Local Wildlife and a Better Mood

I headed out to Saltram for a look about on Sunday 10th May, it was a sunny day but feeling cool in the brisk north-easterly wind unless sheltered from it. With a bit of a Clothes Moth infestation going on at home at the moment and with the new moth killer sprays we've bought nowhere near as effective as the old (and now banned) ones that we've used in the past we've had to resort to using special smoke bombs so hence my need to get out of the house for a few hours.

I had a look for Dingy Skippers in the 2 areas of Chelson Meadow that I saw them in last year, I couldn't find any but I wasn't able to  linger there for long and the site was very exposed in the brisk wind. The only butterflies I saw here were a Small Heath and a male Common Blue while 5 Swifts feeding overhead were a nice sighting.

Blaxton Meadow was depressingly back to being virtually waterless despite the high tide and only Gulls, Shelducks, Carrion Crows, a Little Egret and a Grey Heron were present - The National Trust are doing such a great job here - while out on the river near the gas pipe sign an Oystercatcher was roosting on the small area of mud with 4 Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gulls and an immature Cormorant. There was no sight or sound of the Willow Warbler on todays visit but to finish off my walk there were 2 moths in the Marsh Mills Underpass, a Small Dusty Wave and a Pale Tussock.

Pale Tussock

I met up with my old work friend Sue on Monday 11th May, we ended up going out to lunch at the Strawberry Fields Diner on Roborough Down where we sat upstairs in front of a large picture window looking out across the countryside towards Cornwall. The grass fields near the Diner were being cut for sillage/hay making and this had attracted in 4 Red Kites along with 2 Ravens, 3 Buzzards and Carrion Crows which we enjoyed watching as we ate our lunch and chatted.

Red Kite

Wednesday 13th May was sunny but cool in a brisk north-westerly breeze and with more Cloths Moth smoke bomb detonations scheduled I had to vacate the house and so I headed out to Wembury for a walk. I didn't get going very early and ended up catching the 10am bus but it actually ended up working out very well as the cool wind was keeping people away and there wasn't too much disturbance along the beach on the incoming tide.

There were 31 Turnstones out on the rocks near the main beach, all looking smart in summer plumage and presumably migrants and not local wintering birds. I also picked up a flock of 10 small waders offshore and flying west, they quickly disappeared from sight before I could get a good look at them but they appeared to be heading into the beach at The Point so I carried on with my walk in the hope of refinding them.

At The Point the usual Oystercatchers were present out on the rocks along with at least 6 flighty and mobile Whimbrel which often gave their delightful whistling call as they flew along the beach. I also heard the plaintive call of a Grey Plover and eventually found it out on the rocks where it was surprisingly very well camoflagued before it flew onto the beach to feed. I then heard the plaintive call of a Ringed Plover which was easier to find out on the rocks, it was in the company of 2 Dunlin before they all took off and headed west and out of sight.

Grey Plover

As the tide came in the waders moved closer to the shore and I found a presumed 1st summer Bar-tailed Godwit in non-breeding plumage feeding along the waters edge before roosting on the nearby rocks where it was joined by 2 Sanderling. 

Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit and Whimbrel

Bar-tailed Godwit and Oystercatcher

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

To finish off the mini-waderfest a flock of 9 waders suddenly flew in to the waters edge, possibly 9 of the 10 I had seen earlier and consisting of 5 Dunlin and 4 Sanderling, but with time now marching on I had to leave to head back to Plymouth.

Along the walk back to the bus stop I had a quick scan offshore and picked up Manx Shearwaters moving about and circling around in a feeding flock with Gannets and Fulmars, about 100 birds in total but I couldn't see any cetaceans underneath them. To finish off my walk I found a Common Lizard sunning itself on the wall near the bus stop, my first proper view of one this year.

Common Lizard

With time still to kill before I could return to our smoke filled house I stopped off at Laira Bridge for a walk along The Plym up to Marsh Mills. An Osprey had been seen catching a fish here around lunchtime the previous day so I kept my eyes open along my walk but without any luck.

I had another quick look around Chelson Meadow where it was a little more protected from the wind than on my last visit and I finally found a Dingy Skipper but in a different area than where I've seen them before. It was quite faded and I only managed a record shot before it was gone but I was glad to have finally found one here.

Dingy Skipper

Common Blue

Despite the high tide Blaxton Meadow was in the same depressing state as usual but there was some water slowly trickling in through the sluice gates. The usual birds were present - Canada Goose, Shelduck, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Herring Gull - and there were also 4 Little Egret roosting along the back wall and 2 very smart looking adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls in amongst the Herring Gulls.