Moths, Wembury Visits and a Weird Trip to Perranporth

On checking out the back yard moth box on the morning of Wednesday 9th September I was very pleased to find a Large Ranunculus, another of my Top 10 back yard moths - a beautiful moth but a sign that Autumn is here and that there are not many moth boxing nights left to go this year.

Large Ranunculus

Large Ranunculus 

Other highlights in the trap included a Silver Y, an L-Album Wainscot, a Mullein Wave and a Pale Mottled Willow, my 94th moth species for the back yard this year.

Silver Y

L-AlbumWainscot

Mullein Wave

Pale Mottled Willow

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Later that morning I headed out to Wembury for a walk along the coast path on what was a cloudy but warm day. It was nearly high tide and along the beach near Wembury Point there were quite a collection of Gulls feeding on the rotting seaweed masses and resting on the rocks - mostly Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls but including an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull along with a few juvenile birds, 42 assorted plumaged Mediterranean Gulls (9 Juveniles) and a ringed juvenile Great Black-backed Gull from a ringing scheme in Portland Harbour.

Mediterranean Gulls

GBBGull - ringed in Portland Harbour in June 2019

The Gull highlight though were 2 juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls, the first resting on the sewage pipe but which unfortunately flew off towards Plymouth as I walked closer towards and the second showing much better as it flew in onto the rocks before going to sleep.

Yellow-legged Gull with Herring Gull

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

There was no sign of the recently reported Curlew Sandpipers as expected but I did find 14 Turnstone, 6 Ringed Plover, only 6 Oystercatcher, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit and 3 Dunlin.

Cirl Bunting, Stonechat, a Wheatear, a male Sparrowhawk spooking 5 Meadow Pipit from the grassy sheep field and 28 Canada Geese roosting in the stubble field were also seen along with a few Red Admiral, a Common Lizard, a Flounced Rustic, a Rusty Dot Pearl and a Speckled Wood.

Wheatear

 Flounced Rustic

Rusty Dot Pearl

Speckled Wood

Thursday 10th September was a beautiful autumn day as we headed down to Perranporth for our usual pre-holiday day out although in this weird COVID time we have no holiday to go on this year. It was hot and sunny with very little breeze and we had a lovely day as usual but it was a bit weird - there were many, many more people than usual and we couldn't get a breakfast at The Watering Hole and had to eat at The Dolphin Cafe on the opposite side of the beach, sitting outside and eating out of a take away cardboard box with a wooden knife and fork. The shops all had restricted access, we had our usual cider in a plastic cup and not a glass and we didn't have an ice-cream but this is the new normal for life in general at the moment.

No sign of the recently reported Choughs as expected but I did see 2 Raven, a Fulmar, a Sandwich Tern, a House Martin, a Small Tortoiseshell, a Red Admiral, a Common Darter in the small park and the usual Trout in the stream.

Friday 11th September and with cloudy skies again I decided to revisit Wembury for the high tide roost. I took my telescope with me this time as I had noted a few Mediterranean Gulls with green, yellow and white plastic leg rings amongst the gull flock on my previous visit but they were too far away to read with just my binoculars. I only managed to find 1 ringed Mediterranean Gull on this visit, an adult bird with a white ring on its left leg with code 3LKT, a bird ringed in The Netherlands in June 2012.

Herring, Black-headed, Great Black-backed and a few juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls were roosting on the rocks or feeding on the seaweed masses and amongst them were 66 Mediterranean Gulls (11 juveniles).

Again the gull highlight was a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull feeding amongst the assorted gulls on the seaweed mass along the beach, a subtle looking individual with the usual nonchalance typical of this species and keeping itself away from any nearby gulls (or more likely the other nearby gulls keeping away from it).

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Yellow-legged Gull 

Offshore a group of around 100 Gannets were diving for fish just past The Mewstone while a Fulmar flew west over the stubble field where 23 Canada Geese were roosting. Cirl Bunting, Stonechat, a juvenile Peregrine, a Buzzard, 5 Chiffchaff and a female Blackcap were also noted.

Carrion Crows - white winged fledgling still present around the main beach

Wader numbers had changed and there were 34 Oystercatcher, 18 Turnstone, 11 Ringed Plover, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit and a Dunlin present along the beach and on the rocks. A Kingfisher calling and fishing from the waterline rocks was a nice sighting and just 1 Little Egret was seen offshore flying west.

Bar-tailed Godwit

A Red Admiral, a Common Lizard, a Silver Y, a Devils Coach Horse, 2 Volucella zonaria, a Knot Grass caterpillar, a Satin Wave in the toilet block and a Grey Seal hauled out on the rocks of The Mewstone were the non-avian highlights.

 Satin Wave -2nd Generation

 Common Lizard

Volucella zonaria 

Knot Grass Caterpillar