Garden Moths and a Plymouth Mini-Pelagic Trip

I finally managed to get the moth box out in the back yard on Friday 13th July but overnight the temperatures and humidity had dropped and it was quite breezy, good for sleeping but not so good for mothing, and in the morning there was only a modest haul of moths again. The highlights were a male Ringed China Mark, 3 Crassa unitella, 3 Knot Grass, 1 Lychnis and 1 Dark Fruit Tree Tortrix. I also had my first Light Brown Apple Moth of the year, presumably badly hit by the Beast from the East earlier in the year, and a scarce silver lines unfortunately caught in a spiders web in the window frame and very dessicated so presumably caught a few days ago.

 Ringed China Mark

 Ringed China Mark

 Crassa Unitella

 Knot Grass

Lychnis

Birdy and Burdy watched me intently as usual and were joined by one of the adult herring gulls which made me a little nervous but suddenly all hell let loose and an adult herring gull came bombing in and chased it away while another adult bird flew around overhead making a hell of a noise - as I had suspected we have had a pair of interlopers present, maybe adults that have lost their own chicks nearby as we have quite a few nesting on the roofs around the area, and maybe explaining why this year the birds are so much more vocal and noisy.

Saturday 14th July was bright, sunny and still but cool as I walked down to Sutton Harbour for a mini-pelagic trip organised by the Plymouth branch of Devon Birds. I met my mate Mavis there and we were soon heading off out to sea off Rame Head to see what we could see. I wasn't expecting much as the weather has been so settled for such a long time now and there was hardly any breeze but we did get to see a few gannets and Manx shearwaters including a feeding raft of 38 birds which we managed to get quite close to. 2 adult guillemots with a juvenile gave some close views too and we also later saw a more distant adult bird

 Manx Shearwaters

 Manx Shearwater

 Guillemots

Rame Head

Heading back to Plymouth and we motored close to shore from Rame Head to Cawsands and then to Sutton Harbour and along the way while enjoying the glorious scenery we found 5 adult, a second summer and 3 juvenile Mediterranean gulls along the rocks amongst herring gulls and black headed gulls.

We had signed up for both trips and so after a brief stop in Sutton Harbour to change passengers we headed out again, seeing a nice adult Mediterranean gull on a post in Sutton Harbour as we waited to pass through the lock gates.

Mediterranean Gull

Heading out to sea again and it was noticeably breezy and the sea was quite lumpy after a flat calm morning and this time we headed out to The Mewstone at Wembury first, seeing fulmars on the cliff face and a few fledgling great black backed gulls with adults on the grassy slopes. Heading out to sea and we picked up a few gannets and Manx shearwaters but viewing was difficult in the swell and harsh light. Rubby-Dubby (chum) was chucked overboard off Rame Head and did attract a few Manx shearwaters close to the boat and we had distant views of a very dark looking shearwater which may have been a sooty but was too far away to call.

Heading back to Plymouth and the scenery was again stunning and to cap off a great couple of trips as we moored up in Sutton Harbour a grey seal came close to the boat and enjoyed the last of our mackerel, an old individual which looked to be blind in its left eye but a regular animal often fed by the fisher men using the harbour.

 Grey Seal

Grey Seal

Grey Seal 

 Grey Seal

Grey Seal

Yellow Legged Gull!

Saturday August 20th and with a wet and windy day forecasted (unseasonably so) I headed off to Rame Head for a seawatch, something I haven't done before. It was cloudy and windy as I left Plymouth and true to form as I stepped off the bus at Whitsand Bay it absolutely chucked it down - typical. It quickly passed and I soon settled down between the rocks on the cliffs below the ruined chapel to scan the sea, sheltering from the occasional squally shower that rattled in on the breeze.

 Rame Head

 Amorique Ferry and The Great and Little Mewstones at Wembury

Amorique Close-up

A few gannets were passing by heading west, a variety of plumages from adult to juvenile with everything in between, and over the 3 and a half hours I was there watching there was a constant movement of them. Some of the immatures were quite oddly patterned which had my pulse racing at times. Manx shearwaters were also moving through west, probably an average of 5 a minute with the odd trickle and pulse at times, but in the final hours watch from 12:30 to 13:30 I only recorded 5 individuals. The only other birds of note were the occasional fulmar, oystercatcher and shag and great black backed, lesser black backed and herring gulls.

There was a report on Birdguides of 116 Balearic shearwaters passing by Rame Head from 06:30 to 14:30, I never saw any other birder there while I was present and other than a brief and distant view of a probable Balearic shearwater and a probable sooty shearwater I never saw anything unusual (some of the Manxies I saw close to shore did show some dark markings in their armpits but otherwise had very white underparts).

The highlight was a pod of common dolphins moving west off the headland, distant views and very unobtrusive as they moved by very quickly and out of sight. Their location was given away by a swirling group of gannets overhead but other than the occasional fin at the surface and occasional leap out of the waves I would have missed them. I counted 6 at the surface together but there were more present and it was quite exciting (and difficult) to track them across the Bay.

Sunday 21st August and I decided to head off to Dawlish Warren in the morning before the forecasted rain arrived in the afternoon. I caught the train to Dawlish and walked to the hide at Dawlish Warren to catch the high tide roost, noting an adult winter plumage Mediterranean gull amongst the gulls roosting along the beach along the way.

The island in front of the hide had roosting oystercatchers, carrion crows, Sandwich terns, herring gulls and great black backed gulls but not much else. Small waders started to fly into The Bight as the tide receded and scanning through them I managed to find myself a nice juvenile curlew sandpiper amongst the ringed plover, dunlin, sanderling and turnstone. It stayed asleep for most of the time with its head tucked under its wings but it stood noticeable taller than the nearby dunlin and had a lovely peachy pink flush across its breast. Eventually it woke up and flew nearer to me and started to feed amongst the salt marsh before flying off and out of sight but I had some very nice views in my scope.

Oystercatchers in front of the hide

 Curlew Sandpiper (top right) with Ringed Plovers

 Curlew Sandpiper (top right) with Dunlin and Ringed Plovers

 Juvenile Ringed Plover

Adult Ringed Plover

Best of all was a surprise juvenile yellow legged gull right in front of the hide. I had been casually watching the juvenile herring gulls floating about and squabbling over scraps of wood and seaweed fished out of the water when I noticed a much paler and brighter looking bird amongst them. My first thought was that it was a juvenile great black backed gull but it was only slightly but noticeably larger than the herring gulls with a much heavier looking bill. Pale head, neck and breast, a slight dark smudge behind the eye, dark upperparts contrasting with the pale head and neck all noted before it flew up into the air showing a white rump and a black tail band and disappeared from sight! I was just about to call it out in the hide before it flew off and I really would have liked to have watched it properly for longer but as it flew off I felt a touch of shock at actually have found a yellow legged gull after all this time!

Heading back to the train station and I managed to find a gatekeeper, meadow browns, a green veined white, a large white, 2 male and a female common blue and a small copper along with a Pyrausta aurata, 6-spot burnets and 2 male yellow belles in the Greenland Lake area. Autumn ladies tresses were flowering and it was nice to see a pair of cirl buntings with 2 fledglings.

 Male Yellow Belle

 Male Yellow Belle - close up of antenna

 Six Spot Burnets

 Common Blue

 Common Blue

 Autumn Ladies Tresses

 Autumn Ladies Tresses

 Meadow Brown

Pyrausta aurata

Heading home on the train and the rain began to fall but it had been quite an interesting few days out with my first surprise UK life tick for 2016.

More Purple Hairstreaks and Sea-Watching.... at Wembury!

August 2nd and I headed off for a walk at Wembury. It was sunny, and warm when sheltered from the strong breeze, and I had a pleasant walk along the coast path.

2 whimbrel, 3 curlew and 4 little egrets were roosting on the rocks at The Point with oystercatchers at high tide and for a change there wasn't too much disturbance from walkers and dogs along the beach.

Scanning offshore and there were lots of gannets swirling around, mostly adults with a few dark juveniles. I managed to pick out a distant feeding flock of around 50 Manx shearwaters beneath a group of gannets, they were resting on the sea before flying up in a group and then splashing down on the water.

On land and blackcap and whitethroat were seen with 2 cirl buntings flying over. A sparrowhawk was mobbed by some swallows, a juvenile kestrel was presumably practising hunting by swooping down and grabbing horse turds in the horse field before dropping them and a peregrine flew over with a small bird in its talons.

Plenty of butterflies on the wing - meadow brown, gatekeeper, large white, red admiral, holly blue, common blue, comma, green veined white, small skipper and wall. A few faded six-spot burnet were feeding on the thistle flowers and a small and dark common lizard was basking in the sun on the wooden fencing.

Holly Blue, Wembury

Heading home after a pasty and coffee for lunch and I decided to have a walk around Efford Marsh again to have a look for purple hairstreaks. I checked out the oak trees around the pond and quickly found 1 flitting around the canopy (or fidgeting as it is described in my field guide). Scanning around and I found at least another 5 individuals but they were all brief and obscured views up amongst the leaves - I didn't bother with trying to get any photos although I did get a good but brief view of 1 individual.

A visit to the Garden House near Yelverton on August 3rd and I found 2 speckled bush crickets amongst the flower heads along with a red admiral and a few meadow brown in the cool, cloudy and breezey conditions. The gardens looked stunning though and are really developing well, it has been quite a few years now since we last visited here.

 Speckled Bush Cricket, The Garden House - female with ovipositor

Speckled Bush Cricket, The Garden House - male



August 4th and I headed off to Wembury again. It was cloudy and very windy with a strong south westerly breeze and the waves were crashing up the main beach at the high tide where a flock of black headed gulls and a few herring gulls were feeding in the churned up surf. Scanning through and I found an adult and 4 juvenile Mediterranean gulls amongst the flock, 1 juvenile had a green plastic leg ring but I couldn't get any details on it as it flew amongst the waves or rested on the sea. It was interesting to see the size differences of the juvenile Meds when 3 of them rested on the sea together - presumably the smallest bird was a female.  A leucistic black headed gull amongst the flock was most unusual looking.

 Juvenile Mediterranean Gulls, Wembury

Juvenile Mediterranean Gulls - smaller individual on the left



Heading off towards the sewage pipe and hoping that there hadn't been any disturbance from walkers along the beach and I was pleased to see a flock of gulls roosting on the tideline. I found another adult Mediterranean gull amongst the black headed gulls and what I thought was a juvenile yellow legged gull before it flew off towards Plymouth and out of sight (yes, it's that time of year when I frustrate the hell out of myself trying to ID large juvenile gulls) - however it appears to have been a juvenile herring gull after all.

Adult Mediterranean Gull

Juvenile Herring Gull

Offshore and again there were lots of gannets swirling around and so I decided to set up my telescope for a proper sea watch, hunkering down out of the wind on the beach near the old swimming pool. I scanned from The Mewstone towards Plymouth and being low down and almost at sea level I had some lovely views of Manx shearwaters as they banked up out of the wave troughs and showed well against the sky line. I counted 20-30 per minute heading west although a few were also seen heading east, and they tended to appear in pulses with the odd single bird flying past and then a little group of up to 20 birds. There must have been higher numbers passing by than I counted as my position low down to the water meant restricted viewing, and after an hours watching the sun appeared, the wind dropped slightly and the Manxies dried up entirely.

The highlight though were at least 2 great skua - single birds were briefly seen but 2 birds together showed very well if a little distantly above the waves. They were chasing each other with 1 bird having larger and brighter white wing flashes, presumably an older bird, and their short tails and bulky build were also noticeable.

A singing cirl bunting showed well and 4 juvenile whitethroats were skulking together in a sloe bush, presumably a recently fledged family. The juvenile kestrel was still around but wasn't interested in horse turds this time and on the rocks with the oystercatchers were 2 whimbrels again along with 2 little egrets and 1 curlew. 

I did a 15 minute Big Butterfly Count as well, seeing a male common blue, 10 gatekeeper, 1 red admiral, 1 peacock, 1 painted lady, 8 meadow brown and 2 large white on my 15 minute wander around Wembury Point.

And so a bit of sea watching at Wembury of all places, a quite enjoyable hours watching although tiring on the eyes scanning through a telescope. And great skua takes my year list to 171.





Ruddy Shelduck at Bude

With 3 days off together the plan was to head down to the caravan at Bude for a few days but Friday 29th August was cool, cloudy and breezey and so I headed off to Wembury on the bus for a walk before the drive to Bude.

The sun did actually shine a little but by the time David came to pick me up and we had had a pasty for lunch it began to rain. It was fairly quiet bird wise and there was no sign of any yellow wagtails which I had hoped to see but highlights were:- a turnstone (first of the Autumn here), 17 oystercatcher and 2 ringed plover along the beach ; the flock of gulls were still roosting along the beach and feeding in the stubble field but I didn't pay a lot of attention to them although there were more adult lesser black backed gulls amongst the flock and a nice 1st Winter Mediterranean gull (first of the year here); and in the hedgerow by the sewage farm were a female cirl bunting with 3 fledglings.

Scanning offshore and I managed to pick out a few Manx shearwater passing by, distant views with the birds upperparts looking surprisingly dark or light depending on the sunshine. I counted at least 20 in 10 minutes of scanning with the birds all heading West in 1's or 2's. A few gannets and fulmars were also seen but I did pick up what looked like a large shearwater heading West as a rain squall came in, a distant view of a brown looking bird as it banked up from the wave troughs with a languid flick of the wings before corkscrewing back down with another languid flick of the wings. It did this 4 times before I lost sight of it behind The Mewstone, its flight manner totally distinct from the jittery nervousness of the Manx shearwaters but as to what it was, who knows?

 Dark Bush Cricket (female), Wembury

 Common Lizard, Wembury

Long Winged Conehead, Wembury



Arriving home to pack the car up for the trip to Bude and a nice find was a hummingbird hawkmoth buzzing around the front garden before zooming off towards the park, the first in the garden for a few years now.

Bude was wet and windy when we finally arrived at the caravan and only 2 adult gannets were seen on a brief look from the clifftops. The water level at Maer Lake was much higher but with some nice muddy areas around the edges. Gulls were busy bathing and preening and hunkering down in the wind and drizzle and mist, and one bird caught my eye, with dark upperparts, a white rump and a neat black tail band in flight and a pale head but what species was it? It was very lesser black backed gull like and the bill did not appear particularly heavy but in the poor light and conditions and distance I could not be sure before it flew off, never to return. Maybe a pale first winter lesser black backed gull or maybe a yellow legged gull or maybe a herring gull? I am beginning to have nightmares about gulls!

LBBG?

HG?

 YLG?

 



The weather did improve the following day but the gull never returned. I did visit Maer Lake a few times each day and saw maximum totals of 5 black tailed godwits, 14 dunlin, 6 redshank, 1 common sandpiper, 15 curlew and 1 peachy washed juvenile knot. Numbers fluctuated on each visit, either birds were leaving and arriving, tucked out of sight or moving between Bude Marshes and Maer Lake. A smart looking adult winter plumaged Mediterranean gull was also a nice find amongst the roosting black headed gulls.

Offshore a few gannets and fulmars were seen and a turnstone was seen along the river near the main beach. The most unusual sighting was a female ruddy shelduck which had been reported recently but not for a few days before our visit. It flew over as I walked up to the clifftops early on Saturday morning, landing in a stubble field and feeding amongst a large flock of Canada geese. Ruddy shelducks often appear in Cornwall at this time of year and are assumed to be from the feral population that moult in The Netherlands but no-one knows for sure.

 Ruddy Shelduck (female)

Ruddy Shelduck



Grey Heron, Bude

Mullett, Bude



I had hoped for some different moths in the moth trap as I have never used the trap at the caravan at this time of year before but with the recent cool and wet weather I was a bit disappointed with only 12 species being caught. Common wainscot was the most numerous moth but flounced rustic, Acleris laterana, Pandemis cerasana and pebble prominent were good to see.

 Acleris laterana, Bude

Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana), Bude



I have also had the trap out out in the back yard with slightly more varied catches including my first old lady of the year and a good total of 9 Vines rustic.

 Vines Rustic, Back Yard

Old Lady, Back Yard