Mid-Summer Birding

Wednesday 22nd July was hot and sunny and so I headed out to Wembury for a walk. It was busy with walkers and beach goers and I was glad to get home and out of the sun but I had a very enjoyable walk.

It was high tide and along the beach by the sewage pipe were a roosting flock of birds although unfortunately they were regularly disturbed by walkers. A Little Egret, a Common Sandpiper, 2 Whimbrel, 20 Oystercatcher, 26 Dunlin, a Redshank and 4 Mediterranean Gulls (2 Juveniles) were all seen before moving out onto the rocks exposed by the outgoing tide - Autumn is on its way.

Cirl Buntings, Stonechat and Whitethroat were all vocal and showy along the walk along with a few Chiffchaff, a singing Blackcap keeping deep in cover, Linnet and 2 Skylark.

Plenty of butterflies were on the wing in the hot conditions - a Wall was a nice find along with a Red Admiral, 2 Small Skipper, Small Copper, Common Blue, a Comma, Gatekeeper, Holly Blue, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small White, Green-veined White, a Peacock, Speckled Wood and Large White. A male Beautiful Demoiselle, a Silver Y, a 6-spot Burnet, a Rusty Dot Pearl and a Drinker were also seen.

Small Skipper

Small White

Red Admiral

Wall

Silver Y

On arriving home I found a moth in the kitchen which at first I thought was a Snout but on potting it up and checking it out I was pleased to find it was a Bloxworth Snout (thanks to @MothIDUK), my second back yard sighting of one.

Bloxworth Snout

Friday 24th July and I finally visited Dawlish Warren for the first time this year. It was mostly grey and overcast but warm and muggy and still and I arrived at the closed due to COVID-19 and sadly vandalised bird hide for the high tide roost at around 10:00am.

There were plenty of Terns roosting on the island and the wooden posts of "Woodhenge" and I quickly found a beautiful adult Roseate Tern with a silver leg ring perched on a post amongst the Sandwich Terns and Common Terns and which was being admired (and the leg ring read) by the Dawlish Warren Birders present.

Roseate Tern with Sandwich Terns on Woodhenge

A Little Tern was also found roosting amongst the Terns on the island and it was great to watch and listen to the comings and goings of the Common Terns and Sandwich Terns as the adults brought in sand eels for the juveniles.

 Little Tern with Sandwich Terns

Little Tern with Sandwich Terns

 Common Tern with Sandwich Terns

 Roseate Tern with Sandwich Terns

Roseate Tern with Sandwich Terns

Also seen from the hide area and along the beach were Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, a Redshank, Whimbrel, Oystercatcher, a Little Egret, a Common Gull and 2 juvenile Mediterranean Gulls.

 Sanderling

Sanderling

Common Gull with Black-headed Gulls

Despite the lack of sunshine I had a look for Brown Argus but without any joy but I did see at least 2 Clouded Yellow, a Small Skipper, a Peacock., Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Green-veined White, Small Copper, Common Blue, a Red Admiral and Speckled Wood in the dull conditions.

 Clouded Yellow

 Clouded Yellow

 Common Blue

 Bee Sp.

 Bee Sp.

 Bee Sp.

 Strawberry Clover

 Strawberry Clover

 Marsh Helleborine

Marsh Helleborine

Cirl Bunting, Swallow, a Great-spotted Woodpecker on the fence posts along the Dune Ridge and a Little Grebe, Mallards and Mute Swans on the Main Pond were also noted on my wanderings before I headed home, having had a very productive July visit to The Warren.

A report of the day by the Dawlish Warren Birders can be found by clicking on the link here -

http://dawlishwarren.blogspot.com/2020/07/friday-24th-july.html?m=1

Northumberland

A (non birding) holiday to Northumberland started off well with a hobby flying over the M6 near the Manchester Ship Canal a surprise and a good omen on the drive up from Devon.

We stayed in Bamburgh on the coast, an amazingly beautiful place with a gorgeous sandy beach and a dramatic castle just 5 minutes walk from our hotel. From our room we had a distant view of Holy Island and Lindisfarne Castle which was a surprise as we thought we would be in the cheap rooms at the back of the hotel!

The general birdlife was very noticeable, there were birds everywhere no doubt due to the less intensive farming methods used in the countryside. This obviously has an effect on insect life too which supports the high bird numbers as the car windscreen and number plate were covered daily by insect splats galore, something I haven't seen in such excess since my childhood in Suffolk.

Highlights of the week were:- a singing male pied flycatcher around a nest box at Birdoswald Roman Fort with 2 spotted flycatchers seen in a small wood by Housesteads Roman Fort along Hadrians Wall; 2 purple sandpipers roosting on rocks on Holy Island with a summer plumaged dunlin, a winter plumaged grey plover, a whimbrel, oystecatchers, Sandwich terns and an Arctic tern; distant views of 2 little terns with Sandwich and comic terns off Holy Island; 7 roe deer feeding in fields on Holy Island; northern marsh orchids beginning to flower on Holy Island; a first summer little gull being harassed by black headed gulls as it fed along the river at Beadnell while little and Arctic terns flew around, a female red breasted merganser flew past and a hare ran through the dunes; 3 tree sparrows flying over fields and briefly landing in bushes before flying off at Dunstanburgh Castle; a female merlin flying by the car over moorland at Rothbury doing a mistle thrush like camouflage flight before swooping low over the heather in hunting mode; and a pod of bottle nose dolphins close inshore moving north at Dunstanburgh Castle.

 Pair of Eider Duck at Seahouses

 Little Tern at Beadnell

 Bottle Nose Dolphins offshore at Dunstanburgh Castle

Northern Marsh Orchid on Holy Island



Other birdlife seen included yellowhammer, reed bunting, wheatear, sedge warbler, reed warbler, whitehthroat, grey wagtail, siskin, shoveler, tufted duck, ringed plover, turnstone, curlew, eider. Also seen were plenty of grey seals.

The best though was a trip to the Farne Islands just offshore from Seahouse near Bamburgh. The weather was perfect with sunshine and calm seas and after a sail around the islands where we had great views of puffins, guillemots (including a few bridled forms), razorbills, gannets, fulmars, shags, eiders, kittiwakes, Sandwich terns and Arctic Terns we landed on the islands. We had an hour on Inner Farne island where the birds were amazingly tame and we had more amazing views of the same birds but including common terns. I even got shat on by an Arctic tern as is hovered 2 feet over my head which I thought was very rude considering I am a member of the RSPB! The trip was only 2 and a half hours long but flew by in a flash and was absolutely heavenly (to me!).

 Guillemots ( including 2 bridled forms) with Kittiwakes

 Arctic Tern

 Common Tern with Arctic Tern

 Shag

 Kittiwakes

 Puffins

Puffins



On the way home we stopped of at the National Trust house and estate at Croome near Worcester which was very interesting and where I finally saw a silent green woodpecker (after hearing many but seeing none so far this year) along with a brimstone butterfly, and eventually we arrived back in Plymouth exhausted but having had an absolutely amazing time.