The wind had died down again on Friday 1st May but it was overcast and cool as I caught the 7am bus out to Wembury for a walk. The breeze did gently pick up along my walk though but the clouds did eventually clear and it became a pleasantly warm and sunny day.
The high tide was ebbing when I arrived off the bus and so I headed straight down to The Point to look for waders before the dog walkers arrived and I was in luck with Oystercatchers, 10 Turnstone, 7 summer plumaged Dunlin, at least 16 Whimbrel and 23 variously plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit all present along with 7 Little Egret and 3 Shelduck.
I watched the Bar-tailed Godwits feeding away on the sea weed mass or roosting on the nearby rocks for over an hour with the summer plumaged males looking just stunning but as the tide dropped the birds began to disperse and it was time to move on.
I wasn't expecting to find any butterflies on my walk but once the sky cleared they began to appear with 5 Green Hairstreaks, a male Brimstone, a Small Copper, 2 Speckled Wood, 3 Large White, Peacock and male Orange-tip all seen. There had obviously been an arrival of Painted Lady too with at least 7 seen dashing about at The Point and feeding on Red Valerian flowers, they looked a little faded but were all in good condition.
Other highlights on my walk were 3 Red-legged Partridge in the wheatfield, a Sparrowhawk soaring overhead being bravely mobbed by a Swallow, a Pied Wagtail and 2 Linnet, the usual Cirl Buntings, Stonechats and Whitethroats, a flock of 8 Gannets offshore heading west and the usual Fulmars around The Mewstone.
Bank Holiday Monday May the 4th (Star Wars day) was mostly sunny and so I headed out to The Plym for a walk. The high tide was ebbing when I arrived and I was pleasantly surprised to find a decent amount of water present on Blaxton Meadow where the usual Shelduck were present along with Herring Gulls and Carrion Crows and a Whimbrel.
The park was very busy with people and dogs with it being a sunny Bank Holiday but on my walk I managed sightings of a pair of Stonechat, a male Whitethroat, a Green Woodpecker, a Grey Wagtail, a Common Sandpiper, 2 Jay, a Swift and 4 Mute Swans. The pair of Canada Geese with 2 goslings had been joined by another pair with 7 smaller goslings and a recently fledged Robin was seen in the Wet Wood. A look for Dingy Skippers drew a blank but I did see my first Small Heath of the year and the Willow Warbler was still present and singing away near the gas pipe but remained unseen.
It was off to Dartmoor on Tuesday 5th May to meet up with my mate Mavis for a birdy day out. It was overcast and cool in the breeze but it did get a little warmer and brighter as the day wore on and we enjoyed a relaxed and slow-paced day of birding due to various circumstances currently in play behind the scenes. We started off with a short walk at Bennets Cross near the Warren House Inn, I took my Emperor Moth lure with me but didn't expect too much due to the weather conditions and the age of the lure but within less than a minute an Emperor Moth had arrived and it was very quickly joined by another 4!
It was very quiet on the bird front though with a male Stonechat, Meadow Pipits, Skylarks, a singing Willow Warbler heard only and 2 flyover Stock Doves noted before we headed onwards to nearby Challacombe Farm for a lookabout.
It was quiet at Challacombe Farm too but as we took a gentle walk around the area we had some good sightings. 2 Redstarts were heard singing but we didn't manage to see them as they sang high up in the trees, Willow Warblers, Blackcap and Chiffchaff were also heard with a nice view of a Willow Warbler had as it sang in a Willow tree. There were also 2 Mistle Thrush hassling a Jay, presumably they are nesting somewhere nearby and aren't keen on the Jays presecence, while Swallows and House Martins were swirling around overhead and a Grey Wagtail was feeding along the stream.
Bogbean, Monkeyflower and Cotton Grass were all in flower and a single Green-veined White was seen feeding on Cuckoo Flower. On the moorland above the farm a herd of 14 female Red Deer were a surprise find, I think my first sighting of them on Dartmoor. They were distant but their large size and buffy coloured bottoms were obvious and when they all sat down in the vegetation they were very easily overlooked.
It was time for a late lunch at the Warren House Inn (Rabbit pie!) and as we drove there we stopped off in various laybys to scan the Moor for birds. We found Stonechats, Linnets, Wheatears, Meadow Pipits and a single Magpie and eventually we heard 2 distant Cuckoos on the hillsides which were starting to turn blue with flowering Bluebells. Our final stop was near Grimspound where 2 birders were scanning around with a scope, as we got out of the car 2 Cuckoos flew over calling, they were having a bit of an aerial spat before landing briefly on top of a rocky Tor and then flying off out of sight.
The birders with the scope then pointed out a pair of Whinchat feeding amongst the Bracken, they were distant and very easily overlooked but eventually we had some decentish views as they perched up on a nearby barbed wire fence and were easier to see.
To end a very enjoyable day out I had a quick look around the toilet block at Yelverton while waiting for the bus home and around the outside lights were 5 moths - a Brimstone Moth, a Waved Umber, a Clay Triple-lines, a Dark-barred twin-spot Carpet and a Nut Tree Tussock.
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