Wembury at last!

Lock down rules have been amended and it is now permissible to drive somewhere for an exercise walk and even to meet somebody outside of your household (but just one person) as long as social distancing is maintained and this has resulted in more birders getting out and about and subsequently more birds being reported. And with a Woodchat Shrike being reported at Wembury Point on May 13th it was time to finally head out to Wembury on Thursday May 14th for a long wished for springtime walk.

It was so lovely to be at Wembury for a walk, I have so missed my walks there this spring and I wasn't disappointed with the Woodchat Shrike showing very well to a steady trickle of birders, my 3rd sighting of one and my second at Wembury.

Woodchat Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Butterflies were flitting about in the sunshine although it was chilly in a strong breeze and I found Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Small Copper, Large White, Orange Tip, Common Blue, Small White, Speckled Wood and Holly Blue along with Speckled Yellow moths. A Lackey moth nest was also found on a hawthorn bush but there was no sign of any Green Hairstreak, not helped by the National Trust chopping back the gorse bushes by the footpath where I usually see them.

Speckled Wood

Small Copper

Red Admiral

Peacock

Orange Tip

Orange Tip

Lackey Moth Nest

Thick-thighed Flower Beetle

The usual birds were seen along my walk including Cirl Bunting., Whitethroat, Swallow, Swift, Stonechat, Linnet, Gannet and Fulmar and I also saw a Raven, 2 Shelduck, 3 Canada Geese, a Little Egret and a Kestrel.

A newly emerged male Beautiful Demoiselle was a nice find along the stream flowing down to the beach where Yellow Flag Iris were in flower.

Beautiful Demoiselle

Beautiful Demoiselle 

Beautiful Demoiselle 

Yellow Flag Iris

While at Wembury I received a text from Russ regarding a sighting of a Little Bittern at Radford Lake in Plymstock and so on the way home I stopped off for a look and managed to get some very good views of it as it fed from branches overhanging the water of the lake, a UK life tick for me. It soon disappeared into the vegetation though when a "yoof" wandered by along the nearby shoreline listening to his music through his cans.

Little Bittern

Little Bittern

Little Bittern

Little Bittern

Little Bittern

Little Bittern

Little Bittern

Friday May 15th and I met my mate Mavis at Roborough Down for a birdy walk. It was a sunny day and the breeze had lessened and we had an interesting walk around the area.

The highlight was a male Dartford Warbler singing away and song fighting with a probable female skulking in the vegetation nearby. It looked quite dark in the strong sunlight and was mostly difficult to view amongst the gorse bushes before it went silent and disappeared but it was a nice bird to see.

A Cuckoo was heard calling briefly in the distance but Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap were more vocal and Stonechat, Yellowhammer, Redpoll, Skylark, Bullfinch and Meadow Pipit all showed very well. I also thought I heard a Nightjar churring briefly but I wasn't absolutely sure.

Brimstone, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, Large White, Wall, Small Heath and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary were all flitting about with the fritillaries being particularly flitty and difficult to get good views of and I also saw Brown Silver Lines and Speckled Yellows.

Small Heath

Wall - record shot, very flitty

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - my only photo, very flitty too

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Photo courtesy of Mavis

A very small Common Lizard seemed to take a shine to my shoe as it kept trying to hide underneath it and a few Heath Spotted Orchids were found in flower despite the dry conditions.

Common Lizard

Heath Spotted Orchid

Heath Spotted Orchid

A lovely couple of days out in these lock down times, wonderful to finally get out to Wembury and see the sea, a UK lifer a bonus and again some amazing wildlife so close to home.

Butterflies

Monday 4th June and it was hot and sunny as we headed off to Dartmoor for a walk but by the time we arrived at our destination it had clouded over. However it remained very hot and became increasingly humid too and meant that insect life remained very active despite the lack of sunshine.

Sightings included dipper, grey wagtail, marsh tit, blackcap, beautiful demoiselles, silver ground carpet, a keeled skimmer, my first meadow brown of the year, large red damselfly, brown trout, swift, swallow and house martins.

 Silver Ground Carpet

 Keeled Skimmer

Beautiful Demoiselle

The highlight though were heath fritillaries which showed very well, the most I have ever seen together. The site is managed for these rare butterflies and they have been introduced here so my snobby predjudices about introduced species came to the fore as usual but they were a joy to watch.

 Heath Fritillary

 Heath Fritillary

 Heath Fritillary

 Heath Fritillary

 Heath Fritillary - Lunch for a Crab Spider

Heath Fritillary

A single small pearl bordered fritillary was seen too, a brief view nectaring on flowers before dashing off never to be seen again.

 Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

It was a great walk but we were glad to drive home with the windows wound right down to cool off in the increasingly muggy conditions.

Wednesday 6th June and I met up with retired work colleague Jan for a walk along the coast path from Mount Batten to Bovisands on another warm and sunny morning. It was nice to catch up and chat about life, the universe and everything and along the way I watched songflighting whitethroats and swallows with a chiffchaff and blackcap heard as well but it was nice to see a few butterflies too - common blue, holly blue, large white, speckled wood, large skipper, red admiral and a green hairstreak.

 Plymouth Sound from Bovisand

 Green Hairstreak

A Walk at Wembury and a Return to Grenofen

With warm, humid and mostly sunny weather while at work during the week I had high hopes for the weekend but Saturday May 14th was cloudy and cool and breezey. I headed off to Wembury anyway and it did get sunnier as the morning progressed but it stayed cool and breezey.

I did get to see some butterflies though - red admiral, small copper, orange tip and speckled wood - and I did find a pug moth in the toilet block and a newly emerged purple bar on vegetation by the footpath.

Red Admiral

Pug Moth Sp.

Purple Bar

Crab Spider - hiding by a red campion flower to ambush prey

 Crab Spider - missing 2 front legs on the right side

Cricket Sp. Nymph

Along the beach on the incoming tide were 12 noisey and flighty and mobile whimbrel with a winter plumaged sanderling and a partial summer plumaged dunlin with the usual oystercatchers.

Over the sheltered cliffs of Heybrook Bay 20+ house martin were hawking insects low over the vegetation out of the cool breeze and a fulmar passed by heading out towards The Mewstone. A pair of cirl buntings showed well here too with a second pair seen at Wembury Point and a third male heard singing in the HMS Cambridge hedge. Whitethroats, chiffchaffs and blackcaps were seen and heard and a willow warbler was heard singing at The Point.

Male Cirl Bunting

A nice find were 2 ruby tailed wasps warming up in the sunshine on a fence post, looking sparkling in the bright light, my first sightings of one, and a few St.Marks flys were on the wing too.

Ruby Tailed Wasp - parasite of solitary bee larva

Ruby Tailed Wasp - also known as cuckoo wasp

St.Marks Fly

2 common lizards and still bonking bloody nosed beetles were also seen as the sun began to show itself more and more but it remained chilly and it was time to go home for a family get together at Dawn and Andy's house.

Bloody Nosed Beetles - bonking as usual!

Bloody Nosed Beetle Larva - the result of the above!

The next day was warmer and sunnier and I decided to head off to Grenofen Woods again to look for garden warblers but I was out of luck for the second time. I did see (and hear) 3 male blackcaps singing in the area I usually see the garden warblers - maybe the habitat is now better suited to blackcaps, maybe blackcaps are dominant to garden warblers and have usurped them, maybe garden warblers were present but silent or maybe the garden warblers just haven't returned this year? I guess I will find out more on my next visit in April/ May 2017.

I did see willow warblers busily singing away and I saw a male redstart singing in the area where the 2 males were having a bit of a dispute on my last visit - the song was more like the usual song of a redstart but with occassional harsh and quiet phrases so maybe the second male is still in the area.

Male Redstart - note the bare tree in Mid-May!

Male Redstart

A green woodpecker, 2 great spotted woodpeckers, mistle thrush and 3 marsh tits were seen and a cuckoo was heard calling for around 2 minutes on the opposite side of the valley before falling silent. A dipper flying along the river and large trout in the water under the road bridge were nice to see, the trout busily snatching flies from the waters surface.

Trout

Gorse Bug

A holly blue flitting over the trees was my first of the year but the highlight was a small pearl bordered fritillary that landed briefly near me before flying off and out of sight, my first Grenofen sighting.

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary

It was time to head off home to catch up with chores but it had been a pleasent walk and actually quite warm for a change.