I actually managed to get myself organised for a change on Wednesday 29th May and caught the 7am bus out to Wembury for a walk on what was a grey and cool morning. It did get a little warmer as the day wore on and there were even a few very brief sunny spells too but also occassional mizzle. The lack of sun precluded any butterfly sightings but there was quite a bit of insect activity going on despite the cool conditions.
It was very quiet on the bird front, spring definitely seems to have sprung as summer settles in but I did bump into local birder David who had seen a Hobby so it's not quite over yet. He had also seen a Red-legged Partridge, the first sighting at Wembury this year as far as I am aware so it's good to know they are still present if elusive.
Sighting highlights for me were a brief view of a Cetti's Warbler singing in the valley to the beach, a brief flight and perched up view of a female Dartford Warbler at The Point, a few Gannets offshore, a flock of 5 Swallows flying over heading west, a male Stonechat with 3 fledglings in tow and 2 Turnstones feeding along the beach.
Saturday 1st June became a warm and sunny day after a cool and fresh start and so I headed off on the bus for a long walk, starting off at Marsh Mills and ending up at Laira Bridge via Plymbridge and Cann Woods. Having failed to find Tree Pipits at Grenofen Wood last week I thought I would give Cann Woods a try but I was out of luck again. I haven't visited Cann Woods since 2020 when I saw/ heard 3 singing male Tree Pipits and despite drawing a blank on this visit it was nice to be back for a look about.
I did get some good views of 3 Garden Warblers at Cann Woods though, a singing male with a presumed female feeding close by and later another bird with a beakful of insects for nestlings. Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Willow Warblers were all singing away too and Siskins were songflighting overhead.
Onwards to the more familiar territory of The Plym Estuary and Saltram and the tide was heading in. A pair of Mute Swan were out on the water with 2 small cygnets, again I'm not sure where they have actually nested on The Plym this year,and there were also 2 pairs of Canada Geese present with 3 goslings each.
The female Red-crested Pochard was back on the duck pond where 8 male and 7 female Mandarin were also present with the males already beginning to moult into their eclipse plumage.
There was quite a showing of Bee Orchids on Chelson Meadow, easily over a 100 spikes. At least 16 Southern Marsh Orchid were in flower too along with plenty of Grass Vetchling, a shame that this will be their last year of flowering with the solar farm construction due to begin soon.
A few Small Heath and Common Blue were flitting about along with 3 Meadow Brown and a female Orange Tip. A fresh looking Common Darter was crashing about in the bushes and a few Azure Blues were buzzing around at the nearby dipping pond.
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