Pearl Bordered Fritillary, Dunsford Woods

Monday 21st May was the last day of my holiday and an early start saw me heading off on the train to Exeter and then the bus to Steps Bridge and Dunsford Woods for a walk on a sunny and surprisingly hot day.

I had hoped to see wood warblers but was out of luck, they seem to be very scarce this year and I have probably now missed my chance of catching up with one this spring.

I did see some good birds though on my 3 hour wander through the woods with the highlights being a male great spotted woodpecker, 2 fledgling ravens flying over, songflighting siskins, singing pied flycatchers, a marsh tit, a dipper, a grey wagtail and a female goosander with just 1 fluffy duckling.

 Steps Bridge

 Dipper

 Goosander with Duckling

 Goosanders

Goosanders

There were plenty of insects around too and I spent a lot of time watching my footing as there were oil beetles and bloody nose beetles galore on the footpath. Broad bodied chasers were buzzing about and beautiful demoiselles were flitting about and brown silver line moths, speckled yellows and a common heath were also seen. Butterflies were very much in evidence with brimstone, peacock, speckled wood, large white, a wall brown, green veined white, orange tip and a holly blue noted but the highlight were the pearl bordered fritillaries fluttering about, a few nectaring on the flowers in the woodland glades and warming up in the sun and many more fluttering over the bracken slopes above the woods in the building heat of the day.

 Oil Beetle

 Oil Beetle

 Beautiful Demoiselle

 Broad Bodied Chaser

 Common Heath

 Common Heath

 Beautiful Demoiselle

 Peacock

 Wall

 Broad Bodied Chaser

 Broad Bodied Chaser

 Broad Bodied Chaser

Brown Silver Line

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Bluebells, yellow archangel and ramsons were all in full bloom with the heady smell of garlic from the ramsons being very noticeable and I found a few early purple orchids too.

 Bluebells

 Yellow Archangel

 Yellow Archangel

Early Purple Orchid

I caught the bus back to Exeter at 12:30 and it had become incredibly hot in the sunshine and so I decided to jump off the train at Dawlish Warren on the way back to Plymouth for a quick look around. It was bakingly hot by now and a look for sand lizards along the dune ridge only gave me my usual brief view of a lizard species scuttling across the sand into cover as I think it was too hot even for them. I found the lone green winged orchid again in the same spot as last year but it had gone over but there were plenty of southern marsh orchids beginning to flower.

 Dawlish Warren Dunes

 Grass Sp.

Southern Marsh Orchid

Bird wise it was quiet with a Canada goose, 2 little grebes and a pair of moorhen with 2 chicks on the main pond with chuntering reed warblers in the reeds, an immature male eider and a few gannets offshore with 2 Sandwich terns, oystercatchers and shelduck in the estuary and linnets and a skylark in the dunes.

A few butterflies were on the wing including 2 small copper and a lovely male common blue, my first of the year.

Common Blue

The heat eventually got the better of me and I headed home to Plymouth on the train, having had a great day out despite dipping on the wood warblers.

Sunny Days Off Work

Our week off work has been a quiet week just pottering around but the weather has been very good with sunshine and heat building as the week has progressed. We had originally planned to have last week off, a good job we swapped weeks as last week was mostly cool and wet. However the summer birding doldrums seem to have arrived a little early this year but at least the good weather has brought out the insects.

A quick walk around Saltram on Sunday 21st May with friends Julie and Matt was busy with lots of people out enjoying the sun but I did see 9 male mandarin ducks around the pond, presumably post breeding birds, along with 4 very small moorhen chicks being eyed up by a herring gull much to their parents consternation. A nuthatch was coming down to the tables by the cafe to pick up cake crumbs with blue tits, great tits and chaffinches while swallows flitted about overhead.

Mandarin Duck, Saltram

Monday 22nd and we drove up to Bude for the day to check the caravan is still ok on the storage site and to have a look around the town. It was quiet bird wise with just 2 fulmar and 2 gannet offshore, a singing whitethroat along the cliffs, a singing sedge warbler heard at Northcott Beach with another heard at Maer Lake, 2 shelduck and 3 mute swans at Maer Lake and sand martins overhead. No spring squill was found on the clifftops, presumably all gone over now, no Manx shearwaters were found offshore and no sticklebacks were found in the stream which was disappointing and it was sad to see the old caravan site looking a mess as the planned building works continue.

Wednesday 23rd and we drove up to Hembury Woods on Dartmoor near Buckfastleigh for a walk, a site we haven't visited before. The woods were lovely with blackcap, chiffchaff, willow warbler, garden warbler, spotted flycatcher and pied flycatcher heard and a songflighting tree pipit seen. The sun began to appear from behind the clouds as we walked up to the Iron Age Fort/Norman Castle at the top of the hill where the warmth coaxed out the butterflies - brimstone, speckled wood, a holly blue, a green hairstreak, green veined white and my target butterfly, pearl bordered fritillaries. The fritillaries were very active and mobile but I managed to get a few decent photos of what were a little tatty looking individuals. I've seen pearl bordered fritillaries a few times but have never had really good views of them so it was very nice to see them so well.

 Holly Blue, Hembury Woods

 Green Hairstreak, Hembury Woods

 Green Hairstreak

Brimstone

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

 Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Pearl Bordered Fritillary

The Fort was large and very interesting but very overgrown and difficult to imagine although the National Trust seem to have plans to improve the site alongside management of the habitat for the wildlife, a winter visit with no leaves on the trees and no bracken would be better to appreciate the site archeologically.

There were lots of Dor beetles bumbling around, not surprising considering the amount of dog shit lying around - what is it with nature reserves and beautiful places that prevents people picking up after their beloved pets? An oil beetle was a much more pleasent find though.

 Oil Beetle, Hembury Woods

Oil Beetle, Hembury Woods

After a very enjoyable walk we moved on to Sharp Tor to admire the views on what was a very hot but glorious day. A cuckoo was calling and then seen flying low over the bracken, a whitethroat and a willow warbler were heard and a stonechat and meadow pipits were songflighting, and I saw another green hairstreak, another holly blue and 4 wall brown along with a large red damselfly and a longhorn beetle species.

 Large Red Damselfly, Sharp Tor

Longhorn Beetle Sp., Sharp Tor

Onwards to the Two Bridges Hotel for afternoon tea, which was as delicious as usual, and then a visit to father in law at Woolwell before heading home and it had been a very enjoyable and interesting day out.