Butterflies and Dragonflies

It was forecasted to be dry and mostly sunny on Saturday 27th July and so I decided to head out to Wembury for a walk. I didn't manage to get going in time to catch the 7am bus so I caught the 9am bus instead but with the high tide being at around 11am I wasn't too bothered by my tardy arrival.

I wasn't expecting much along the beach with it being nice weather, a Saturday and holiday hell time but it was surprisingly quiet on the dog walker front and as a result there were Oystercatchers roosting along the shore with a Common Sandpiper, a Little Egret, an adult Mediterranean Gull moulting into winter plumage and 9 Mallard (3 female, 6 eclipse plumage males).

There were Gannets milling around offshore including a few juveniles which was good to see after the ravages of avian flu. A juvenile and a 2nd calendar year Mediterranean Gull also flew past.

Cirl Buntings, Stonechats and Linnets were showy, Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs not so much, while overhead Swallows and House Martins flitted about. A noisy and flighty Green Woodpecker was seen at The Point along with brief views of 2 Dartford Warblers and a juvenile Willow Warbler showed briefly in the pines where 2 yellowy looking juvenile Coal Tits were much more accomodating.

Cirl Bunting

The highlight though was a Reed Warbler in the valley to the beach, skulking in the undergrowth with 2+ Cetti's Warblers and responding to some phishing before melting away into the foliage.

Better numbers of butterflies were flying around too, some very smart looking Peacocks were feeding on the Buddleia flowers along with Red Admirals and also seen were Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, 2 Speckled Wood, a Small Copper, Large White, male Common Blues and Small White.

Peacock

Sunday 28th July was hot and sunny and so I headed up to Roborough Down for another look about for Grayling. There were certainly more butterflies around than of late and I managed a good total of 14 species - a Small Copper, Gatekeeper, Small White, Meadow Brown, a Ringlet, Large White, 2 Speckled Wood, a Painted Lady, 3 male and a female Brimstone, a Small Tortoiseshell, a Peacock, Red Admiral, a Silver-washed Fritillary and best of all around 20 Grayling.

Roborough Down

Grayling

Grayling

It was quiet birdwise with Linnets, Stonechats, Swallows, a Buzzard, 2 male Yellowhammers and Willow Warblers the highlights. Also seen were 4+ Broad-bodied Chaser, an Emperor Dragonfly, 4+ Common Darter, a male Beautiful Demoiselle and a few Azure Damselfly.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Common Darter

Common Darter

Azure Damselfly

In other news, Birdy 2024 had been giving us some cause for concern as he didn't seem to be developing properly. He must have been well over 6 weeks old but appeared to be having trouble trying to fly. He didn't appear to be injured when we placed him on the flat roof 4 weeks ago but maybe he had damaged something on his journey down the chimney or maybe he had some kind of congenital problem. Anyway, he would flap his wings, leap up into the air, make an horrendous noise and then crash back down on the roof.

He ended up falling into our courtyard on Saturday 27th July so we decided to give him a moment to himself before trying to catch him and giving him a check up. However he managed to get himself back up on to the flat roof while we weren't looking so he must have managed to fly a little. The next day he was flapping his wings more strongly, lifting up into the air a little higher and not making so much noise so we kept our fingers crossed - and the next morning (Monday 29th July) he was gone! I hope he fairs well, in the past the fledglings have occassionally returned to the flat roof for a visit and I hope Birdy 2024 does too so I know he is OK. And I'm going to miss him and all the noise and the poop and the arsey adults divebombing us!

With us literally both experiencing empty nest syndrome on Monday 29th July we headed out to Shaugh Prior for a walk after first watching local lad Tom Daley winning a diving silver medal at the Paris Olympics on the TV. It was a hot and sunny day and we figured it would be cooler on Dartmoor under the shade of the trees and indeed it was but by the time we were heading back to the car at the end of our walk it had noticeably heated up.

There was not much to report on the wildlife front with 5 Swifts and a few Swallows overhead, female Beautiful Demoiselles flitting about, a Southern Hawker perched up in the shade of a tree, a herd of 8 Fallow Deer feeding out in the open in a grassy field and 2+ very flitty Silver-washed Fritillary feeding on Buddleia flowers being the highlights.

Southern Hawker