth and I'll send in a report yet again to the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority.

An easily identifiable Boat

I am really getting f*ck*d off with all this fishing activity going on at Wembury in a supposedly protected area, the staff in the Marine Centre overlooking the Bay must be aware of what's going on outside their window in the waters that they are supposed to be the guardians of but when I spoke to them about this last year they were mostly indifferent and uninterested.

Anyway, back to the wildlife and despite the wader disturbance at The Point I did find at least 6 Whimbrel, 3 Turnstone and a flighty Sanderling amongst the Oystercatchers along with 4 Shelduck, a Little Egret and 6 Mallard (5 males). The Green Hairstreaks were showing well in their usual spot at The Point and a few Painted Lady were also seen flitting about. A Red-legged Partridge was heard calling in the sheep field as I headed back to the bus stop and as I walked up the valley to the beach a noisy Peregrine flew low overhead clutching a bird in its talons and being mobbed by 2 Carrion Crow, a noisy Buzzard then appeared low overhead too and was also being mobbed by 2 Carrion Crow and all the kerfuffle set off a fledgling Tawny Owl hidden somewhere in the trees which called noisily for a while before going silent.

Sanderling and Turnstones

Green Hairstreak

On the way home I stopped off at Billacombe to look for Dingy Skippers and to add to the general feeling of crapness about the day the site at Billacombe is earmarked for housing development so this will be the last year I will get to see Dingy Skipper here. The path through the trees to the site has been cleared and widened and the felt squares dotted around the site to attract reptiles are tell tale signs of impending development as any reptiles found underneath them will be relocated elsewhere and earn the developer an environmental chufty badge in the process. Unfortunately you can't relocate Dingy Skippers and I wouldn't be surprised if the housing estate isn't sadly and ironically called something crass like Skipper Meadows which the residents will think delightfully twee while not realising that their houses have been built on Dingy Skipper corpses.

The encroaching house building at Billacombe Quarry

Anyway, it was feeling very hot when I arrived to look for the Skippers and I figured it would be too hot for them to be active and so it proved to be as after 2 hours of searching I failed to find any. There were other things to keep me occupied though and I saw flowering Early Purple Orchids (although they were beginning to go over), at least 2 very smart looking male Common Blues, a noisy flyover Ring-necked Parakeet and a surprise Clouded Yellow which regularly flew a lap of the site before disappearing, only to return a few minutes later to do it all again. Even more of a surprise were a pair of Tawny Owl that called from the depths of the nearby trees before going silent. At least the felt squares dotted around the site gave me the opportunity to see some Slow Worms with 5 found hiding underneath them, it's been a while now since I last saw one.

Early Purple Orchid

Common Blue

Clouded Yellow on a very brief nectar stop

Slow Worms

After 2 hours of searching I was just about to give up and head home when a Dingy Skipper flew past me and after a quick look about I relocated it sunning itself on the ground where I could see one of its wings was damaged before it flew off and disappeared. I then thought I had refound it again sunning itself nearby but it turned out to be a different individual with intact wings.

Dingy Skipper with a damaged wing

Dingy Skipper with intact wings

Dave the Butterfly Guy then arrived and we had a good catch up as we haven't seen each other since August last year and we managed to refind the intact Dingy Skipper  before it just disappeared from sight again and that was my cue to head home.

Dingy Skipper

So all in all a successful day was had but one tinged with sadness and frustration. I'm all for the countryside being accessible to everybody and I love people getting to see wildlife but the public really do need educating about how to behave in it as the increasing disturbance and the increasing dog shit and litter at Wembury attest too. And also what is the point of designating areas of the countryside conservation zones if they are not going to be monitored and protected? We all have to eat but I wonder how many people know where the fish on their plate at a Barbican restaurant has actually come from? And as to Billacombe, we all need somewhere to live but why can't housing developments be more usefully sympathetic to the wildlife it's being built on top of? Add in the impending loss of the Chelson Meadow site and the drying out of Blaxton Meadow at Saltram and no wonder I'm fed up at the moment with this incessant onslaught on local wildlife - or maybe I'm just a grumpy old man in a bad mood.

To cap things off I found my first Tick of the year that evening busily biting away at the back of my calf, presumably picked up on my Dartmoor day out with Mavis a few days earlier and probably the first of many to come as usual.