Stoke Point and Wembury Walks

We headed off to Stoke Point on Thursday 24th August for a walk along the coast path and it was warm and humid but breezy and mostly overcast. Quiet on the bird front as expected but 3 juvenile wheatears and a male cirl bunting seen along the walk were nice finds. No Dartford warblers again but plenty of stonechats and linnets and offshore a few gannets were flying past. With lots of yellow wagtails being seen along the Devon coast in recent days I kept an ear and eye out for them but was out of luck - I thought I briefly heard one flying over but couldn't be sure.

A few butterflies were on the wing, mostly meadow browns and red admirals but a small copper, small white, gatekeeper, speckled wood, a small tortoiseshell and common blues were also seen. A nice surprise was my first hummingbird hawkmoth of the year feeding on buddleia flowers, a long overdue sighting. It was also good to see autumn squill in flower in the usual place despite the late date.

Meadow Brown

Friday 25th August and I caught the bus to Wembury for a walk on a sunny day. Again no sight or sound of yellow wagtail and a look for Dartford warblers also drew a blank.

Another hummingbird hawkmoth was a nice find as it buzzed over a stoney patch of soil on the cliffside and a Pyrausta despicata was a new moth for me as it flitted about in the grass  on the cliffs at Wembury Point. The toilet block also came up trumps with a mullein wave, a common wainscot, a sharp angled peacock, a rusty dot pearl and 2 flounced rustic.

 Pyrausta despicata

 Mullein Wave

 Sharp Angled Peacock

Flounced Rustic

Waders were again roosting on the rocks at high tide - 45 oystercatcher, 7 curlew and a whimbrel with 10 little egret - and  on the seaweed mass by the sewage pipe were 2 more whimbrel and a common sandpiper.

Whitethroat, chiffchaff (including a bird singing), blackcap, swallow, a willow warbler, a sparrowhawk, stonechats, a buzzard and 2 kestrels were also seen along with my first short winged conehead of the year before I met David for a pasty and coffee on the main beach where we enjoyed the sunshine and view.

Wembury, 22nd August 2015

My plans for a trip to Fontmell Down in Dorset for a butterfly twitch went out of the window after watching the BBC weather forecast on the TV before heading off to bed on Friday 21st - wet and windy weather forecasted, not good for butterfly watching! However the next morning it was overcast but dry and the BBC weather forecast for the day had changed, it was looking like it would be dry for the morning at least and so I decided to head out for a short walk at Wembury.

I caught a bus to Pomphlett to pick up a parcel at the Royal Mail depot and then walked back to the bus stop near The Range to catch the Wembury bus. I was surprised and delighted to find some Autumn ladies tresses flowering in the grass verge by the bus stop in the exact spot where I saw the pyramidal orchid a few weeks ago. I've never seen them here before and it was a pleasure to find them in flower.The grass is fairly short so I'm hoping our wildlife hating Council don't mow it before the orchids set seed.

 Autumn Ladies Tresses

Autumn Ladies Tresses

Autumn Ladies Tresses

Arriving at Wembury and the sun was beginning to show from behind the clouds. It became increasingly sunny and warm and humid and I wished I had worn my shorts but at least it was ideal for butterflies - holly blue, common blue, meadow brown, gatekeeper, wall, large white, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, small white, speckled wood and comma were all seen.

Offshore there were gannets, fulmars, gulls and shags. 2 Sandwich terns flying East behind 2 jet skiers were presumably looking for pieces of chopped up fish. Along the beach 2 juvenile Mediterranean gulls were with a smart adult in winter plumage and at The Point a whimbrel was in the high tide roost with 8 curlew, 4 little egrets and oystercatchers.

Mediterranean Gull

Whitethroats, chiffchaffs and blackcaps were heard calling in the vegetation but were furtive and skulking while good numbers of swallows flitted about overhead. 2 ravens, 3 buzzards and a juvenile kestrel also flew over, and a green woodpecker was heard yaffling in the valley to the beach.

The toilet block had a nice selection of moths for a change - a flounced rustic, a bee moth, a mullein wave and a magpie moth. Along the footpath I also saw a large yellow underwing and a rush veneer, along with a bloody nosed beetle, a speckled bush cricket and a long winged conehead.

 Flounced Rustic

 Mullein Wave

 Long Winged Conehead

Parasol Mushroom

I was a bit annoyed at the totally inaccurate weather forecast, I could have gone to Fontmell Down after all, but at least I had had a very pleasent walk.