More Hairstreaks

It was a warm and sunny morning when I awoke on Monday 5th July but with clouds gathering on the horizon and the weather forecast predicting heavy rain and strong winds for the afternoon I headed out to Oreston again for another look at the White-letter Hairstreaks.

It was beginning to get quite overcast when I arrived at Oreston but I soon found the Hairstreaks flitting about in the tree tops with at least 4 present and at times they gave some good views.

White-letter Hairstreak 

White-letter Hairstreak 

White-letter Hairstreak 

A female Purple Hairstreak was less obliging as it flitted about in the foliage of an Ash tree but flashed a beautiful  metallic purple sheen on its upperwings when the sun shone through the clouds.

Purple Hairstreak 

Purple Hairstreak 

Thursday 8th July and a look through the back yard moth box revealed 14 species of moth with Batia lunaris, Bryotropha domestica and Spilonata ocellana (Bud Moth) the highlights. 

Batia lunaris

Bryotropha domestica

Spilonota ocellana (Bud Moth) 

After sorting out the moth box I took a walk to Central Park to look again for White-letter Hairstreaks. It was warm with occasional sunny spells and I managed to find just one flitting about at the top of an Elm tree, binocular views only and no chance of a photo. A Red Admiral was more obliging and a Meadow Brown and a Large White were also seen. 

Red Admiral

On a quick look around nearby Ford Park Cemetery I found a few Marbled White flying low over the grass along with a few Meadow Browns and a flyby Six-spot Burnet moth.

Marbled White

On the walk home I stopped off at Drakes Reservoir on the Plymouth University Campus where Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly and Small Red-eyed Damselfly where seen buzzing around the Water Lilies and flotsam. 

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

And so to Birdy 2021. After he leapt down into the builders yard and out of view he was heard calling occasionally while his sibling remained on our chimney stack. An adult Great Black-backed Gull was then seen over a couple of days, flying around and resting on nearby roofs and being regularly and noisily mobbed by all the adult Herring Gulls in the area. The young chick on the chimney stack across the road from our house disappeared around this time, presumably predated by the Great Black-backed Gull, but the larger chick on our chimney stack remained in place.

However the chick on our chimney stack has since disappeared too, it seemed too small to have fledged already but there now is a chick on the roof of the builders yard. I'm not sure if it is the chick from our chimney stack that has semi-fledged or our rescued bird from the fire grate who must have been placed on the roof by the workers in the builders yard but hopefully it will fledge and the local Herring Gull nesting attempts will be over for another year.

I had the moth box out in the back yard again overnight for Moth Night 2021 and on checking it on the morning of Friday 9th July I was very pleased to find a Poplar Hawk Moth, the first one in the back yard since 2013!

Poplar Hawk Moth

Rustic/Uncertain Montage

Wembury Shearwaters and Dartmoor Butterflies

I had planned to put the moth box out in the back yard on the night of July 7th/8th but with rain forecast for the early hours I decided to give it a miss. On waking up on the morning of July 8th it was indeed wet, misty and mizzley but I did find a Endotricha flammealis on the kitchen ceiling that had flown in through the open window overnight,  my 53rd House/Garden moth of 2020.

Endotricha flammealis

With the grotty weather I decided to have a quiet day at home but I was feeling quite antsy and unsettled and so decided to don my wet weather gear and head out to Wembury for a walk. There has been a lot of Shearwater action along the South Devon/Cornwall coast of late and so at the last minute I packed my big telescope, the first time I have taken it out birding with me since the Ross's Gulll on the River Plym in March. Wembury is not well placed for sea watching but I have seen Manx Shearwater from the coast path in the past when conditions were right and so I had my fingers crossed for seeing something offshore today.

On arriving at the main beach at Wembury it was dank and misty and I couldn't even see The Mewstone but by the time I had walked along the coast path to the gate opposite The Mewstone it was beginning to clear. I set up my 'scope and started scanning across the waves and quickly picked up Gannets and Fulmars flying around and 2 Guillemot flying east. Further scanning and I picked up a steady trickle of Manx Shearwaters flying low over the waves just out past The Mewstone and in the hour I was watching around 200 birds were noted, the majority heading west in small groups. Even better was a Balearic Shearwater, a Wembury tick for me, which I picked up amongst them, and I had good views of it before it disappeared behind The Mewstone and again as it came back into view on the other side. A further 2 probable birds were also seen but briefer, more distant views in mistier periods precluded confirmation.

The mist eventually cleared completely and the Shearwater movement ceased with birds possibly still moving further out but I did see more Guillemots moving both east and west and there were a few Razorbill amongst them.

A small flock of Gulls were roosting along the beach as the tide began to recede -  Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Black-headed Gull including 1 juvenile and 5 Mediterranean Gull (3 adult, 1 2nd summer and a juvenile) - and along with them were Oystercatcher, a Little Egret and a Curlew.

 Adult Mediterranean Gull

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull

Around 10 juvenile Stonechats were feeding along the beach on the rotting seaweed with more seen along the cliff tops, it looks like having been a good breeding year for them this year. Cirl Buntings and Whitethroats were seen and heard and a Blackcap was in full song despite the weather as it appeared to be in a bit of a sing off with an equally enthusiastic singing Song Thrush nearby.

 Juvenile Stonechat

Juvenile Stonechat

I did see 2 butterflies on my walk despite the cloudy and wet conditions - a Meadow Brown and a very nice Wall. 2 Common Lizards were also a surprise resting on the fencing despite the gloom and a lethargic Bloody-nose Beetle was moved off the path into the safety of nearby vegetation.

 Meadow Brown

Wall

The cafe was closed so no Chunk pasty for lunch but the food stealing Carrion Crow was loafing around the main beach with its white winged fledgling.

Carrion Crows

A nice walk despite the weather, I didn't get too wet or muddy and I found my first Manx Shearwaters of the year along with a Balearic Shearwater, a Wembury tick - a good morning out.

Sunday 12th July was warm and sunny with a gentle breeze and despite feeling tired and groggy after working 2 night shifts I headed up to Roborough Down for a butterfly walk. I had originally planned to do my usual River Plym/Saltram walk but after seeing an Internet report of Grayling at Roborough Down and having received some info on Purple Hairstreak at Clearbrook I decided to switch plans.

I arrived on the Down at 09:30 and it was already quite warm in the sunshine. Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral and Ringlet were flitting about and Yellowhammer and Blackcap were heard singing. A Dartford Warbler was singing away from the top of a Hawthorn Bush before flying off over the gorse, I assume it is the same bird I have seen before although it was in a different area than the one seen previously. Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler were also seen and heard and Whitethroat and Stonechat were seen with good numbers of juvenile Stonechat again being noticeable. Redpoll were songflighting overhead and I watched Swallow fledglings being fed by their parents mid air.

Ringlet

I arrived at the cycle track above The Skylark pub at Clearbrook at around 10:30 and quickly found a Purple Hairstreak down in the hedgerow by the path before it flew off out of sight. I scanned the tops of the oak trees for more but couldn't find any, presumably the wrong time of day for them to be active in the tree tops.

 Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

Silver-washed Fritillary were flitting about but rarely settled for long. A Peacock, a Comma, a Large Skipper, Small White, a Brimstone, a Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Large White and a Speckled Wood were also seen and eventually I managed to find at least 4 Grayling although they were mobile and flitty across the heath.

 Silver-washed Fritillary 

 Silver-washed Fritillary 

 Silver-washed Fritillary 

 Brimstone

 Green-veined White

 Grayling

 Grayling

 Grayling

Grayling

And so another interesting walk on Roborough Down and another 2 butterflies for my year list bringing my total now to 30.

Local Wildlife

Since flying the nest/roof Birdy continues to occassionally return to be fed, mostly early morning, ie, dawn, with lots of fuss and noise. Interestingly when putting out my moth box in the back yard in the late evening on July 24th one of the adult birds launched itself off the chimney stack and repeatedly mobbed me despite Birdy being nowhere in sight - there is a lot of noise and posturing going on amongst the colony of herring gulls on the nearby roofs, presumably asserting possession of sites before the winter, so I guess it was just pumped up with bird adrenaline.

I finally dusted off the moth box and placed it out in the backyard for the first time this year on Wednesday 24th July and with the recent hot and humid and settled weather I hoped for some good moths but I was a little disappointed the next morning. The best moth was a marbled green, one of my garden favourites, and it was nice to find a lychnis, 4 male four-spotted footman, 3 knot grass and a shuttle-shaped dart amongst others but I had expected more.

 Marbled Green

 Lychnis

Knot Grass

Thursday 25th July was hot and sunny and so we headed off to Cawsands on the ferry from The Barbican for our first beach day of the year. The sun was blazing down when we left Plymouth on the earlier 10:30am ferry but by the time we reached Cawsands the sea mist had rolled in and it was dank and cool and eerie. We had a cuppa in a cafe before carrying on to the beach at Sandways and the sun reappeared along the walk so I was able to do my usual Big Butterfly Count - 2 comma, a red admiral, 10 peacock, a small copper, 2 meadow brown, 4 small white and 1 large white were all recorded but there were no silver-washed fritillaries seen this year.

From the beach a lone gannet was seen flying close in to shore and there were variously plumaged adult Mediterranean gulls roosting on the rocks with herring gulls and black-headed gulls while chiffchaffs called in the cliffside vegetation. Unfortunately the sea mist did eventually return at around 4pm but just as we were packing up for the walk to Cremyll through Mount Edgecumbe Park to catch the ferry back to Plymouth.

On the walk to Cremyll I added gatekeeper to the days butterfly list and saw 2 6-spot burnet moths, my first of the year, but I didn't find any purple hairstreaks or silver-washed fritillaries, not helped by the continuing sea mist. Annoyingly by the time we reached Cremyll the sea mist had cleared again and the sun was shining but at Cremyll I did see a very smart adult Mediterranean gull flying around the jetty and 3 Sandwich terns fishing offshore including a very noisy fledgling being occassionally fed by one of the adults.

Gatekeeper, Mount Edgecumbe Park

Friday 26th July and we drove up to Dartmoor for a cream tea at Badgers Holt, figuring that it would be cooler on the Moor and indeed it was - 22.5c in Plymouth and 17.5c at Badgers Holt. The tea room has been taken over by new owners and nicely refurbished but they only do the scone wedges with a cream tea for 4 people so we had to make do with a single large scone each but it was still very tasty.

After stuffing our faces we had a waddle down the river through the Dart Valley Woods and a goosander, mandarin duck, mallard, grey wagtails, a fledgling nuthatch and a marsh tit were all seen with redpolls heard cha-cha-cha-ing overhead.

Beautiful demoiselle were flitting about by the river and along with meadow brown, gatekeeper and a peacock I saw a few fritillaries - a very worn high-brown fritillary briefly nectaring on brambles before dashing off and a few silver-washed fritillaries which were very active and regularly disappeared up into the trees except for a very worn individual which I managed to get a few photos of.

 Beautiful Demoiselle, Dart Valley

Beautiful Demoiselle 

 Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

 Gatekeeper

 High-brown Fritillary

High-brown Fritillary

I kept an eye out on the tops of the oak trees and eventually found some purple hairstreaks fidgeting about in an oak right next to the rocks in the river where we usually stop and sit for a while - 3 were seen together but there must have been more present although viewing was difficult amongst the leaves and activity always stopped when the sun disappeared behind the occasional clouds drifting over.

 Purple Hairstreak, Dart Valley

 Purple Hairstreak 

 Purple Hairstreak 

Purple Hairstreak 

Saturday 27th July and I headed off to Wembury on the bus on another sunny and hot day and despite being a weekend and summer holiday hell time it wasn't too busy.

A rusty dot pearl was the only moth found in the toilet block and the only other moth seen on the walk was a shaded broad-bar disturbed from the pathside vegetation.

Shaded Broad-bar, Wembury

Butterflies were flitting about and I was pleased to see my first Wembury wall of 2019 but there weren't the usual numbers of butterflies around for the time of year considering the good weather with only 2 male common blue, 2 small copper, a few meadow browns, red admirals, speckled woods and gatekeepers, a green-veined white, a few small whites and large whites and a peacock seen.

Red Admiral, Wembury

Bird wise it was fairly quiet with a few gannet and Mediterranean gull offshore and at The Point 2 whimbrel were roosting on the high tide with 5 curlew, 4 little egret and 33 Oystercatcher  - summer is already slipping into autumn. Even more autumnal was a juvenile whinchat, a complete surprise, and busily feeding along the wire fence by the wheat field before flying off to the sewage farm hedge. I managed to refind it on the walk back still in the hedge where it was regularly chased off by a male stonechat.

 Juvenile Whinchat, Wembury

Whinchat

Cirl buntings were seen and heard with chiffchaffs and whitethroats seen skulking in the bushes and hedges but the only other birds of note were a female pheasent, stonechats and a juvenile cormorant being fed by an adult along the shoreline.

A nice find were 2 male beautiful demoiselle by the footbridge over the stream in the valley to the beach, some good views of them here for a change as in the past they have always flitted off out of sight very quickly after first being seen.

Beautiful Demoiselle, Wembury

David duly arrived and we enjoyed a pasty and a coffee on the beach before driving home via Plympton to have a quick look around the annual fuschia show at Harewood House, a nice end to a nice few days of local July wildlife.