Heat Wave!

Thursday 6th August was grey and murky but warm and humid and on a walk around Plymouth Hoe there were 3 Sandwich Terns silently diving for fish off Tinside Pool (which is now open again) and a Jersey Tiger flitting about in the ivy along The Promenade  - Autumn is here.

Jersey Tiger - taken with my phone

I had the moth box out in the back yard that night and had a decent haul of moths the next morning with the highlights being Jersey Tiger, Four-spotted Footman, Mother of Pearl, Yellow-barred Brindle, Marbled Beauty and Acleris forsskaleana.

Brimstone Moth

Acleris forsskaleana

Male and Female Four-spotted Footman

Aspilapteryx tringipennella

Blastobasis adustella

After sorting out the trap I headed off to meet 3 work colleagues (Jen, Ada and Emily) at Admirals Hard in Stonehouse to catch the ferry across to Mount Edgecumbe to start a fund raising walk in memory of our dear work colleague Katie who sadly took her own life back in April. It was hot and sunny and humid and very still and the walk of around 12 miles around Mount Edgecumbe, Cawsands, Whitsand Bay and the Rane Pennisula was hot and sticky but very enjoyable and with some stunning scenery.

Various wildlife was seen along the walk with the highlights being a Southern Hawker dragonfly, an eclipse/immature male Eider Duck off the slipway at Cremyll with an adult and juvenile Sandwich Tern noisily diving for fish nearby, a very flitty male Oak Eggar moth rescued off the road, a Magpie Moth, 2 Sparrowhawks together overhead and a small group of Fallow Deer in the woods. Butterflies were very active in the heat too with Wall, Red Admiral, Holly Blue, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Common Blue and Large White all seen.

Southern Hawker

Male Oak Eggar

Working a long day in the heat on Saturday 8th August was not fun but with another scorching hot day on Sunday 9th August and with the day off I decided to visit Netherclay Community Woodland near Taunton to look for Brown Hairstreaks which have been reported from here. It was sunny when I left Plymouth but by the time I arrived in Taunton it was totally overcast although it did eventually clear.

Wandering around Netherclay in the increasing heat and sunshine I soon found a Brown Hairstreak by the footpath just as it flew up into a nearby tree but shortly after I found a beautiful female egg laying in a sloe bush which gave some great views before also disappearing off into the trees. At least another 2 very showy egg laying females were found as I wandered around the footpaths and were very lovely to see - I always thought Green Hairstreak was my favourite Hairstreak but I'm not so sure now!

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

Also seen were a Holly Blue, a Silver-washed Fritillary, Gatekeeper, Small White, Speckled Wood, Large White and Green-veined White along with a male Beautiful Demoiselle and a Golden-ringed Dragonfly. A few birds were seen too including Bullfinch, Swallow and Chiffchaff with Raven, Green Woodpecker and Great-spotted Woodpecker all heard.

Large White

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

It was baking hot by the time I walked over to Silk Mills Nature Reserve across the road from Nerherclay to look for Brown Argus but I was out of luck this time. I did find a Small Skipper plus Meadow Brown and Common Blue but an Emperor Dragonfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common/Azure Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly and Small Red-eyed Damselfly were all good to see. A showy Kingfisher, bathing Lesser Black-backed Gulls, skulky Reed Warblers and a surprise flock of 14 Common Sandpipers flushed from the reeds and noisily flying around the small lake before disappearing back into the reeds were the avian highlights.

Small Red-eyed Dragonfly

I had the moth box out in the back yard that night and the next morning had a good haul of moths, not surprising given the warm and humid overnight conditions, and the highlights were Marbled Green, Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing and a lutescens form of Jersey Tiger.

 Jersey Tiger  - lutescens form

 Marbled Green

 Marbled Beauty

 Broad-bordered Yellow Undereing

 Pyrausta aurata

Case-bearing Clothes Moth

I managed to get everything packed away before a huge thunderstorm rolled in but it quickly cleared and returned to hot and sunny conditions and so I walked over to the nearby Drake Reservoir to look for a Lesser Emperor Dragonfly reported there the previous day. Viewing was difficult though as the Reservoir footpath remains closed due to the COVID lockdown although there is no reason now why it shouldn't be reopened.  There was no sign of the Lesser Emperor but I did find a male Emperor Dragonfly patrolling around which are dominant over Lessers and will chase them off. A Common Darter, 2 Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common/Azure Damselfly and a Small Red-eyed Damselfly were also seen.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly, Drake Reservoir

A night shift that night was a hot and sticky affair endured by all and the following night shift was even hotter but with some compensation had as I waited for the bus on Royal Parade to take me to work with 2 Hobby dashed around overhead chasing Flying Ants amongst the Herring Gulls.

Fifth Hairstreak of 2019

The August weather continues to be consistent with lots of wind and rain and with a big storm arriving on Friday August 9th the sea watching community was all in a twitter. However the storm failed to deliver much in the way of birds but on Saturday 10th we drove to Rame Head for a quick look offshore. It was very windy and the seas were rough but the light was appalling and I only managed to pick out a few very distant gannets, mostly dark juveniles, and I also picked up a few distant Manx shearwaters belting along over the water and only really visible when they briefly sheared out of the wave troughs.

With another night shift on August 12th I headed out to Wembury in the morning for another quick walk. It was quieter on this visit than last week but I did get good views of 10+ cirl buntings feeding in the wheatfield and flitting up into the hedges and there were noticeably more whitethroats around in the brambles at The Point. A wheatear in the horse fields was the first of the autumn and chiffchaffs were seen and heard calling.

With it being low tide the oystercatchers were strung out along the rocky shoreline with 3 curlews and 7 little egrets. 2 common lizards were seen on the fence and the usual butterflies were dashing about including a smart red admiral. A male beautiful demoiselle was again seen from the bridge in the valley to the beach but unfortunately there were no moths in the toilet block.

Common Lizard, Wembury

Red Admiral, Wembury

A scruffy looking robin was seen on the fence by the horse field and later another scruffy individual was seen stealing pasty crumbs at the cafe.

Robin, Wembury

Robin, Wembury

With a brief spell of good weather forecast for Wednesday August 15th sandwiched between 2 grotty days I decided to visit Neatherclay near Taunton to look for brown hairstreaks.

I caught the 07:25 train to Taunton (but boobed by not using the Split Ticketing website which would have saved me £7!) and then the bus to Neatherclay and arrived in the woodland reserve at around 10:00am. It was cloudy and breezy, not ideal weather, but there were increasingly sunny periods and along the woodland rides it was quite sheltered and quite warm in the sun.

A fellow butterflyer was already on site and showed me a brown hairstreak egg he had seen being laid by a female a week previously but there had been no sign of any adults so far that morning.

Brown Hairstreak Egg, Neatherclay

I wandered along the woodland rides and managed to find southern hawkers, common darters and both banded- and beautiful demoiselles plus small whites, speckled woods, a comma, gatekeepers, meadow browns, a silver washed fritillary, green veined whites, red admirals and painted lady but no brown hairstreaks.

Banded Demoiselle, Neatherclay

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker

Common Darter

Common Darter

 Ommon Darter

Green-veined White

Small White

Silver-washed Fritillary

Painted Lady

Fly Sp.

Time was marching on but eventually I found a female brown hairstreak resting low down on a sloe bush right by the footpath just as it flew off into the nearby trees. I eventually refound it basking on a leaf in the weak sunshine before it flew off again but a short time later I located it inspecting sloe bushes by the path, creeping down and around the branches looking for somewhere to lay its eggs.

Brown Hairstreak, Neatherclay

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

 Brown Hairstreak 

 Brown Hairstreak 

 Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak 

Brown Hairstreak

Another brown hairstreak was seen flitting about in a tree top and later another female was found egg laying by the footpath, a different individual than the one seen earlier with both its hairstreaks intact.

Brown Hairstreak, Neatherclay

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

It was soon time to start the journey back to Plymouth but before catching the bus back into Taunton I had a look around the Silk Mills Nature Reserve behind the park and ride bus station, somewhere I haven't visited before. I had an enjoyable walk around the reserve and added peacock, common blue and brown argus to the days butterfly list and also saw 2 kingfishers, a male reed bunting and a small red eyed damselfly.

Brown Argus, Silk Mills

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

It was soon time to head back to Taunton to catch the train back to Plymouth and along the way I saw 2 adult lesser black backed gulls bathing in the river with herring gulls and a pair of holly blues mating in a tree outside the train station.

 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Taunton

Holly Blues, Taunton

And so a great day out - the trains all ran to time, 14 butterfly species were seen and I have managed to see and photograph all 5 of the UK hairstreak species in one season.