An Arctic Dartmoor Day Out

Friday 30th April and it was with great excitement as I headed up to Warren House on Dartmoor with my mate Mavis for our annual Dartmoor Birdy Day after missing out last year due to the COVID lockdown. It is hard to believe that it was 2 years and a day ago when we last did this walk together!

It was sunny but cool when I left home and by the time we reached the car park at Bennets Cross to start our walk the clouds were beginning to bubble up in the sky and there was a distinct chill in the air. The clouds continued to build and while it was pleasant when the sun shone for brief periods from behind them it continued to get cooler and cooler until eventually the heavens opened and we had a full on hail storm which blanketed the Moor with white patches.

Dartmoor in April!

Dartmoor Hail Storm

Despite the weather we did manage to see some excellent birds with at least 2 vocal Cuckoos being the highlight, mostly distant and very mobile but we had some good scope views of them. At one point they had a bit of an aerial tussle and a bit of a scrap in a tree top before heading off in opposite directions, something I haven't witnessed before.

Cuckoo, Warren House

Whinchat, Wheatear, Stonechat, Tree Pipit and Willow Warbler showed well and occassionally sang too and we also saw Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, a Raven flying over, Wren, Robin and a male Reed Bunting.

We stopped for coffee at the ruins in Soussons Plantation and I put my Emperor Moth lure out but with no success. We could hear Crossbills calling in the pine trees and we had some good scope views of a female feeding on cones in the top of a tree while the others kept out of sight. Eventually 5 birds exploded out of the trees calling noisely before heading off down the valley. A Tree Pipit showed very well feeding on the ground and a single Chiffchaff was seen busily singing away. A small but steady trickle of Swallows passed overhead heading North despite the cool conditions.

We walked back to Bennets Cross and stopped for a short time to try the Emperor Moth lure again, it was very cold at this point stood out on the heather clad hillside but an Emperor Moth did appear before dashing off and out of sight.

We drove around to nearby Challacombe Farm for the second part of our walk and it was still pretty cold but again the birding was good with the highlight being a singing male Redstart which showed very well around the farm buildings.

Redstart, Challacombe Farm

A male Reed Bunting, Willow Warblers, a pair of Stonechat, a male Whinchat, a Marsh Tit, a Nuthatch, 2 Stock Dove and a pair of Wheatear were also seen with a Great Spotted Woidpecker heard drumming. Eventually though it was time to call it a day and head home to warm up but we had had a very enjoyable and bird filled if chilly day out indeed.

Wheatear, Challacombe Farm

Redstart and House Martin

Monday 23rd April and a day of jobs and chores was broken up by a walk to nearby Mount Gould Hospital to look for (and dip) a yellow browed warbler being seen there in the hospital grounds but a flyover swallow, a green veined white flitting about and the stunning views of the River Plym and Dartmoor were some consolation. I should have gone to Millbrook in Cornwall instead where a male garganey was reported the previous day, I had expected it to have moved on by the Monday but it was still present and showing well - hey ho.

Thursday 26th April and I had to attend Basic Life Support training at Derriford Hospital despite it being my day off work but I was finished by 10:15 and so headed off to Grenofen Woods for a walk on a mostly sunny but cool and breezey and showery morning. The woods were quiet but the highlights were 2 house martins briefly hawking over the trees and a pair of redstarts briefly feeding together in the trees before disappearing from sight.

Male Redstart

Other birds of note were a raven tumbling and cronking overhead, a female sparrowhawk hunting amongst the tree tops, a pair of mistle thrush mobbing a magpie, songflighting siskins, a chiffchaff and 2 blackcaps heard singing, a pair of stonechats and a pair of linnets on the heathland, willow warblers seen and heard, a female great spotted woodpecker feeding in the tree tops and a displaying stock dove flying around over the trees. It was interesting to see 10 buzzards soaring high overhead together heading east, presumably migrating birds moving through, and just 1 butterfly was seen, a speckled wood feeding on blossom.

Speckled Wood

Monday 30th April and we had a quick walk along the coast path at Wembury on a sunny but rather chilly morning. A male muslin moth in the toilet block was a nice surprise and single peacock and speckled wood were seen along the path with quite a few bloody nosed beetles, 2 common lizard and a slow worm. Chiffchaff, blackcap and whitethroat were singing away along with a single cirl bunting and 14 whimbrel were feeding in the wheatfield despite it being a very low low tide. 2 shelduck and 7 male and a female mallard were feeding along the beach with a lone oystercatcher and a male stonechat showed very well by the path at The Point, possibly due to having a nest nearby to where we were stood. Despite the cool temperature it felt quite spring like, the most spring like it has felt so far this year, and with red rumped swallow and black winged stilt being found in Devon today maybe things are finally picking up.

 Muslin Moth

 Drinker Moth Larva

Whimbrel

Misty Dartmoor Day

Wednesday 31st May and it was off to Dartmoor for my annual spring birding day with Mavis and Mike, postponed from May 17th due to the bad weather. Unfortunately it was misty and mizzly as my bus arrived at Yelverton and it became increasingly foggy as we then drove to Warren House. It did however eventually clear up and we had a good day and saw some good birds.

Mavis and myself started off from Bennets Cross on the walk to Challacombe Farm while Mike headed off to Grimspound for a walk before meeting us later at the Farm. The fog was quite thick with occassional clearer spells along with brief rain showers but skylarks could be heard busily singing away. 2 cuckoos were also heard calling with 1 seen in the foggy distance flying low over the Moor being mobbed by meadow pipits - 1 of the cuckoos also gave the occassional odd tri-syllabic call with an extra initial "cuck".

A songlighting tree pipit, a flyover redpoll, a singing whitethroat, a singing reed bunting and 2 singing blackcaps were seen with a garden warbler heard and we also had nice but brief views of whinchats and willow warblers.

Heath spotted orchids were beginning to flower but we couldn't find any sundew.

Heath Spotted Orchid

Heath Spotted Orchid

Challacombe Farm was as good as always with good views of 2 spotted flycatcher, 2 grey wagtails, swallows, house martins and redstarts including a ringed pair feeding young in a nest box. A redpoll flew over calling and a chiffchaff was heard singing, a nuthatch was also heard calling and a male reed bunting was mobile and vocal around the gorse bushes.

 Redstart at Nestbox

 Redstart

 Redstart

Spotted Flycatcher record shot

After meeting Mike we drove off to Warren House Inn for lunch and we had some nice views of a pair of wheatear and more distant views of a pair of whinchat by the roadside along the way. Lunch at the Inn was very nice as always before it was time to head back home - another good day out despite the initial fog and rain.

Rain stops Birding (For a Day)

Sunday April 30th and I had planned to visit Rame Head again for a look around but the weather forecast was vile so I decided to give it a miss. However on second thoughts I considered going anyway with the forecast rain and strong winds maybe providing some good sea watching but then I wasn't really in the mood to get soaking wet so stayed at home instead. I checked the bird sighting pages during the morning to find good birds were being seen along the South Devon coast (pomarine skua, Arctic skua, Manx shearwater, puffin, etc) and I was beginning to regret my decision so I headed out to Plymouth Hoe for a look to see if anything interesting might have been blown in. The weather was very wet and breezey but not bad enough to blow any birds into The Sound other than at least 6 gannets along with the usual herring gulls, great black backed gulls and cormorants although 3 whimbrel, 2 noisey displaying oystercatcher and a songflighting rock pipit added some interest. But I shouldn't really complain about the rain because we really needed it as it has been dry for many, many days now.

Tuesday 2nd May and we headed out for a walk around Rame Head on a sunny and still afternoon. There was nothing out to sea except herring gulls, cormorants and shags but on land whitethroats were much in evidence with males singing and songflighting everywhere. A singing male yellowhammer and a singing male cirl bunting were also seen along with a peregrine, a sparrowhawk, a kestrel, 2 raven, a male bullfinch and a male stonechat. Butterfly interest was provided by a male orange tip, 3 speckled wood, a red admiral, a small tortoiseshell, a holly blue and at least 6 wall brown and I also saw a speckled yellow moth flitting over the gorse covered cliff side.

Wednesday 3rd May and I decided to head off to Grenofen Woods for a walk on a sunny but cool and breezey morning. I was hoping to find some garden warblers after no sight or sound of any on my 2 spring visits last year and I wasn't disappointed with excellent views of 4 birds, 2 very vocal and mobile males and a third less vocal male with a female in close attendance. I was concerned about my lack of sightings at Grenofen Woods last year but maybe I was just unlucky with birds present but not singing or showing on the days I visited.

Garden Warbler

Garden Warbler

Garden Warbler

I also hoped to see tree pipits after only getting flight views at Yarner Wood last Saturday and again I was in luck with 3 birds seen well - a songflighting male with a female in close attendance and a second male songflighting nearby.

Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit

I also had some nice views of 2 or possibly 3 singing and mobile male redstarts along with a female, always a nice bird to see.

Redstart

Redstart

Also seen were 3 marsh tits, a male great spotted woodpecker, a male yellowhammer, 2 nuthatch, 2 male bullfinch, willow warblers, blackcaps and swallows, with chiffchaff, green woodpecker and tawny owl also heard.

Along the river there was no sign of any dippers but a pair of grey wagtail were busily feeding 2 fledglings.

Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail - Fledgling

Green veined whites, 3 speckled wood and a tatty looking male and at least 6 female brimstones were on the wing but there was no sign of any small pearl bordered fritillary after last years first ever sighting.

Male Brimstone

Female Brimstone

Female Brimstone

Female Brimstone

Another oil beetle trundling along the path was a nice surprise, they are such lovely looking things, and again I carefully moved it off the footpath and away from peoples feet, and a dor beetle was also found having dug itself out of the ground.

Oil Beetle

Dartmoor Day 2016 and Deja vu at Bude

Monday May 23rd and the last day of my holiday and it was off to Dartmoor for the day with Mavis - no Mike again as he is still having health issues and with Mavis having some mobility issues too we had a slightly different day than usual.

A juvenile lammergier (a first for the UK) had been found on Dartmoor while I was away on the Isle of Wight last week but was proving to be elusive and mobile. We kept our eyes open for it throughout the day but with no luck - it had decided to head down to Bodmin Moor in Cornwall! Never mind.

It was sunny but breezey and cool as seems to be the theme this spring but we had an excellent day despite this. We started off at Yarner Wood with 3 male and a female mandarin duck showing well from the hide feeding on seeds on the ground dropped from the bird feeders - the female was quite aggressive and regularly chased off the males. Watching the feeders and marsh tit, blue tit, great tit and coal tit were seen along with great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, siskin and chaffinch.

Male Mandarin Duck

We walked up the footpath into the woods and Mavis found a nice spotted flycatcher feeding in the canopy. A wood warbler was singing away nearby and we had some good views although it stayed up in the canopy and was constantly on the move. It had a silver ring above a yellow ring on its left leg and a green ring over an orange ring on its right. A pair of redstarts showed well with the male heard singing for brief periods and pied flycatchers were also heard with good views of both  male and females amongst the trees and around the nest boxes.

 Male Redstart

Pied Flycatcher

We walked up to the heathland, hearing noisey great spotted woodpeckers chicks in their nest in a dead tree by the footpath along the way and seeing the female come in with a beakful of food - while looking up at the nest hole a hobby flew over the trees, something we would have otherwise missed.

On the heatland we had nice views of a songflighting tree pipit, a male whitethroat, a "cha-cha-cha-ing" redpoll, stonechat and a green woodpecker.

A few butterflies were on the wing - green veined white, a very tatty peacock and male and female brimstones.

A very tatty Peacock Butterfly

We had lunch at a cafe in Widdecombe which was very nice before heading to Challacombe Farm. Mavis was struggling a bit with walking by this time so we had a gentle stroll around the farm, seeing a female redstart, a male reed bunting, a stock dove, a male kestrel and 2 spotted flycatchers along with the usual birds. 2 garden warblers were heard singing but didn't show themselves and swallows and house martins were flitting about over the stream.

Marsh Marigolds, Challacombe Farm

We had a chat with the lady who runs the farm and she had seen the wandering lammergier 3 times over the past week including a great view of it as it perched in pine trees opposite the farm house - we were not the slightest bit jealous!

Moving on to Warren House Inn in the car and whinchats and wheatears showed well along the roadside while an unseen cucko called regularly.

 Male Whinchat

Male Whinchat

At Warren House we heard another cuckoo and eventually found it in the top of a tree before it flew off, a distant view but a nice end to our day. No lammergier but a great day none the less.

Wednesday May 25th and it was off to Bude for the day for a bit of deja vu. Having put up the awning and sorting out the caravan a few weeks ago we had to do it all again - the stitching on the awning had come undone and so everything was packed away and the awning taken down (not by us) for it to be repaired. It was cool but sunny and did warm up as the day went on and eventually it was all sorted out (again).

A quick look at Maer Lake and 2 singing chiffchaffs, a male gadwall, 2 black tailed godwits and 2 shelducks mating were the highlights while at the caravan a songflighting whitethroat, a male bullfinch and 2 adult robins feeding a fledgling were seen.

A large white and a male orange tip were seen and there were 3 moths in the toilet block - a pale tussock and 2 white ermine - but with new LED lights being installed in the toilet blocks I guess I will be seeing less moths in them in the future.

Pale Tussock

White Ermine

New Forest Woodlarks

Arriving back on the mainland at Lymington on Saturday 21st May and we headed off to the nearby Beaulieu Motor Museum. It was a little early so we stopped off along the way at Hatchett Pond, apparently the largest body of fresh water in the New Forest National Park, and I had a quick walk around while David read the paper. A willow warbler was heard singing and meadow pipits and skylarks were seen songflighting. 2 oystercatchers were asleep on a grassy bank and 2 mute swans were tending to 2 cygnets. Best find was a common tern roosting on a wooden post before flying up and down the pond on the hunt for breakfast.

Common Tern

Beaulieu was interesting but I didn't enjoy the motor museum as much as I enjoyed the Haynes motor museum but at least I also had a stately home, a ruined abbey, a monorail , free Wi-Fi in the café and a walled garden to keep me occupied.

After visiting Beaulieu we headed off to a hotel near Beaulieu Road station which was very nice and wonderfully isolated in the middle of heathland, bogs and woods despite being on a main road and a busy railway line. The weather had been warm and pleasant at the motor museum but it was cool and cloudy by the time we reached the hotel. After a quick pint I headed off out for a look around but only saw stonechats, meadow pipits and siskins for my troubles but heading back to the hotel and swallows and house martins were having a hissy fit overhead, giving away the presence of a nice hobby casually circling around before drifting off out of sight, a juvenile bird with little red feathering in the thigh area.

After dinner I headed out again as dusk was falling but it was cold and windy with spits of rain at times. I heard a distant cuckoo calling in the woods and curlews giving their bubbling calls in the bogs but the best was a nightjar churring on the heath, distant and infrequent and difficult to hear at times with noise from the road, the trains and the wedding disco music from the hotel.

The following day and the forecast was dreadful - wet, cold and windy - but there appeared to be a brief drier window early in the morning and so I was up and out at 6am. It was cold with mizzle and drizzle and occasional light rain but I headed off anyway, not expecting to see much at all.

Heading off over the heath and a surprise was a brief churr from a nightjar in the area I had heard one the previous night, most odd in the early morning daylight. Stonechats and meadow pipits were flitting about and a common buzzard flew over. A cuckoo was heard calling and I had a brief view as it flew off from cover in a tree,

Reaching the woodland edge and I disturbed 2 birds feeding in the grass, noting their short tails as they flew off. Fortunately they landed nearby and I was delighted to see they were woodlarks, a well developed fledgling bird with an adult. The adult had distinct pale supercillia which met at the back of the nape and a small black and white mark at the bend of the wing. I had some nice views as they moved through the grass and I was very pleased to find them despite the weather, being my second sighting ever since my first in Suffolk in 1989(!).

Woodlark

Fledgling Woodlark

Woodlark

 Woodlark

Woodlark

The adult bird then stopped feeding and crouched down, giving a quiet song before flying up and being joined by the fledgling. They chased after a 3rd bird that I hadn't noticed feeding nearby and all 3 birds flew off calling and giving brief snatches of song before disappearing from view. Later I heard the distant singing of a bird from the direction they had flown off but I never saw them again.

I came across a large pool surrounded by sedges where a little egret and grey heron were feeding along with mallards while 2 lapwings noisily displayed overhead at times. Along the woodland edge I saw a pair of redstarts and then a second male bird with a third male bird heard only. A cuckoo continued to call and was joined briefly by a second bird but I never caught a sight of them.

Female Redstart

A badger ran across the footpath right in front of me - it scared the shit out of me and at first I thought it was a dog as it looked quite black, probably due to the wet weather, but I caught a good view of its black and white face before it disappeared -  my first badger sighting other than dead ones by the roadside.

I heard curlews calling over the bogs and had a distant flight view of 1 bird and I also saw at least 3 distant snipe in drumming display flight but I couldn't hear them in the wind. A reed bunting was singing away and I found some pretty flowers in the bog amongst the cotton grass, on checking my guide book they were bogbean, a new plant for me.

Bogbean

Back at the hotel and a nice male yellowhammer was feeding in the field from the bedroom window but the weather had worsened and it was now raining heavily. After breakfast we headed off to Kingston Lacey in Dorset, a National Trust house we visited last year but where we had been unable to see all the rooms on that visit - this time we saw all the rooms open to the public and had a wet walk around the gardens and allotments before heading back to Plymouth.

Male Yellowhammer

And so it had been a great trip away, some amazing wildlife sightings and pleasantly exhausting - sometimes I am a really lucky guy.

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.