A Return to Wembury

A look for the reported Grey Phalarope at Siblyback Reservoir on Friday 8th October drew a blank, not surprising in the calm conditions and after it being present for a few days now, but we had an enjoyable walk anyway and I saw Teal, Wigeon, Coot, Greylag Goose, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe and Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Saturday 9th October and I headed out to Wembury again on a warm and calm morning. In the sunny spells it was really warm indeed and there were 2 Long-tailed Coneheads, 8 Common Lizards, 2 Small Coppers, Speckled Woods, Red Admirals, a Large White and 3 Common Darters making the most of the unseasonally warm conditions. 

Small Copper

Red Admiral

The tide was heading out and at The Point 62 Oystercatcher were roosting with 7 Little Egret, 5 Curlew, a pair of Mallard and 5 Mediterranean Gulls (1 adult, 2 2nd winter and 2 1st winter). Offshore a few Gannets were milling around and 3 distant Auks were seen flying west (probably Guillemots).  A surprise sighting was a flock of 14 male Common Scoter flying west, presumably the same birds I saw last Tuesday.

Cirl Buntings and Stonechats were as showy as ever and also seen were a Song Thrush, a Greenfinch, a Linnet, a pair of Kestrel, 8 Long-tailed Tits and a Collared Dove. It was also nice to see 2 Wheatears and at least 4 Chiffchaffs along with 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers (1 at The Pines, 1 over the Valley to the Beach).

Cirl Bunting

Stonechat

Stonechat

Wheatear

I had the moth box out in the back yard again overnight on Friday 8th October and for my troubles I had just one moth in the trap in the morning, a late Double-striped Pug. More sadly I found the remains of a Barred Sallow in a nearby spiders web.

Barred Sallow

I decided to try something new overnight on Saturday 9th October and placed the moth box lights in the dining room window to see what if anything would happen and bizarrely had 6 moths around the window and surrounding walls the next morning - Common Marbled Carpet, Tachystola acroxantha, Light Emerald, Garden Carpet, Rusty Dot Pearl and Feathered Ranunculus! Hopefully with this setup I might get to see a December Moth in the back yard later this year! 

Common Marbled Carpet

Light Emerald

Rusty Dot Pearl

Feathered Ranunculus

Local Beach Wildlife

With the warm and settled weather continuing we managed to get to the beach twice in a week with a trip to Cawsands and a trip to Wonwell.

It has been over 2 years now since we last had a beach day at Cawsands and it was a lovely day out as always. A Grey Seal with a red tag in its tail was a surprise sighting as it swam around the ferry in the crystal clear waters at Cawsands Beach, a young looking animal and possibly a rescued and released individual as it appeared to have no real fear of the people nearby.

Grey Seal, Cawsands Beach

A Kingfisher on the rocks along the shoreline was also a surprise with a 1st winter and 2 adult winter Mediterranean Gulls more usual while from the ferry at least 2 noisy Sandwich Terns were seen. Red Admirals, Large whites, Meadow Browns and a Painted Lady were also seen feeding on the buddleia flowers at the back of the beach and a Chiffchaff was briefly heard singing.

Our trip to Wonwell was less wildlife filled but it was as gorgeous there as ever, it has been far too many years since we last visited here. Ravens noisily flying over were the only birds of note but the scenery was just stunning and the sunshine warm and relaxing.

With 2 night shifts looming again I headed out to Wembury on Tuesday 21st September for a walk on another warm and sunny day. It was very quiet bird wise with just a Curlew and a Bar-tailed Godwit with Oystercatchers seen out on the rocks along the beach as the tide headed out. There were plenty of gulls roosting on the rocks too but without my telescope I wasn't able to count the Mediterranean Gulls amongst them although there seemed to be many more present than on my previous visit.

At The Point a Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling from the pine trees where at least 6 Chiffchaff, 6 Chaffinch and a pair of Blackcaps were also seen. Cirl Buntings were being nervous and skulky in the bushes but Stonechats were showy and confiding as usual.

Stonechat, Wembury

A Kestrel was being noisily mobbed by Carrion Crows over the hillside behind the wheatfield with a male Sparrowhawk briefly appearing too. A Jay was even more of a surprise as it briefly flew out of the trees before disappearing back into cover while a second bird was heard only. Later a Jay was heard in the trees in the valley to the beach with another bird flying over, presumably the same pair.

Ichneumon Wasp, Wembury

The warm and sunny days have meant cool and clear nights and as a result back yard mothing hasn't been particularly exciting but I did have my first L-Album Wainscot of the year. Unfortunately I still haven't had a Large Ranunculus so far although I sadly found the remains of one in a spiders web. 

Double-striped Pug

L-Album Wainscot

Large Ranunculus - not how I wanted to see one! 

Saturday 25th September was grey and overcast but warm and muggy and so I headed out to Wembury again for a walk. Unfortunately on arriving it was a bit of a white out with The Mewstone totally obscured in mist and mizzle although the visibility came and went over the course of the morning and by the time I left all but the top of The Mewstone was visible. 

Mist-sparkled Spiders Web at Wembury - they were everywhere! 

Spiders Web, Wembury

It was quiet on the bird front with 2 Chiffchaff and a male Blackcap noted at The Point. Along the beach a Wheatear, a Common Sandpiper, a Curlew and 5 Little Egrets were seen along with the usual Oystercatchers. 

There was a noticeable increase in Mediterranean Gulls roosting on the rocks at high tide with good numbers of 1st winter birds noted although counting numbers was impossible in the mist and with birds being very mobile along the shore. I did refind the adult ringed bird Yellow 2L14 that I saw on 14th September (details still awaited) and an adult bird with a red leg ring that I couldn't read but I also found an adult bird Green RX2P that was ringed as a chick in 2017 in France. 

A juvenile/1st Winter Great Black-backed Gull was seen tucking in to a fish washed up onto the beach while other Gulls watched nearby.

Great Black-backed Gull, Wembury

A Long-winged Conehead was seen on a fence post and 3 Red Admirals were flitting about despite the gloomy conditions while  offshore 2 Gannets were picked up moving west and a Grey Seal surfaced briefly close to shore as it headed east. 

A Mocking Northern Mockingbird

A Northern Mockingbird was found in an Exmouth garden back in January 2021, just as lock down began, and reports of its presence in Exmouth continued into April. Some naughty birders travelled down to Devon from afar during the lock down to look for it and fell foul of the lock down rules, being slapped with £200 fines when caught out by the police, but with the first stage of lock down easing on March 29th the exact whereabouts of the bird in Exmouth were revealed to those not in the know and as expected a deluge of birders travelled from far and wide to Exmouth to see it as witnessed by all the photos on various social media platforms. And I sat back and watched and waited until Easter came and went and with the bird still present on April 7th I decided to go and have a look for it on Thursday April 8th. Big mistake! 

The bird was being seen in gardens by a busy main road into Exmouth, the gardens a classic slice of suburbia with exotic palms and high fences and a swine to view from the pavement. A gaggle of twitchers were present when I arrived on site at around 11:40 and the mood wasn't positive with no sighting of the bird that morning. News soon broke of the Northern Mockingbird being found at a site in Sussex, some 150 miles away to the north-east, and that was that - the bird had done a moonlight flit just as I finally got around to go and see it! Oh, Bollocks! 

It was low tide and so there was no point in staying in Exmouth and so I headed over to Dawlish Warren on the opposite side of the River Exe for a look around instead and I had a very enjoyable wander about there although I couldn't help thinking that I would have enjoyed my time more if I had just stayed local to Plymouth. 

The sun was shining more and more from behind the clouds as I arrived at Dawlish Warren and as a result the Sand Crocus were showing very well, I always forget how small the flowers actually are. 

Sand Croci

Sand Crocus

A scan offshore revealed at least 14 Sandwich Tern diving for fish although they were mostly distant. A winter plumaged Great Northern Diver was a surprise with 6 summer plumaged Great Crested Grebe not so much. 

There were 3 Mallard ducklings on the Main Pond with their Mum and along with Moorhen and Canada Goose there were 2 Little Grebe with at least 2 small Grebelings. Chiffchaff were heard singing and at least 2 Willow Warblers were quietly singing in the willows too. 

Willow Warbler

Stonechat

Raven, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Swallow were seen flying overhead but despite regularly scanning I didn't find myself an Osprey. 

An enjoyable but disappointing day out and while my day involved dipping the Northern Mockingbird for others 150 miles away their day provided an unexpected bonus bird beyond their wildest dreams. 

March Doldrums

Mid-march is here and it's that weird time when winter birds depart and summer birds are yet to arrive and things are expectantly stagnant. 

Sunday 7th March and a morning walk around Plmouth Hoe before the crowds arrived was Purple Sandpiper-less but the female Long-tailed Duck was still present in The Cattewater, distant and active as usual.

Thursday 11th March and another Plymouth Hoe walk was Long-tailed Duck-less in choppy seas but the Purple Sandpiper showed well along with 6 Turnstones at Rusty Anchor.

Purple Sandpiper

Friday 12th March was showery and breezy but despite the low tide I headed out to Saltram and the River Plym for a walk. It was a very low tide but out on the water and mudflats of the Plym I found an unringed adult winter plumaged Mediterranean Gull amongst the Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls present along with a notable increase in Common and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. A Greenshank, a redhead Goosander, a Curlew and a few Redshank were also seen.

The female Red-crested Pochard was back on the duck pond along with 22 Mandarin Duck (12 males, 10 females) and assorted Feral Ducks and Moorhens.

Red-crested Pochard

Mandarin Duck

The usual birds were seen in Saltram Park  - Stock Dove, Goldcrest, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Greenfinch, Nuthatch, Kestrel, Peregrine, Ring-necked Parakeet and Pheasant the best - but the highlight was a Reed Bunting found and pointed out to me by local birders Pete and Ian and only my second Plymouth sighting of one. 

It was good to see the pair of Stonechat again and showing very well by the main footpath heading down from the house to the beach. The female was absent during the very cold spell we had recently so it was good to see her back with the male, presuming it is indeed the same female. 

Stonechat - male

Stonechat - female

Sunday 14th March was Mothers Day and with it being a dry and mostly sunny day I decided to avoid the crowds and potter about the house doing chores with just a short trip out to Sainsburys to break the day up.  However on returning home from shopping I checked out the sightings pages to see a report of a Sandwich Tern in The Cattewater and so after quickly eating my lunch I headed down to Duttons Cafe on The Hoe for a look. Needless to say there was no sign of it but the female Long-tailed Duck was still present, distant and mobile and rarely at the surface for very long as usual.

Spring is beginning to arrive! 

Local Lockdown Wildlife

Lockdown 2.0 (or Locky D as the youngsters are calling it) continues although it is not as restrictive as lockdown was earlier in the year. However work continues to get increasingly busier, difficult and stressful, the weather remains mostly wet, windy and mild and life ticks along in this weird "on hold" state and it is all, quite frankly, tediously boring.

With mild temperatures and no rain forecast overnight on November 9th and 17th I decided to put out the moth box in the back yard. Previous trapping at this time of year has produced next to no moths and these 2 sessions were no exception with a single Light Brown Apple Moth in the trap on the morning of the 10th and nothing on the 18th. There may have been no moths in the trap on the morning of the 18th but a bonus for getting up early on my day off to check the trap was seeing and hearing a small flock of around 10 Redwing flying low overhead heading west. 

With the lockdown restricting travelling I decided it was time to get my Swarovski binoculars serviced. I have had them for 17 years and they have had a hard life with me although optically they are as amazing as the first day I got them. I purchased them from London Camera Exchange in Plymouth in 2003 and they are now dealing with all the arrangements for me as they get shipped off to Austria for their servicing but they are likely to be gone for 5 weeks!!! 2 weeks have nearly passed already but I can not wait for their return, I really am missing them.

A walk around The Barbican and Plymouth Hoe on Tuesday 17th November was pleasant despite the grey skies and occasional drizzle. The highlight of the walk was an adult Mediterranean Gull resting on a buoy out on the water of Sutton Harbour, a ringed bird but too distant to read the letters/numbers on the white plastic leg ring with my travel Leica binoculars while my Swarovski binoculars are away for servicing.

The morning of Wednesday 18th November was wet and windy but by lunchtime it had dried up and so I had a walk over to Ford Park Cemetery for a look around. There was no sign of any Black Redstarts but there was a lot of noise and disturbance from the maintenance men strimming grass. I did find a Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest along with the usual Blue, Great and Coal Tits and 2 Sparrowhawks were seen flying over together. A very tame and stunning looking male Pheasent showed very well around the bird feeders, where he came from is anyones guess as a small cemetery in the centre of Plymouth is an odd place to find one.

Pheasent, Ford Park Cemetery

Pheasent

Thursday 19th November was a beautiful day for a change, sunny skies with a cold and brisk north westerly wind which eased by lunchtime, and a much needed walk along the coast path at Wembury was very restorative indeed.

It was extremely busy due to the good weather and the birds along the beach were constantly disturbed by walkers on the outgoing tide but I quickly found a smart Water Pipit feeding on the mass of seaweed near the sewage pipe amongst the Rock Pipits and Meadow Pipits. I walked further along the coast path to get a closer view of it but as I set up my telescope an adult Great Black-backed Gull landed nearby and spooked all the Pipits and I lost sight of it.

Cirl Buntings and Stonechats showed very well along the footpath with the male Cirl Buntings heard singing regularly. A male Kestrel, a female Sparrowhawk and a Buzzard were seen overhead and a Chiffchaff was heard calling in the bushes but not seen. Only 15 Oystercatcher were seen roosting along the beach with 2 Curlew and a Little Egret and a lone and distant Gannet was seen offshore. A flock of around 200 Woodpigeon were seen flying inland, appearing to come in off the sea, and shortly after a flock of around 80 were seen flying west along the coast and possibly from the original flock.

Stonechat, Wembury

Stonechat

Cirl Bunting

Cirl Bunting

On the return walk I decided to amble along the beach and spend some time looking for the Water Pipit amongst the feeding Pipits around the seaweed mass. The Pipits were very mobile and flighty but eventually I found the Water Pipit feeding at the base of the cliff, obscured views as it constantly fed amongst the stones and flotsam and jetsam before it was flushed by walkers. A short time later I refound it in the same spot, the views were still obscured before it was flushed again but it soon returned to the same spot and I finally managed some good views of it. It was, as usual for Water Pipits, quite arsey towards any Rock Pipits or Meadow Pipits that came too close and it was interesting to see it return regularly to the same stretch of beach to defend it from any interloping Pipits.

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Pipit Food along the Beach

Pipit Food

The sheep field was covered with lots of yellow toadstools again, I think they are Golden Waxcap, and the last time I saw so many here was back in 2012 when we had a very wet autumn just like this year.

Golden Waxcap (Hygrocybe chlorophana) 

Pied Wagtail

Wembury Walk 4th June

Thursday 4th June was cool and breezy with occasional sunny spells and so I headed out to Wemhury for a walk. I was hoping to see the Green Hairsteaks again and I did find one in the same place as last week but it was looking very worn and faded.

Green Hairstreak

Only a few other butterflies were seen along my walk -2 Large Skipper, a Meadow Brown, a Small White, a male Common Blue and a Speckled Wood - but I did find a Magpie Moth Caterpillar, a Lackey Moth larval nest and a dead Fox Moth Caterpillar plus a faded Pug species in the reopened toilet block.

 Large Skipper

 Magpie Moth Caterpillar

Pug Species

Bird wise it was quiet as expected but it was good to see fledgling Robins and Stonechats. Cirl Buntings were vocal and showy along with Whitethroats and a Swift hawked for insects over the valley to the beach with 3 House Martins. Fulmars wheeled around The Mewstone cliffs and single Gannets were picked up distantly offshore. A male Kestrel and a pale Buzzard were noted overhead, the Buzzard getting short shrift from a pair of Herring Gulls and a pair of Carrion Crows, and Chiffchaff and Blackcap were seen and heard.

 Stonechat

 Whitethroat

 Cirl Bunting

Dunnock

Yellow Iris and Stinking Iris were in flower and the Foxgloves were still putting on quite a show too.

 Yellow Iris

Stinking Iris

Thick-thighed Flower Beetles were found in Bindweed flowers and a Devils Coach Horse with its wings out was an unusual find.

 Thick-thighed Flower Beetle

Devils Coach Horse

On arriving back home I attempted to ID from photos 4 micro moths I had caught in the moth trap the previous morning but eventually I admitted defeat and called on the ID skills of Sean from @MothIDUK on Twitter who very quickly ID'd them all.

 Eudonia mercurella

 Chrysoteuchia culmella

 Celypha striana

Eudonia angustea