Thursday 17th August and a day with the Outlaws was broken up with a walk around Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor. It was quiet as expected with the highlights being a yaffling green woodpecker flying into a tree, sundew growing on a boggy bank by the road and a female roe deer with 2 well grown fawns feeding out in the open in a field.
Sundew, Burrator
Female Roe Deer, Burrator
Roe Deer Fawns, Burrator
Sunday 20th August and it was off to Bude for the day to finally sell the Outlaws caravan. It was a grey and murky day and the heavens opened as we arrived at the caravan site and it remained wet for much of the rest of the day. After selling the caravan we headed into Bude via Bude Holiday Park where the caravan used to be sited and were quite saddened at the mess they have made of the place and very glad that the caravan was moved as the new touring site area is jam packed and very claustrophobic. A quick look at Maer Lake revealed 11 black tailed godwits, a grey heron and eclipse plumaged mallard and teal in the gloom before we headed off to Lifes a Beach for a cooked breakfast where a lone gannet and an oystercatcher were picked up offshore. A wander around Bude in the rain wasn't much fun and so we headed home early, feeling a little bit down with the caravan now gone but with lots of memories of happy and good times spent in Bude over the years.
I had the mothbox out in the backyard on the night of Monday 21st August and again was a little disappointed in the catch the next morning with the highlights being 3 male four spotted footman, 2 Vines rustic, a brimstone moth, a mother of pearl, a yellow barred brindle and a lesser broad bordered yellow underwing.
Red Underwing - on the train to Exmouth (a new moth for me and released at Topsham station)
With Tuesday 22nd August to myself I decided (despite my better judgement) to catch the train to Exmouth (£20.80!) to look for a hoopoe that had been showing well at Maer Farm for a few days. I never have much luck with hoopoes in the UK, having only ever seen 1 before at Dawlish Warren which was a brief and distant flight view only, but I have seen plenty on my foreign travels with some incredibly close views. Needless to say today proved another disaster with no sight or sound of the hoopoe but I did see 2 late swifts feeding with swallows and house martins, a flyover grey wagtail and 2 wheatear in the hoopoe-less fields and it was nice to chat to the assorted birders present not seeing the hoopoe too.
Speckled Wood, Maer Farm
A look off Exmouth sea front produced distant Sandwich terns feeding offshore, a flock of around 20 common scoters flying west low over the water, gannets, shags and gulls while on the sand bars a few oystercatcher were feeding.
Juvenile Herring Gull, Exmouth beach
I headed over to Exmouth marina to view the mouth of the Exe estuary and out on the sand banks were a distant flock of roosting Sandwich terns and amongst them I managed to pick out 2 juvenile common terns. The tide was coming in and eventually I managed to see the juvenile white winged black tern that has been around for a while now - it was roosting out of sight in a gully and appeared as the water began to rise. Unfortunately it was distant but its dark looking plumage with pale wings and small size were obvious, being smaller than the common terns but feisty and regularly jostling with any Sandwich terns that came too close. Eventually it flew upriver and out of sight and it was then time to head back home to Plymouth - disappointing at dipping the hoopoe but compensation with unexpectedly seeing the white winged black tern.
Roosting Terns, River Exe
White Winged Black Tern - at the waters edge on the left between the wires (honest!)
