River Plym Walk

I missed out on my weekly River Plym and Saltram visit last week with all the Woodchat Shrike and Little Bittern excitement going on and so it was nice to get back for a walk there on Saturday 23rd May despite the strong breeze and occassional heavy showers. It was fairly quiet people wise, probably due to the weather, but there were still plenty of cyclists plying the footpaths as usual who still don't know what 2 metres is as they cycle side by side.

Before heading out for my walk I went through the moths in the back yard moth box and was pleased to find my first White Ermine, Willow Beauty and Marbled Minor Agg. of the year amongst Vines Rustic and Heart and Dart.

 White Ermine

 Marbled Minor Agg. - number 1

Marbled Minor Agg. - number 2

It was nice to get back to Saltram Park with Chiffchaff and Blackcap still singing away along with songflighting Skylarks but the Spring excitement is now slowly slipping into the Summer doldrums. The highlight was a "singing" Spotted Flycatcher in a different area to the one I saw last year and only really noticed due to stepping off the footpath to make way for cyclists passing by. I managed to get a good view of it before it flew off higher into the trees where I lost sight of it but I was very pleased to see one after having just spent some time scanning around the area where I saw one last year without any luck.

Ring-necked Parakeets were noisy and flighty amongst the trees and a pair of Stock Dove were surprisingly confiding. As usual an unseen Green Woodpecker yaffled away in the trees. No waders were seen along the estuary or on Blaxtons Meadow but Shelduck, Canada Geese, 2 male and a female Mallard , a Grey Heron and a breeding plumaged Little Egret with orangey feet and a lilac based bill were all seen and amongst the assorted plumaged Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls were 6 assorted immature Black-headed Gulls and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Stock Dove

Despite the breeze I found Speckled Woods flitting amongst the trees while the grassland held good numbers of Common Blue and Small Heath. 2 Glow worm larva were a nice surprise find along with at least 8 Bee Orchids, looking a bit weak and weedy in the continuing dry conditions from a lack of rain. 10 Roe Deer were also seen, looking quite orangey coloured in the strong sunlight compared to their usual dark winter pelage.

 Common Blue

 Common Blue

 Common Blue

 Small Heath

Small Heath

 Glow Worm Larva

 Glow Worm Larva

Glow Worm Larva

 Bee Orchid

 Bee Orchid

 Bee Orchid

 Bee Orchid

Bee Orchid

I stopped off at Blagdons Meadow on the walk home where it was bone dry underfoot but a few more Southern Marsh Orchids were flowering in the slightly less dry areas.

Southern Marsh Orchid

Another enjoyable walk and one that continues to throw up surprises and interest in these lock down times. And as lock down continues I have realised a few things about my life - firstly, I really no longer enjoy my current job and I need to do something about it, secondly, now that everything is closed down due to COVID-19 I realise I waste a lot of money on nothing (coffees, snacks, lunch out, glasses of wine, train and bus fares, etc.) and thirdly, I really do not pay enough attention to the wildlife close to home. All things to mull over in the coming months with restrictions on daily life set to continue for some time yet.

Wembury Again

Sunday 17th May and I decided to forego my weekly River Plym/Saltram walk and revisit Radford Lake to look for the Little Bittern but with no news of it the previous day I wasn't very hopeful and as expected there was no sign of it. I amused myself instead by watching the antics of Mallard ducklings being eagerly eyed up by nearby Herring Gulls while Chiffchaff and Blackcap could be heard singing in the trees and a Swallow chittered overhead. Heading home and a brief detour revealed a few Common Blue butterflies and Southern Marsh Orchids and it was good to hear a Willow Warbler still singing on the waste ground near St. Judes Church.

Mallard

Common Blue

Southern Marsh Orchid

Southern Marsh Orchid

With 5 days off in a row from Tuesday 19th May and with the weather continuing to be warm and dry and sunny (it hasn't really rained properly now for quite a few weeks) I decided last minute to visit Wembury for a walk, far more interesting than catching up with chores and house work as originally planned.

I spent some time looking for Green Hairstreak but unfortunately failed to find any. I did however see Wall, Small Copper, Common Blue, Peacock, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, Large White and Orange Tip flitting about and there was a female Beautiful Demoiselle in the bushes where I had seen the male last week.

Wall

Green-veined White

Green-veined White

Beautiful Demoiselle playing Hide and Seek

Birding was slow with the highlights being 2 Raven, 4 Oystercatcher, 5 Shelduck, a male Kestrel, singing Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Cirl Bunting, Stonechats with fledglings, Whitethroat, Swallow and Fulmar.

Shelduck

A Clouded Silver and a Common Carpet were disturbed from the pathside vegetation as I walked by. I also disturbed a Tiger Moth species which looked very orange and with white spots, presumably a Cream Spot Tiger Moth, which was unfortunately very expertly snatched mid air by a male Stonechat and fed to his young in a nearby nest before I could get a good look at it. I also found some Shield Bug eggs neatly arranged on a Gorse pod.

Clouded Silver

Common Carpet

Shield Bug Eggs

Four Tern Day and a Solo of Sandpiper

Monday 5th August and I decided to head up to Dawlish Warren on the train for the mid-morning high tide roost. I caught the 07:45hrs train but it ended up being delayed and I arrived at Dawlish Warren over an hour later than planned - but at least I can get 50% of the ticket cost back under the Delay Repay scheme.

On arriving off the train I walked straight out to the hide and on settling into position to scan the estuary I noticed that there were very few birds on the island in front of the hide with virtually all the birds roosting out on Finger Point instead.

On the island were 2 grey plovers, 1 in summer plumage, a common sandpiper and a few gulls while out on Finger Point there were oystercatchers including an albino/piebald bird, cormorants, gulls and Sandwich Terns. I managed to pick out an adult little tern amongst the roosting terns before it flew off and up into the estuary, never to be seen again. A juvenile black tern was also picked up flying around the roosting birds before settling on a buoy in the river channel and a few common terns were found too but despite searching I didn't pick out any roseate terns.

As the tide receded the terns began to fly over to the island and a juvenile little tern appeared out on the mud in The Bight before flying off out towards the sea. The black tern also reappeared, flying very close to the hide before also heading out to sea.

Also seen from the hide were a black-tailed godwit, a curlew on the golf course, a few whimbrel feeding out on the mud, ringed plovers and dunlins, 2 adult common gulls and 2 adult winter plumaged Mediterranean gulls while along the beach a few sanderling were seen. A juvenile wheatear on the golf course, chiffchaffs in the brambles and swallows overhead were the only land birds of note.

I had a look for brown argus in the Greenland Lake area but only found some very brown argusy looking female common blues amongst the males and more distinctive looking females. Small copper, red admiral, meadow brown, gatekeeper, painted lady, small white and green-veined white were also seen along with 6 spot burnets and an emperor dragonfly.

Common Blue - female

Common Blue

Common Blue 

Common Blue 

Common Blue

Common Blue - female

The train journey home was delayed by 20 minutes so I have again reclaimed 12.5% of the ticket cost through the Delay Replay scheme so not a bad day out all round!

Tuesday 6th August and I decided to catch the bus to South Efford Marsh at Aveton Giffard for a quick look around after a report on the internet the night before of 2 wood sandpipers and a green sandpiper being seen there.

I visited South Efford Marsh in August 2013 and saw wood, green and common sandpipers (a Trio) but in August 2014 I only saw green and common sandpipers (a Duo) and on this visit I only saw common sandpipers (a Solo) - so I guess my next visit will be sandpiper-less.

A few other waders were seen on the high tide - 8 greenshank, 5 curlews, a whimbrel, 2 dunlin, a redshank, a ringed plover and a black-tailed godwit - and Canada geese, little egrets, a grey heron, mallards and a pair of shelduck with 5 well grown ducklings were also noted.

Greenshank, South Efford Marsh

Painted lady, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, meadow brown, gatekeeper and wall were flitting about too despite the grey sky and breeze and despite not seeing the sandpipers I had hoped for it was a pleasant walk anyway.

Painted Lady

Gatekeeper

Wall

Spotted Flycatcher, Saltram Park

Friday 24th May and we had a quick walk at Rame Head with Mother-in-law on a grey and cool morning. It was breezy but we sat on some benches in a sheltered spot and admired the view.

A few gannets were seen offshore and whitethroats and a yellowhammer were heard on the cliff slopes. Despite the weather a speckled yellow was flitting over the vegetation along with a common carpet and we also found a very small cricket nymph.

Common Carpet

Cricket Nymph

With Spring 2019 almost at an end and the only usual summer migrant I have yet to see being spotted flycatcher I headed off to Saltram Park in Plymouth for a look around following reports of birds being seen there. I have never seen one in the Plymouth area before other than 1 at Plymbridge Woods many years ago but which was almost at Bickleigh so not technically Plymouth, but SaltramPark is a big place with lots of trees and so I asked local birder Pete for some advice as to where to look.

I caught the bus to Marsh Mills and walked along the River Plym to Saltram Park, seeing an out of place collared dove out on the mudflats along the way. More usual bird sightings on the estuary were an oystercatcher managing to find lots of worms out of the mud, 2 shelduck, an adult lesser black-backed gull and 2 great black-backed gulls amongst the herring gulls, a pair of Canada geese with 5 fluffy goslings and 3 male and a female mallard flying over, while on Blaxton Meadow 9 shelduck and 2 little egret were seen.

Canada Geese with Goslings

I wandered around the Park checking out all the areas advised to me and eventually after watching blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, a jay, a buzzard, blackcaps, robins, wrens, 2 swallows, 2 ring-necked parakeets and a singing male chaffinch I finally found a spotted flycatcher sat unobtrusively in a tree and occassionally dashing out to catch passing flies before it flew off out of sight. The views were a bit distant and I later refound it or a different bird in a nearby area before it disappeared from sight again but I was very pleased to see one.

Blackbird

Ring-necked Parakeet

Heading back to Marsh Mills and I picked up a red kite drifting north high overhead and being mobbed by a carrion crow, a first for Plymouth for me too.

I stopped off at Blagdons Meadow on the journey home, the site is extremely dry from the lack of any recent rain, but I did find southern marsh orchids coming into flower and early purple orchids going over including a white form, and common blues and burnet companions were flitting about in the grass with a female sparrowhawk soaring overhead the only bird of note.

 Common Blue

 Common Blue

 Common Blue 

 Burnet Companion

Southern Marsh Orchid