As meteological autumn arrives I had my moth box out in the back yard for only the 3rd time this year. It was a warm and humid but breezy night and on checking the box out on waking up on Sunday 1st September I had a nice haul of moths. A late Jersey Tiger Moth was a surprise with more usual fare including a Yellow-barred Brindle, a Yellow Shell, a Willow Beauty and a Blastobasis adustella. There were plenty of Large Yellow Underwings going bonkers in the box, living up to their alternative name of Large Yellow Blunderwings, and I had to be very careful as there were some very pissy Wasps buzzing around in the box too. Square Spot Rustic were present and showing a range of colouration and a Small Dusty Wave was, I think, a garden first.
Migrant moths were present too with a Rusty Dot Pearl, 2 Diamond-back Moths and 2 Palpita vitrealis all noted. A Box Tree Moth was in the trap too, a very pretty introduced moth but a very destructive one.
Monday 2nd September was warm and humid, still and mizzley and with heavy showers and periods of rain but I headed out to Saltram and The Plym for a walk anyway as the previous day had seen some interesting birds being reported there, namely Redstart, Tree Pipit, Whinchat and Sand Martin. I was hoping that some if not all of these birds might have stuck around and still be present but I wasn't expecting much in the grotty weather.
As it turned out I was too late to the party with just the Sand Martins still around with at least 4 seen feeding within a flock of Swallow and House Martin over the cow fields, my first for The Plym this year.
A Kestrel, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Jay, at least 7 Ring-necked Parakeets, 3 Stonechats and 2 Common Sandpipers were the other highlights with a Green Woodpecker and a Nuthatch also heard. A few Meadow Brown were seen too in the drier spells on what was a claggy and damp walk.
Tuesday 3rd September was cooler and fresher with mizzley spells as I headed out to The Plym and Saltram again. It was claggier than forecasted but it did eventually clear up and the sun appeared from behind the clouds.
Blaxton Meadow was flooded on the high tide but there were 33 Curlew, 12 Greenshank and 5 Dunlin roosting with the Redshanks and the 4 Mute Swans (2 adults with their 2 cygnets) were out on the river with Canada Geese.
A look around Chelson Meadow was initially a bust but I decided to give it some time and as the sun began to emerge the birds appeared with 4 Stonechats (2 males, 2 juveniles) and a Whitethroat seen. Eventually I found 3 Whinchat which showed very well at times although they were flighty and very mobile across the Meadow and possibly new arrivals since the weekends birds. A Spotted Flycatcher was also found feeding along the boundary hedgerow but the highlight was a sighting of a Clouded Yellow, my first of the year.
A Green Woodpecker, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Jay, a Roe Deer and a Small Heath were the best of the rest with Swallows noted overhead but there were no House or Sand Martins to be seen.
I had an early start on Wednesday 4th September as I headed off to Wembury on the 6:30am bus for a walk. It was fresh and cool at such an early hour but warmed up as the day wore on although when the sun occassionally disappeared behind the clouds the temperature noticeably dropped. I had originally planned to first walk along the cliffpath towards The Yealm before heading to The Point but when I arrived off the bus I changed my mind and headed straight to The Point, a good decision as it turned out.
It was high tide and I could see a flock of Mallards out on the water just off the beach at The Point, as I got nearer I stopped to count them and there were 46 birds present, however 1 was noticeably much smaller than the others and on getting nearer to them I was very pleased to see it was actually a Teal. Even more of a surprise was a Pale-bellied Brent Goose which flew in from the west to join them briefly before continuing on its journey east.
Along the beach with the usual Oystercatchers were 7 Ringed Plover, 6 Turnstone and 4 Curlew with an unseen Redshank heard calling. 4 Little Egrets were present too.
I attempted to count the Mediterranean Gulls present amongst the Gulls out on the rocks and in the stubble field but they were flighty and mobile and often obscured from view, I counted 39 birds (3 juveniles) but undoubtedly more were present. A juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull was also present amongst the Gulls along the beach while also roosting in the stubble field were 36 Canada Geese.
I had a scan offshore with my scope, Gannets were noted flying about and a pair of Common Scoter flew east. I picked up a Balearic Shearwater flying west just out past The Mewstone and shortly afterwards a flock of 13 flew west much closer to shore and showing a variety of underpart tones as they went.
A juvenile Dartford Warbler was flitting about in the vegetation at The Point in the company of Stonechat, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff while in The Pines a Green Woodpecker, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chiffchaffs, a Willow Warbler and 2 Spotted Flycatcher were seen (the Spot Flys having been found by Jenny the previous day and luckily still present). A Spotted Flycatcher and a Willow Warbler were also seen in the valley to the beach.
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