The next morning (Wednesday 31st July) I had quite a haul of moths (for my back yard) with four of my favourite back yard moths present amongst them - Four-spotted Footman (2 males, 4 females), Mullein Wave (2), Jersey Tiger (4) and Marbled Green (2).
Four-spotted Footman (Male and Female)
Mullein Wave
Marbled Green
Other highlights in the trap were Cloaked Minor, a Yponomeuta Sp., Square-spot Rustic, Cydia splendana (Chestnut Tortrix), Knot Grass, Nut-tree Tussock, Brimstone Moth, Diamond-back Moth and Rusty-dot Pearl.
Cloaked Minor
Yponomeuta Sp.
Square-spot Rustic
Cydia splendana
Friday 2nd August was forecasted to be cooler and cloudier after all the recent hot, sunny and sticky weather and so I headed out on the 7am bus to Wembury for a walk. It was cloudy and refreshingly cooler than of late but as the morning wore on the sun appeared and it became very hot very quickly before clouding over and cooling down again. Luckily I did manage to beat the dog walkers and for my troubles on the dropping tide I found 1 Curlew, 1+ Whimbrel, 1 summer plumaged Sanderling, 2 Redshank, 2 Common Sandpiper and 5 Ringed Plover present with the Oystercatchers along the beach. Also present were 2 Little Egret, 9 Mallard (2 female, 7 eclipse male), an adult and juvenile Sandwich Tern and 35+ variously plumaged adult and 2nd calendar year Mediterranean Gulls with 5 juveniles amongst them.
The usual land birds were seen too - Cirl Buntings, Stonechats, Linnets, Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs - with a Green Woodpecker heard and 2 Swallows flying over. A small chick was seen running into cover at The Point, a Pheasant or more likely a Red-legged Partridge, but there was no sign of a parent bird. Offshore Gannets were passing by heading west with juvenile birds amongst them.
Cirl Buntings
At least 3 Wall Brown, a Painted Lady and a Small Skipper were seen along with the usual butterflies and including a smart looking Red Admiral sucking up salts from the muddy bank of the stream in the valley to the beach. Also along the stream was a good count of 2 female and 7 male Beautiful Demoiselle.
Wall Brown
Painted Lady
Before heading off to bed on Friday 2nd August I had a look at the bird news sites and with an array of goodies reported to be on show at Exminster Marsh I decided on a visit the next morning. However I had a rough night's sleep due to feeling unwell and I didn't feel great when I finally got up in the morning but after popping some pills and having some breakfast I felt a little better and so decided to head off anyway. I ended up catching a much later train than I originally planned and I figured I would just take things slow and gentle and see how things went.
I arrived at the Marsh at around 11:15hrs, it was overcast and refreshingly cool after the recent hot and sunny weather and I began my walk down the back path towards the Discovery Pool. I kept my eyes open and upward and checked out anything large flying over and within 5 minutes I jammed in on the reported Purple Heron flying over, a nice UK tick! It was distant but the views were decent and prolonged as it did a lap of the Marsh before dropping down out of sight into a ditch near the Main Lagoon.
I eventually arrived at the Discovery Pool, viewing was difficult with a lot of vegetation growing up in front of the viewing screen but I quickly found the 2 reported Wood Sandpipers which showed very nicely along with the 2 female/juvenile Garganey. It was a bit busy with birders and a bit twitchy though so I continued on to the Viewing Platform by the canal to have my lunch. I spent some time watching the skies from the platform but the Purple Heron sadly didn't reveal itself again so I returned to the Discovery Pool to admire the Wood Sandpipers and Garganey again and this time there were also 3 Green Sandpipers present which were delightfully noisey and regularly calling.
Wood Sandpiper
Garganey
Other birds of note on my walk were a Lapwing, 3 Snipe flying over, Black-tailed Godwits, a Kestrel, a Bar-headed Goose in with the Canada Geese, Sand Martins in with the House Martins and Swallows, a mobile feeding flock of Chiffchaffs and Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits, Sedge Warblers calling in the undergrowth and Reed Warblers flitting about in the reeds.
A Comma was a nice find and the usual Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Red Admirals and Whites were flitting about too. There were also plenty of Amber Snails on the leaves of the reeds, I don't recall ever having seen them before.
Red Admiral
Amber Snail
All too soon it was time to begin the journey back to Plymouth but it had been a enjoyable walk despite my not feeling that well and I managed to see all the birds I wanted to see which was nice. And if I hadn't been feeling unwell I would have arrived at the Marsh earlier than I did and probably wouldn't have seen the Purple Heron so silver linings!
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