Moths, Waders and a Purple Heron

It was hot and sunny on Tuesday 30th July, the hottest day of the year so far, and with Birdy 2024 now departed from the flat roof next door along with the adults and overnight temperatures no lower than 16°c I finally got the Moth Box out in the back yard for the first time this year.

The next morning (Wednesday 31st July) I had quite a haul of moths (for my back yard) with four of my favourite back yard moths present amongst them - Four-spotted Footman (2 males, 4 females), Mullein Wave (2), Jersey Tiger (4) and Marbled Green (2).

Four-spotted Footman (Male and Female)

Mullein Wave

Marbled Green

Other highlights in the trap were Cloaked Minor, a Yponomeuta Sp., Square-spot Rustic, Cydia splendana (Chestnut Tortrix), Knot Grass, Nut-tree Tussock, Brimstone Moth, Diamond-back Moth and Rusty-dot Pearl.

Cloaked Minor

Yponomeuta Sp.

Square-spot Rustic

Cydia splendana

Friday 2nd August was forecasted to be cooler and cloudier after all the recent hot, sunny and sticky weather and so I headed out on the 7am bus to Wembury for a walk. It was cloudy and refreshingly cooler than of late but as the morning wore on the sun appeared and it became very hot very quickly before clouding over and cooling down again. Luckily I did manage to beat the dog walkers and for my troubles on the dropping tide I found 1 Curlew, 1+ Whimbrel, 1 summer plumaged Sanderling, 2 Redshank, 2 Common Sandpiper and 5 Ringed Plover present with the Oystercatchers along the beach. Also present were 2 Little Egret, 9 Mallard (2 female, 7 eclipse male), an adult and juvenile Sandwich Tern and 35+ variously plumaged adult and 2nd calendar year Mediterranean Gulls with 5 juveniles amongst them.

The usual land birds were seen too - Cirl Buntings, Stonechats, Linnets, Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs - with a Green Woodpecker heard and 2 Swallows flying over. A small chick was seen running into cover at The Point, a Pheasant or more likely a Red-legged Partridge, but there was no sign of a parent bird. Offshore Gannets were passing by heading west with juvenile birds amongst them.

Cirl Buntings

At least 3 Wall Brown, a Painted Lady and a Small Skipper were seen along with the usual butterflies and including a smart looking Red Admiral sucking up salts from the muddy bank of the stream in the valley to the beach.  Also along the stream was a good count of 2 female and 7 male Beautiful Demoiselle.

Wall Brown

Painted Lady

Before heading off to bed on Friday 2nd August I had a look at the bird news sites and with an array of goodies reported to be on show at Exminster Marsh I decided on a visit the next morning. However I had a rough night's sleep due to feeling unwell and I didn't feel great when I finally got up in the morning but after popping some pills and having some breakfast I felt a little better and so decided to head off anyway. I ended up catching a much later train than I originally planned and I figured I would just take things slow and gentle and see how things went.

I arrived at the Marsh at around 11:15hrs, it was overcast and refreshingly cool after the recent hot and sunny weather and I began my walk down the back path towards the Discovery Pool. I kept my eyes open and upward and checked out anything large flying over and within 5 minutes I jammed in on the reported Purple Heron flying over, a nice UK tick! It was distant but the views were decent and prolonged as it did a lap of the Marsh before dropping down out of sight into a ditch near the Main Lagoon.

I eventually arrived at the Discovery Pool, viewing was difficult with a lot of vegetation growing up in front of the viewing screen but I quickly found the 2 reported Wood Sandpipers which showed very nicely along with the 2 female/juvenile Garganey. It was a bit busy with birders and a bit twitchy though so I continued on to the Viewing Platform by the canal to have my lunch. I spent some time watching the skies from the platform but the Purple Heron sadly didn't reveal itself again so I returned to the Discovery Pool to admire the Wood Sandpipers and Garganey again and this time there were also 3 Green Sandpipers present which were delightfully noisey and regularly calling.

Wood Sandpiper

Garganey

Other birds of note on my walk were a Lapwing, 3 Snipe flying over, Black-tailed Godwits, a Kestrel, a Bar-headed Goose in with the Canada Geese, Sand Martins in with the House Martins and Swallows, a mobile feeding flock of Chiffchaffs and Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits, Sedge Warblers calling in the undergrowth and Reed Warblers flitting about in the reeds. 

A Comma was a nice find and the usual Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Red Admirals and Whites were flitting about too. There were also plenty of Amber Snails on the leaves of the reeds, I don't recall ever having seen them before.

Red Admiral

Amber Snail

All too soon it was time to begin the journey back to Plymouth but it had been a enjoyable walk despite my not feeling that well and I managed to see all the birds I wanted to see which was nice. And if I hadn't been feeling unwell I would have arrived at the Marsh earlier than I did and probably wouldn't have seen the Purple Heron so silver linings!

Butterflies and Dragonflies

It was forecasted to be dry and mostly sunny on Saturday 27th July and so I decided to head out to Wembury for a walk. I didn't manage to get going in time to catch the 7am bus so I caught the 9am bus instead but with the high tide being at around 11am I wasn't too bothered by my tardy arrival.

I wasn't expecting much along the beach with it being nice weather, a Saturday and holiday hell time but it was surprisingly quiet on the dog walker front and as a result there were Oystercatchers roosting along the shore with a Common Sandpiper, a Little Egret, an adult Mediterranean Gull moulting into winter plumage and 9 Mallard (3 female, 6 eclipse plumage males).

There were Gannets milling around offshore including a few juveniles which was good to see after the ravages of avian flu. A juvenile and a 2nd calendar year Mediterranean Gull also flew past.

Cirl Buntings, Stonechats and Linnets were showy, Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs not so much, while overhead Swallows and House Martins flitted about. A noisy and flighty Green Woodpecker was seen at The Point along with brief views of 2 Dartford Warblers and a juvenile Willow Warbler showed briefly in the pines where 2 yellowy looking juvenile Coal Tits were much more accomodating.

Cirl Bunting

The highlight though was a Reed Warbler in the valley to the beach, skulking in the undergrowth with 2+ Cetti's Warblers and responding to some phishing before melting away into the foliage.

Better numbers of butterflies were flying around too, some very smart looking Peacocks were feeding on the Buddleia flowers along with Red Admirals and also seen were Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, 2 Speckled Wood, a Small Copper, Large White, male Common Blues and Small White.

Peacock

Sunday 28th July was hot and sunny and so I headed up to Roborough Down for another look about for Grayling. There were certainly more butterflies around than of late and I managed a good total of 14 species - a Small Copper, Gatekeeper, Small White, Meadow Brown, a Ringlet, Large White, 2 Speckled Wood, a Painted Lady, 3 male and a female Brimstone, a Small Tortoiseshell, a Peacock, Red Admiral, a Silver-washed Fritillary and best of all around 20 Grayling.

Roborough Down

Grayling

Grayling

It was quiet birdwise with Linnets, Stonechats, Swallows, a Buzzard, 2 male Yellowhammers and Willow Warblers the highlights. Also seen were 4+ Broad-bodied Chaser, an Emperor Dragonfly, 4+ Common Darter, a male Beautiful Demoiselle and a few Azure Damselfly.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Common Darter

Common Darter

Azure Damselfly

In other news, Birdy 2024 had been giving us some cause for concern as he didn't seem to be developing properly. He must have been well over 6 weeks old but appeared to be having trouble trying to fly. He didn't appear to be injured when we placed him on the flat roof 4 weeks ago but maybe he had damaged something on his journey down the chimney or maybe he had some kind of congenital problem. Anyway, he would flap his wings, leap up into the air, make an horrendous noise and then crash back down on the roof.

He ended up falling into our courtyard on Saturday 27th July so we decided to give him a moment to himself before trying to catch him and giving him a check up. However he managed to get himself back up on to the flat roof while we weren't looking so he must have managed to fly a little. The next day he was flapping his wings more strongly, lifting up into the air a little higher and not making so much noise so we kept our fingers crossed - and the next morning (Monday 29th July) he was gone! I hope he fairs well, in the past the fledglings have occassionally returned to the flat roof for a visit and I hope Birdy 2024 does too so I know he is OK. And I'm going to miss him and all the noise and the poop and the arsey adults divebombing us!

With us literally both experiencing empty nest syndrome on Monday 29th July we headed out to Shaugh Prior for a walk after first watching local lad Tom Daley winning a diving silver medal at the Paris Olympics on the TV. It was a hot and sunny day and we figured it would be cooler on Dartmoor under the shade of the trees and indeed it was but by the time we were heading back to the car at the end of our walk it had noticeably heated up.

There was not much to report on the wildlife front with 5 Swifts and a few Swallows overhead, female Beautiful Demoiselles flitting about, a Southern Hawker perched up in the shade of a tree, a herd of 8 Fallow Deer feeding out in the open in a grassy field and 2+ very flitty Silver-washed Fritillary feeding on Buddleia flowers being the highlights.

Southern Hawker