River Plym Birding

Monday 9th August was warm but overcast and so we took a walk around Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor. It was relatively quiet but by the time we left the cars and crowds were beginning to arrive.

A winter plumaged Great Crested Grebe out on the reservoir was a nice find (a presumed immature bird), 6 noisy Raven were displaying overhead and 6 Cormorant were roosting on the barrage but the highlight were at least 3 Silver-washed Fritillary flitting about despite the lack of sunshine.

Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

Tuesday 10th August and a sunny morning and an 8am high tide on the River Plym saw me heading out for my usual Plym/Saltram walk. It has been 9 weeks since my last visit and it was nice to be back on site.

The high tide roost on Blaxtons Meadow provided the most interest with 2 Common Sandpiper, 4 Greenshank, 3 Oystercatcher, 37 Curlew, Redshanks, 2 juvenile Shelduck, 2 Kingfishers, an adult winter plumaged Mediterranean Gull, 2 Grey Heron and 14 Little Egrets all noted with 4 Ring-necked Parakeets and 2 Stock Doves flying around overhead with Swallows.

Kingfisher with Black-headed Gulls

Common Sandpiper

I had a good scan through the assorted gulls out on the Meadow as Yellow-legged Gulls have recently been reported here but other than the Mediterranean Gull I couldn't find anything more unusual.

Around the Park a Treecreeper, a Whitethroat, a Swift and a juvenile Willow Warbler were the highlights with a yaffling Green Woodpecker and a mewing Buzzard also heard.

Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Common Blue and Peacock were flying around and 3 Emperor Dragonflys were seen (2 around the duck pond and 1 over the grassland). 3 juvenile Moorhen with 2 adults and 2 Mandarin Ducks were also noted around the duck pond with 13 more Mandarin Duck noted along the river.

Peacock

Small Heath

Meadow Brown

A not so nice sighting was surprisingly my first tick of the year, discovered on the back of my right calf the following day! 

Flitty Frits on Dartmoor

Birdy 2020 is no more. Not sure what happened to him, he seemed well and settled in the builders yard on the Saturday morning but on the Sunday morning before we left the house for our drive to Hayle it was eerily silent and there was no sign of the usual adult bird on sentry duty on the roof either. On returning from Hayle that afternoon there was still no sight or sound of the adults or Birdy and nor again on the Monday morning. It is possible he managed to get under the gate of the yard and on to the main road or more likely he was taken out by a cat or even a rat as he had no real fear of anything and would sleep right out in the open, being oblivious to everything around him. A very sad end to this years breeding attempt by our Herring Gull pair.

Tuesday 23rd June and with the beginning of a mini heatwave I decided to visit Grenofen again for a walk. It was a total contrast to last weeks visit with hot and humid and sunny conditions and as a result there were plenty of insects around including very active and fast flying butterflies.

I regularly saw fritillaries flitting about but they rarely settled for more than a few seconds if at all but I did manage to get some decent views of a very worn Dark Green Fritillary as it occassionally returned to briefly rest on the same Bracken frond. I also managed to get some excellent views of a very showy Silver Washed Fritillary as it dashed around a small clearing and occasionally perched low down on bushes and I also managed to get a record shot of a briefly settled High Brown Fritillary too.

Dark Green Fritillary

Dark Green Fritillary 

Dark Green Fritillary 

Dark Green Fritillary 

Silver Washed Fritillary 

Silver Washed Fritillary 

Silver Washed Fritillary

Silver Washed Fritillary 

High Brown Fritillary

Ringlet, Red Admiral, Brimstone, Meadow Brown, Comma and Large White were also seen and there were good numbers of Beautiful Demoiselles and a few Golden Ringed Dragonfly flying around too. A Long Horn Beetle was a nice find flying around before landing briefly on the bracken. My first Hummingbird Hawkmoth of the year was a nice surprise too briefly feeding on bramble flowers.

Golden Ringed Dragonfly

Long Horn Beetle

Long Horn Beetle

Bird wise it was quiet in the heat but Tree Pipit, Yellowhammer, Siskin, Goldcrest, Buzzard, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Swallow were all seen with Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler all heard still singing away.

Wednesday 24th June was another scorching hot day and with another night shift looming I headed over to Central Park in the morning for another look for White Letter Hairstreaks and this time I was in luck with a very smart looking individual giving excellent views feeding on bramble flowers.

 White Letter Hairstreak

 White Letter Hairstreak

 White Letter Hairstreak

 White Letter Hairstreak

 White Letter Hairstreak

White Letter Hairstreak 

Green-veined White and Comma were also seen in the Park and nearby in Ford Park Cemetery Marbled White, Meadow Brown and Ringlet were flying around with a Cinnabar Moth and 6-Spot Burnets. Overhead a Peregrine circled higher and higher on the thermals and Swifts and Gulls feasted on flying ants.

With the warm weather I have had the moth box out in the back yard but the catches have been small although I did find my first Small Magpie, Crassa unitella and Rustic/Uncertain of the year.

 Small Magpie

 Crassa unitella

Rustic/Uncertaim

Birdy and Burdy Fly The Nest

I had the moth box out in the back yard on Saturday 21st July and the next morning had another modest haul of moths with the highlights being a male four spotted footman, 7 knot grass, 2 mullein wave (one of my favourite moths), a silver y, a lesser yellow underwing and a dunbar. Birdy and Burdy watched me intently from the flat roof as usual but there were no adults around so emptying the trap was a more relaxed experience than of late.

Knot Grass

Mullein Wave

Birdy and Burdy

A quick walk around Plymouth Hoe later that morning and I was pleased to find the grey seal we saw last week in Sutton Harbour on returning from our pelagic boat trip, this time it was sleeping in a mass of floating seaweed close to shore near the yacht club, rising to the surface to breathe every now and then before dropping back down under the water.

On returning home there was only 1 herring gull chick on the roof as the other had finally fledged and flown off. I assume the bird left on the roof was Birdy, the chick that spent 5 days coming down our chimney and therefore behind developmentally due to a lack of food during those 5 days.

Monday 23rd July and the last day of my holiday before returning to work and despite grey skies I headed out to Wembury by bus for a walk. The grey skies soon cleared and it became another hot and sunny day and there were as usual lots of butterflies flying about including 2 wall but the highlight was a clouded yellow seen from the bus near Laira Bridge on the journey home.

Wall

The toilet block held 2 male drinkers, lovely moths doing good impressions of furry hedgehogs.

Drinker

At Wembury Point there were signs of autumn on the horizon with 2 whimbrel, 2 curlew, 48+ oystercatchers, 3 common sandpipers, 2 little egrets and 1 grey heron on the rocks while along the path stonechats, whitethroats and cirl buntings were seen.

Tuesday 24th July and Birdy was still making loads of noise on the roof as I headed off to work in the morning  but on my return home it was eerily silent as Birdy had also finally fledged - I will miss their antics but not all the early morning noise and I hope it rains soon to wash all their poop away.

Wednesday 25th July and we headed off to Cawsands for a beach day. Fortunately this time there was a pleasent breeze keeping things a little cooler than on our visit last month. A gannet was seen circling around the bay off Cawsands as we arrived on the ferry and on the rocks amongst the herring gulls (including a few juveniles) were 16 adult Mediterranean gulls moulting into winter plumage.

I did a Big Butterfly Count on the walk from Cawsand village to Sandways Beach and saw 2 painted lady, 1 red admiral, 2 peacock, 1 clouded yellow, 2 silver washed fritillary, 1 comma, 1 large white, 2 wall, 1 gatekeeper, 3 small white and 3 meadow brown - not bad at all.

On the walk from Sandways Beach to the ferry at Cremyll there was no sign of any purple hairstreaks in the Mount Edgecumbe Woods but I did see another 3 silver washed fritillaries.

Silver-Washed Fritillary

On arriving home Birdy had returned to the flat roof next door but after making loads of noise and having a little snooze he left before it got dark.

I had the moth box out again in the back yard overnight and this morning I finally had my first Jersey tiger of the year with other highlights being a male and 2 female four spotted footman, a marbled green, a marbled beauty and a black arches.

Marbled Beauty

Marbled Green

Black Arches

Silver Washed Fritillaries and another Yellow Legged Gull

Thursday 10th August and a rare sunny day between the rain and wind of recent weeks saw us heading off to Cawsands for a day on the beach - this time I hadn't been suffering from gastric distress and so actually quite enjoyed my day. The ferry to Cawsands from The Barbican was packed out and people were having to be turned away so we were very lucky to get a seat.

Walking to the beach at Sandways and there were lots of butterflies on the buddleia bushes along the cliff base again - large white, red admiral, meadow brown, gatekeeper, small white and best of all around 4 silver washed fritillary. They were very active and flighty and a little on the worn side and it would have been nice to have seen them on my last visit when I did the Big Butterfly Count but good to see anyway.

 Silver Washed Fritillary

 Silver Washed Fritillary

Silver Washed Fritillary

An adult winter and a juvenile Mediterranean gull were flying around along the shoreline off the beach but more unusual were 4 noisy redshanks on the rocks which eventually flew off towards Plymouth. There was no sign of any purple hairstreaks in the oak tree again on the walk back to Cremyll through Mount Edgecumbe Park and another (or the same) adult winter Mediterranean gull was feeding in the currents off the Cremyll Slipway as we waited for the ferry back to The Barbican.

Thursday 15th August and another sunny but cool and breezy day saw me heading to Wembury for a walk before yet another dreaded night shift. It felt very autumnal on the walk from Wembury beach to Wembury Point and back with the most interest being around The Point on the high tide despite the dog walkers along the beach.

Roosting on the rocks were 2 whimbrel, 48 oystercatcher, 7 little egret and 6 curlew while on the rotting seaweed mass near the sewage pipe were a redshank, a dunlin, a common sandpiper and another whimbrel. 15 eclipse male and 2 female mallard were also present on the seaweed mass and amongst the herring, black headed, great black backed and juvenile lesser black backed gulls I managed to find a juvenile yellow backed gull, my first at Wembury - I first saw it fly low along the beach as I watched from above on the cliff top and it settled on the sewage pipe amongst other gulls where I managed to get some nice views. It wasn't as large or imposing as the bird I saw recently at South Huish Marsh and wasn't as dominant so presumably a female bird but it was still very distinctive looking - cue some rubbish record shots.

 Common Sandpiper

 Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull (right)

 Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull

Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull

 Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull (centre)

Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull

Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull 

Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull (right)

 Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull

 Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull

Juvenile Yellow Legged Gull

Moulted Scapular (centre) - buff with blackish anchor-shaped mark

Land birds were represented by chiffchaff, whitethroat and blackcap seen and heard in the bushes, a singing male cirl bunting with a male later seen feeding on caterpillars along the footpath and 2 juvenile wheatears feeding in the horse fields. Swallows and house martins were flying around overhead and 2 swifts were seen over the village from the bus on the journey down to the beach.

A few butterflies were on the wing - a comma, a holly blue, a peacock, common blues, meadow browns, speckled woods, red admirals, large whites and gatekeepers - but there were no clouded yellows and no moths in the toilet block. A nice walk finished off with a coffee and Chunk pasty on the crowded beach before heading back home to prepare for work.

Holly Blue