Thurlestone and Dartmoor

Wednesday 20th May and we headed out for a coastal walk with the skies sunny and only a little breeze, parking up at Thurlestone and walking to Hope Cove and back on what was a very hot day. The beaches and car parks were busy but the footpath was fairly quiet and we kept away from other people as much as possible.

The highlight of the walk was a songflighting Sedge Warbler, my first of the year and a bird I wasn't expecting to see this lock down year. It leapt out of the bushes singing away, landing on brambles to continue singing for a short time before leaping up into the air again for one last flourish and then falling silent.

Sedge Warbler - auto-focused on the brambles! 

A Reed Warbler was chuntering away in the reeds by the bridge over the Ley, keeping itself well hidden, but Whitethroat were much more showy and vocal all along our walk.

Whitethroat

At South Huish Marsh a pair of Shelduck were looking after 8 fluffy ducklings with another 4 adults roosting nearby. House Martins were gathering mud for nests and Swifts and Swallows swooped around overhead.

Other birds seen and heard were Raven, Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Buzzard, Kestrel, Grey Heron and Pied Wagtail.

Common Blue, Speckled Wood, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Holly Blue and Wall were seen but the highlight were at least 5 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary flitting across the cliff tops, some very smart looking but some quite worn. They rarely settled for long though as they patrolled low over the vegetation looking for females.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

It was also nice to finally find some Spring Squill on the clifftop too although it was mostly going over but the Thrift was looking absolutely stunning in the sunshine.

Spring Squill

Spring Squill

Thrift

Thrift

Spurge

I had the moth box out in the back yard that night and in the morning I had 14 moths of 7 species including a lovely Mullein Wave, one of my top 10 back yard moths, and it was good to find 2 Bee Moth and a Vines Rustic in the moth box too.

 Mullein Wave

 Bee Moth

Vines Rustic

Thursday 21st May and with the good weather continuing we headed up to Dartmoor for a walk. We started off at a woodland site which was absolutely stunning in the sunshine, full of bird song and with amazing views.

A Wood Warbler singing was the highlight but I couldn't locate it in the trees and it soon fell silent. A Garden Warbler and at least 2 Redstart were also heard but not seen along with a Yellowhammer, Willow Warbler and songflighting Redpoll but I did see a Tree Pipit, at least 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 male Pied Flycatcher with more heard, Blackcap, a Marsh Tit and a Cuckoo with another one heard only. A Green Woodpecker was heard yaffling away but I did eventually get a brief flight view of it between the trees.

Fritillaries were flitting over a hillside but wouldn't stay still for a second, presumably Small Pearl-bordered, and I also saw a few Beautiful Demoiselle and a very lovely Green Hairstreak.

Green Hairstreak

We enjoyed a picnic lunch while enjoying the magnificent views before moving on to take a walk along a Leat. It was an interesting walk and along the way I had great views of 2 male and a female Cuckoo along with a male Redpoll and Stonechats. Cotton Grass was flowering and a Grey Wagtail was heard singing and in the Leat were small, darty fish which were presumably Trout.

Two very lovely days out in these continuing difficult times and very much needed by me to ease my weary soul.

Wembury Again

Sunday 17th May and I decided to forego my weekly River Plym/Saltram walk and revisit Radford Lake to look for the Little Bittern but with no news of it the previous day I wasn't very hopeful and as expected there was no sign of it. I amused myself instead by watching the antics of Mallard ducklings being eagerly eyed up by nearby Herring Gulls while Chiffchaff and Blackcap could be heard singing in the trees and a Swallow chittered overhead. Heading home and a brief detour revealed a few Common Blue butterflies and Southern Marsh Orchids and it was good to hear a Willow Warbler still singing on the waste ground near St. Judes Church.

Mallard

Common Blue

Southern Marsh Orchid

Southern Marsh Orchid

With 5 days off in a row from Tuesday 19th May and with the weather continuing to be warm and dry and sunny (it hasn't really rained properly now for quite a few weeks) I decided last minute to visit Wembury for a walk, far more interesting than catching up with chores and house work as originally planned.

I spent some time looking for Green Hairstreak but unfortunately failed to find any. I did however see Wall, Small Copper, Common Blue, Peacock, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, Large White and Orange Tip flitting about and there was a female Beautiful Demoiselle in the bushes where I had seen the male last week.

Wall

Green-veined White

Green-veined White

Beautiful Demoiselle playing Hide and Seek

Birding was slow with the highlights being 2 Raven, 4 Oystercatcher, 5 Shelduck, a male Kestrel, singing Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Cirl Bunting, Stonechats with fledglings, Whitethroat, Swallow and Fulmar.

Shelduck

A Clouded Silver and a Common Carpet were disturbed from the pathside vegetation as I walked by. I also disturbed a Tiger Moth species which looked very orange and with white spots, presumably a Cream Spot Tiger Moth, which was unfortunately very expertly snatched mid air by a male Stonechat and fed to his young in a nearby nest before I could get a good look at it. I also found some Shield Bug eggs neatly arranged on a Gorse pod.

Clouded Silver

Common Carpet

Shield Bug Eggs