Misty Dartmoor Day

Wednesday 31st May and it was off to Dartmoor for my annual spring birding day with Mavis and Mike, postponed from May 17th due to the bad weather. Unfortunately it was misty and mizzly as my bus arrived at Yelverton and it became increasingly foggy as we then drove to Warren House. It did however eventually clear up and we had a good day and saw some good birds.

Mavis and myself started off from Bennets Cross on the walk to Challacombe Farm while Mike headed off to Grimspound for a walk before meeting us later at the Farm. The fog was quite thick with occassional clearer spells along with brief rain showers but skylarks could be heard busily singing away. 2 cuckoos were also heard calling with 1 seen in the foggy distance flying low over the Moor being mobbed by meadow pipits - 1 of the cuckoos also gave the occassional odd tri-syllabic call with an extra initial "cuck".

A songlighting tree pipit, a flyover redpoll, a singing whitethroat, a singing reed bunting and 2 singing blackcaps were seen with a garden warbler heard and we also had nice but brief views of whinchats and willow warblers.

Heath spotted orchids were beginning to flower but we couldn't find any sundew.

Heath Spotted Orchid

Heath Spotted Orchid

Challacombe Farm was as good as always with good views of 2 spotted flycatcher, 2 grey wagtails, swallows, house martins and redstarts including a ringed pair feeding young in a nest box. A redpoll flew over calling and a chiffchaff was heard singing, a nuthatch was also heard calling and a male reed bunting was mobile and vocal around the gorse bushes.

 Redstart at Nestbox

 Redstart

 Redstart

Spotted Flycatcher record shot

After meeting Mike we drove off to Warren House Inn for lunch and we had some nice views of a pair of wheatear and more distant views of a pair of whinchat by the roadside along the way. Lunch at the Inn was very nice as always before it was time to head back home - another good day out despite the initial fog and rain.

Backyard Mothing and a (final?) trip to Bude

I actually managed to get the mothbox out in the backyard twice in a week (July 7th and 9th) and I had small but varied catches with the highlights being buff tip, buff arches and marbled green along with heart and club, lime speck pug, flame, scalloped oak, yellow barred brindle and dark arches.

Marbled Green, Back Yard

July 10th and it was off to stay at the caravan at Bude for my birthday, highly likely to be for the last time as the out-laws will probably sell it at the end of this season. The weather forecast wasn't looking too good for the week and it was quite a mixed bag with cloud, mist, drizzle, occassional showers, sunny spells and all with a cold and brisk north westerly wind.

The toilet blocks on the camp site came up trumps despite my worries that the new lighting wouldn't be any good for moths and in the mornings I managed to find riband wave, wormwood pug, fan foot, single dotted wave, brimstone moth, smoky wainscot, snout, v pug, lackey, small rivulet, mottled rustic, scalloped oak, buff arches, Aethens rubigana and a male bordered beauty.

Bordered Beauty (male), Bude - a new moth for me

I had the moth box out on a few nights later in the week when the wind had eased and  night time temperatures were higher and caught a decent range of moths, highlights being garden tiger moths, a poplar hawkmoth, crescent dart, peppered moth, dark sword grass, plain golden y, silver y, sandy carpet, common emerald, grass emerald, barred straw, Devonshire wainscot, swallowtail moth, dot moth, clay, July belle, common wainscot and double square spot.

July Belle, Bude

Lackey

Crescent Dart

Mottled Rustic - another new moth for me (but probably overlooked!)

Poplar Hawkmoth close-up

Small Magpie

Riband Wave - form remutata

Riband Wave

Devonshire Wainscot (left) with Common Wainscots

Garden Tiger Moth - each moth has different markings (like fingerprints)

Garden Tiger Moth - number 2

Garden Tiger Moth - number 3

The water levels in Maer Lake were very low with lots of mud on show and maximum counts for the week were 7 black tailed godwits in summer plumage, 3 dunlin in summer plumage, 2 redshank, a whimbrel heard only, a curlew heard only, a grey heron and 4 Mediterranean gull (2 adults in summer plumage and 2 2nd summers).

Black Tailed Godwit, Maer Lake

Comma, Maer Lake

Male Stickleback, Crooklets Beach, Bude

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Rabbit, Campsite

Offshore there was little on show in the choppy seas with viewing hampered by the strong winds but I did find 2 adult gannets and a dark looking peregrine unsuccessfully stooping at a small flock of black headed gulls out at sea. 2 fulmars were along the cliffs and 4 oystercatchers were seen roosting on the pebble beach at high tide.

July 12th and we took a trip to Hartland Abbey, about 14 miles north along the coast from Bude and somewhere we haven't visited before. It was grey and breezey on arrival but the sun did eventually shine and I saw my first gatekeeper of the year along with brief fly past views of 2 silver washed fritillaries.

Gatekeeper, Hartland Abbey

The Abbey was very interesting, still lived in by the family and with a lovely homely atmosphere quite unlike the overly corporatness of National Trust houses. The walled garden was beautiful, the best I have ever visited, and while wandering around the flowers and vegetables I heard a tawny owl and a very noisey juvenile buzzard. The tea room was really good too and we had a lovely lunch sat outside in the sunshine.

Hartland Abbey - Walled Garden

Fledgling Robin, Hartland Abbey

After visiting the Abbey we headed to nearby Hartland Quay which was very interesting too and we had a walk along the coast path to have a look at 2 waterfalls tumbling over the high cliffs. I managed to pick up my first tick of the year on the back of my knee but more interesting were 3 fledgling wheatears, a small copper, a hovering kestrel and 2 or 3 peregrines flying about overhead.

Hartland Quay Waterfall

Fledgling Wheatear, Hartland Quay

July 14th and we also took a trip again to the nearby Dunsdon nature reserve on what was the warmest and sunniest day of the week. We visited Dunsdon in 2013 on a baking hot and sunny day and walked along the aqueduct trail by the Bude canal to Burmsdon aqueduct and back. This time we walked the trail from Dunsdon to Upper Tamar Lake and back and it was just as interesting and wildlife filled. The highlights were a reeling grasshopper warbler which I couldn't locate, lots of heath spotted orchids, plenty of butterflies (marbled whites, ringlets, meadow browns, large skippers and small skippers), silver y and 6 spot burnet moths, a singing reed bunting and a male black tailed skimmer, a common sandpiper heard calling and 2 great crested grebes at Lower Tamar Lake.

Heath Spotted Orchid, Dunsdon

Heath Spotted Orchid and Meadow Brown

Ringlet

Male Black Tailed Skimmer, Lower Tamar Lake

I wanted to see lesser butterfly orchid again but the field where I had seen one before had recently been grazed by cattle and I could only find a few heath spotted orchids amongst the cropped vegetation and cow pats. I kept my eyes open but couldn't find one in the other fields either but walking back to the car park at the end of the walk and I found one just by the footpath which was very nice to see.

Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Dunsdon

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

 Lesser Butterfly Orchid

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

So all in all not a bad week away despite the less than ideal weather conditions and maybe a nice swansong to our trips to Bude.

Dartmoor Butterfly Walk

Saturday June 11th and after work I headed off to Yelverton to meet Mavis and Mike for a charity butterfly walk near Walkhampton in support of Childrens Hospice South West. The charity is 25 years old this year and their fundraising theme for this year is butterflies so the walk seemed very apt.

As I left work the sun was beginning to appear from behind the clouds and it was warm and humid so I kept my fingers crossed for some interesting insect sightings including the headliner for the walk, marsh fritillaries.

The walk had been arranged by some friends of Mavis and Mike who farm near Walkhampton and where some habitat is specifically managed for marsh fritillaries with the assistance of Butterfly Conservation and Government grants. The farm was beautiful with a gorgeous garden and Linda and Barry were wonderful hosts who had put in a lot of time and effort along with various volunteers to put on an excellent walk and afternoon tea in aid of Childrens Hospice South west.

Two tractors pulling trailers headed off from the farm up onto the Moor to the first site where marsh fritllaries have been seen but as the trailers were full I ended up walking to the site which involved quite a steep walk uphill. I arrived hot and out of puff but the views were stunning and I saw a smart male redstart along the way.

A lady called Jenny from Butterfly Conservation gave a short talk about marsh fritillaries and their habitat management which was very interesting - marsh fritillaries certainly are high maintenance creatures! - and on the walk down to the fritillary field I saw a nice male wheatear along with lots of fluffy cotton grass.

By now it had clouded over but it was still warm and humid and I quickly found lots of heath spotted orchids in flower which were mostly very pale coloured.

 Heath Spotted Orchid

Heath Spotted Orchid

There was no sign of any butterflies but a brief call from a cuckoo, both a garden warbler and a willow warbler singing from cover and a male reed bunting flying over kept me entertained as I wandered through the boggy grass admiring the orchids and disturbing lots of small and pale micro moths of unknown species.

I eventually found a butterfly, a small heath, but it soon flew off when it was chased by what looked like a large skipper.

Small Heath

I also found a few macro moths - a silver y, a burnet companion and best of all a chimney sweeper which quickly disappeared off into the undergrowth.

Chimney Sweeper - record shot

A large red damselfly and a female keeled skimmer, a new dragonfly species for me, were also seen and as we walked off back towards the tractors for the journey to the second fritillary site I found a green hairstreak, a little worn but nice to see.

 Large Red Damselfly

Green Hairstreak

One tractor took some of the group back to the farm with the second tractor heading off to the second fritillary site. Dark clouds were beginning to roll in and this time I had an uncomfortable ride on the trailer. As we walked down to the fritillary field it began to rain and by now I wasn't hopeful of seeing anything but amazingly Jenny found a marsh fritillary on a heath spotted orchid - I thought she was joking but there it was despite the rain!

 Marsh Fritillary on Heath Spotted Orchid

 Marsh Fritillary

 Marsh Fritillary

 Marsh Fritillary

Marsh Fritillary

A small frog clambouring through the tussocky grass and another female keeled skimmer were also seen before we headed back to the farm and as we began the walk back the rain stopped and the sun came out - typical!

Keeled Skimmer - female

I did have an interesting talk with Jenny about the All The Moor Butterflies project being carried out by Butterfly Conservation to encourage landowners to manage habitat for fritillaries on Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor which has been running for a few years now and the project that farmers Barry and Linda are a part of  - farmers can often get a bad rap but Barry and Linda are doing a wonderful job of managing their farm alongside the wildlife and doing so very quietly and unassumingly. To open up their land for a charity walk is even more admiral and I hope the project gets more landowners involved for the benefit of fritillaries and ultimately other wildlife.

I enjoyed a cup of tea and a delicious piece of home made coffee and walnut cake on our return to the farm but I was unlucky in the raffle. Everybody present seemed to have had an enjoyable and informative day despite the weather and not everybody seeing the marsh fritillary and I believe around £585 was raised for Childrens Hospice South West - not a bad day all round!