River Plym Walk

I missed out on my weekly River Plym and Saltram visit last week with all the Woodchat Shrike and Little Bittern excitement going on and so it was nice to get back for a walk there on Saturday 23rd May despite the strong breeze and occassional heavy showers. It was fairly quiet people wise, probably due to the weather, but there were still plenty of cyclists plying the footpaths as usual who still don't know what 2 metres is as they cycle side by side.

Before heading out for my walk I went through the moths in the back yard moth box and was pleased to find my first White Ermine, Willow Beauty and Marbled Minor Agg. of the year amongst Vines Rustic and Heart and Dart.

 White Ermine

 Marbled Minor Agg. - number 1

Marbled Minor Agg. - number 2

It was nice to get back to Saltram Park with Chiffchaff and Blackcap still singing away along with songflighting Skylarks but the Spring excitement is now slowly slipping into the Summer doldrums. The highlight was a "singing" Spotted Flycatcher in a different area to the one I saw last year and only really noticed due to stepping off the footpath to make way for cyclists passing by. I managed to get a good view of it before it flew off higher into the trees where I lost sight of it but I was very pleased to see one after having just spent some time scanning around the area where I saw one last year without any luck.

Ring-necked Parakeets were noisy and flighty amongst the trees and a pair of Stock Dove were surprisingly confiding. As usual an unseen Green Woodpecker yaffled away in the trees. No waders were seen along the estuary or on Blaxtons Meadow but Shelduck, Canada Geese, 2 male and a female Mallard , a Grey Heron and a breeding plumaged Little Egret with orangey feet and a lilac based bill were all seen and amongst the assorted plumaged Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls were 6 assorted immature Black-headed Gulls and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Stock Dove

Despite the breeze I found Speckled Woods flitting amongst the trees while the grassland held good numbers of Common Blue and Small Heath. 2 Glow worm larva were a nice surprise find along with at least 8 Bee Orchids, looking a bit weak and weedy in the continuing dry conditions from a lack of rain. 10 Roe Deer were also seen, looking quite orangey coloured in the strong sunlight compared to their usual dark winter pelage.

 Common Blue

 Common Blue

 Common Blue

 Small Heath

Small Heath

 Glow Worm Larva

 Glow Worm Larva

Glow Worm Larva

 Bee Orchid

 Bee Orchid

 Bee Orchid

 Bee Orchid

Bee Orchid

I stopped off at Blagdons Meadow on the walk home where it was bone dry underfoot but a few more Southern Marsh Orchids were flowering in the slightly less dry areas.

Southern Marsh Orchid

Another enjoyable walk and one that continues to throw up surprises and interest in these lock down times. And as lock down continues I have realised a few things about my life - firstly, I really no longer enjoy my current job and I need to do something about it, secondly, now that everything is closed down due to COVID-19 I realise I waste a lot of money on nothing (coffees, snacks, lunch out, glasses of wine, train and bus fares, etc.) and thirdly, I really do not pay enough attention to the wildlife close to home. All things to mull over in the coming months with restrictions on daily life set to continue for some time yet.

Exminster Marsh Revisited

I decided to visit Exminster Marshes again on Saturday 18th May to see if I could get any better views of sedge warblers than I had managed on my last visit 3 weeks ago. It was a grey and cool morning as I stepped off the bus at around 9:30am, having had a hassle free train journey to Starcross with distant views of Herbert the Slavonian grebe off Cockwood as we travelled along the River Exe being the highlight, but it did warm up later with occasional spells of sunshine too.

Swifts and house martins and a few swallows were buzzing over the marsh as I arrived at the car park and I could hear reed warblers, sedge warblers, chiffchaff, blackcap and a whitethroat.

I started off along the back path, keeping an ear and eye out for a lesser whitethroat but without any success. I did hear a Cettis warbler though and saw a male reed bunting in the reeds while out on the marsh lapwings, grey herons, shelducks, mallards, coots, moorhens and mute swans were seen. A cattle egret was seen distantly flying off towards Topsham and a few little egret were also seen.

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Reed warblers were heard and were surprisingly very showy, giving some good views, and sedge warblers were also heard but were surprisingly unshowy, proving difficult to see in the vegetation. Eventually I found a song flighting male and later another very showy and confiding male which both gave some lovely views.

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Sedge warbler

Sedge Warbler 

Sedge Warbler 

I had planned to walk around to the Powderham Marsh viewing platform but decided to stay on Exminster Marsh and view Powderham Marsh looking over the railway line while sat on some railings and I was surprised to find a female pochard out on the water. Even more surprising was a Brent goose feeding amongst Canada geese along with a snow goose and 3 barnacle geese.

Pochard

Brent Goose

Brent Goose with Canada Geese

Barnacle Goose

A lapwing making a bit of a noise over Exminster Marsh caught my attention and I managed a good view of a hobby flying low over the marsh before gaining height and drifting off towards Topsham. A second bird was also seen soaring high overhead before drifting off north and out of sight.

A few insects were also seen including a beautiful demoiselle, azure damselflys, speckled wood, green-veined white and 3 glow worm larva.

Beautiful Demoiselle

Azure Damselfly

Glow worm Larva

Glow worm Larva

Exminster Marsh Cow

I caught the bus and train back to Dawlish Warren for a quick look around but it was very busy with people and there was nothing to see on a flat calm sea so I had a portion of chips for lunch which I had to guard from assorted maurading herring gulls and great black-backed gulls before I caught the train back to Plymouth - a very successful day out.

Great Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Herring Gull

Herring Gull

Herring Gull

Another Walk at Wembury

Saturday May 23rd and my only day off over the Bank Holiday weekend. With good weather forecast I wasn't sure what to do with my day. I had considered a trip to Lands End to look for the male Sardinian warbler present there, having not seen one here in the UK before, but I didn't fancy the 6 hours of travelling that it would entail and I have seen many Sardinian warblers on my European travels. I also considered a trip to Exminster Marsh or Bowling Green Marsh but again didn't fancy travelling far and so I headed off to Wembury instead.

It was warm and sunny but clouded up at around 12 o'clock. It also wasn't too busy considering it was a Bank Holiday weekend and the start of half term holiday hell and I had a very pleasant walk with some good sightings (and a Chunk pasty for lunch at the end of it too!).

Bird wise it was fairly quiet as expected. 2 whimbrels were roosting on the rocks at Wembury Point with 26 oystercatchers and the shelduck was again roosting on the large sewage mass on the beach near the sewage pipe. There were now 14 Canada geese in the wheat field, nibbling away at the foliage which will not please the farmer, and 2 male cirl buntings were seen with another 2 males heard only.

Male Cirl Bunting



There was no sight or sound of the sedge warbler behind the boatyard but I did find both a male and female Dartford warbler in the usual place at Wembury Point - the male was seen song flighting and carrying food and at one point intimidated and chased off a male whitethroat.

A blackcap and a chiffchaff were heard singing with a female blackcap and another singing chiffchaff seen and there were male whitethroats everywhere. Also seen were pair of pheasant, a female kestrel, swallows and house martin.

Offshore 2 Manx shearwater were seen distantly flying East and a female red breasted merganser was a surprise, presumably the female I saw a few weeks ago. Even more of a surprise was a bottle nosed dolphin - it was first seen off Wembury Point showing at the surface only briefly before powering off through the water and showing well as it headed towards a fast speedboat, presumably to bow ride. Unfortunately the speedboat driver had seen the dolphin and stopped to have a look at it at which point the dolphin became unobtrusive again. Another passing speedboat attracted its attention and off it sped but again it soon lost interest when the boat owner stopped to watch it. It eventually just disappeared from sight and I couldn't refind it. Even more surprising though was refinding it again a little later just off the main beach, a distant view from the road overlooking the beach near the bus stop and again it was moving very unobtrusively through the water.

The warm weather meant a lot of insect activity. Wall, painted lady, large white, green veined white, common blue, speckled wood and orange tip were seen along with many speckled yellows flitting over the hillside at Wembury Point. A sharp-angled peacock was released from the toilet block and a very smart alder moth was seen by the footpath, a new moth for me. Lackey moth nests were very noticeable in the bushes with the caterpillars being at varying stages of development and therefore different sizes. Even better were 3 glow worm larva, the first I have found at Wembury for a few years now.

 Sharp Angled Peacock

 Alder Moth

 Lackey Moth Caterpillars

Glow Worm Larva



With an American golden plover at Exminster Marsh and gull billed tern at Bowling Green Marsh being reported today (both UK ticks for me) I guess I should have gone to the River Exe instead but with my wildlife sightings today I'm very glad I went to Wembury!