Pottering Locally

Rivulet

 

I set the moth trap last night for the first time in ages. A reasonable number was caught but it was all pretty common stuff, but nice to see all the same. Species included Common Swift, Flame Carpet, Garden Carpet, Ruddy Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet, Green Carpet, Rivulet, Lime-speck Pug, Common Pug, Grey Pug, Green Pug, Yellow-barred Brindle, Brimstone Moth, Scalloped Hazel, Willow Beauty, Common Wave, Light Emerald, Eyed Hawkmoth, White Ermine, Heart and Dart, Flame Shoulder, Small Square-spot, Angle Shades, Minor Agg, Treble Lines, Vine's Rustic, Mottled Rustic and Snout. Otherwise just a bit of time spent wandering on Lympstone Common and Bystock.
Off Mudbank late this evening - c40 Bar-tailed Godwit, c30+ Turnstone and c250+ Black-headed Gull.

As is becoming customary there are a few unidentified insects below. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Small Square-spot

Ruddy Carpet

Fulvous Clothes Moth

Minor Agg - probably Marbled Minor

Eyed Hawkmoth

Scalloped Hazel

Green Pug - the quest for Sloe Pug continues........

Common Spotted Orchid - one of several on the Bystock reserve. Still tonnes of Heath Spotted Orchid on Woodbury Common too.

Bumblebee sp - possibly Tree Bumblebee? - Bystock

 

Dragonfly sp - Bystock - possibly Keeled Skimmer (female)?

 

Female Common Blue - Bystock Reserve

 

Male Common Blue - Bystock Reserve

Beetle sp - Bystock Reserve - possibly Garden Chafer?

Beetle sp - Orcombe Point (yesterday)

Meadow Brown - hiding in the grass in overcast conditions.

Spotted Flycatcher - good to have these breeding locally. First discovered by Spencer a couple of weeks ago.

Alder Kitten

 

Alder Kitten

 

When Martin Wolinski casually mentioned that he'd trapped Alder Kitten amongst a big haul of moths last night, my ears pricked up. It's a species I've always wanted to see, so I was delighted when he invited me out to his rural retreat, near Kentisbeare, to take a look.

Closely related to the other 'Kittens' - Poplar and Sallow, Alder Kitten has a dark blackish-grey central cross-band rendering it quite distinctive. The larvae feed on Alder and Birch, neither of which have been particularly plentiful in areas that I've trapped in before.

Amongst a very varied catch were Elephant and Small Elephant Hawkmoth, Least Black Arches, Small Angle Shades, Pinion-streaked Snout, Blood Vein, Clouded Silver, Flame, several Poplar Hawkmoth, Silver Y, Red-green Carpet, Buff Ermine, White Ermine, Ingrailed Clay, Minor Agg, Middle-barred Minor, Iron Prominent, Swallow Prominent, Pebble Prominent, Miller, Alder Moth, Clouded-bordered Brindle, Clouded Border, Flame Shoulder, Figure of Eighty, Common Pug, Grey Pug, Straw Dot, Green Carpet, Silver-ground Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet and Brown Rustic.

Martin has a stunning place in idyllic surroundings, with a beautiful garden that attracts large numbers of insects, thanks to a variety of flowering plants. Consequently the list of species that he traps is extensive. Many thanks Martin!

 

 

Least Black Arches

 

 

Small Elephant Hawkmoth

 

 

Painted Lady - some compensation for the lack of birds on Orcombe this morning.

Bottle-nosed Dolphins, Small Grass Emerald and Fox Moth

Red Kite - one of 7 or 8 seen heading east, from the back garden, yesterday. Their wander-lust takes them all the way down to west Cornwall only to return almost immediately, presumably back to the home counties.

 

The birding has hit a summer trough here in Exmouth so it was nice for Nick and I to sit and watch a pod of c10+ Bottle-nosed Dolphins off the seafront this morning, thanks to the heads-up from Lee. They were milling around out in the bay, more towards Dawlish then Exmouth, but decent scope views were had. With Lu and the kids spending large amounts of time down at Exmouth festival I was able to get out on the commons with the dog. Not much in the way of birds but two day-churring Nightjar and a family party of 4 or 5 Mistle Thrushes were noted. I spent very little time looking but a single Red Kite was seen today from the garden - tracking north upriver.

Yesterday at least 7 Red Kites were seen from the garden and off Mudbank there were 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Grey Plover and 6 Whimbrel. A quick squiz off the seafront produced 4 Sandwich Tern, a single Common Tern, c15+ Common Scoter, 4 Sanderling and 4 Guillemot.

The day before, on the 26th, I had 1 Great Northern Diver, c20+ Common Scoter, 8 Manx Shearwater, 2 Shelduck, 1 Sanderling, 1 Sandwich Tern and 2+ fs Mediterranean Gull off Orcombe Point, but I managed to spectacularly miss a Black-browed Albatross by a few minutes! Nice one Spencer. I'll get over it one day!

 

 

Small Heath - Woodbury Common - one of several on the wing today.

Small Grass Emerald - good numbers of these beauties on the wing on Woodbury Common today. Similar numbers of Common Heath were seen too.

Presumed Swollen-thighed Beetle?

Honey Bee

Buff-tailed Bumblebee - worker. Thanks Nick.

Juvenile Nuthatch

Fox Moth - a male and my first one ever despite having seen numerous larvae.

Presumed Lead Belle - flight season a better fit for this species and zigzag outermost cross-line is well defined. I'd feel happier if the central spots were more tear-shaped but I reckon it's probably Lead rather than July Belle, which should be on the wing from mid June according to Waring and Townsend.

Brown Silver-line

48 Red Kites

A single flock of thirteen Red Kites passed rapidly over Mudbank at 0650. I begrudgingly headed home to get ready for work, fairly certain that they wouldn't be the last to pass westwards. Once at work I pleasantly surprised to discover that my year 11 class would be in a GCSE maths exam so I nipped back home and set the scope up in the garden. Almost immediately I picked up 4 more birds flying low towards the river and they were followed by groups of 8, 4, 1, 3, 2, 6 and 2 before I once again needed to head back to work. All birds were relatively low and all were heading west, most roughly towards Starcross/Cockwood, but a few further upriver. This afternoon, following a call from Keith, I picked up a further five birds, the last one actually heading north upriver rather than west. Many thanks Keith.
So a personal tally of 48 birds by about 5pm but hundreds of birds must have passed through Devon today. I only wish I'd been able to sit and watch for longer. The birds caused very little consternation amongst the local gulls with most groups slipping purposefully but silently west. No doubt there will be numbers building in Cornwall.
The only other raptors noted today were a single Peregrine and 3+ Buzzards.

Hobby

Dartford Warbler and Hobby seen in Exmouth this evening.

 

Stonechat

Birds and Bees

Yellowhammer

 

Still very quiet in this neck of the woods. A single Whimbrel off Mudbank and 4 Swift on Orcombe were the only entries in my notebook this afternoon. The latter part of this evening was spent watching local Nightjars with Paul Gosling - truly magical to watch wing-clapping and superb aerial displays at such close quarters. Otherwise a few unidentified bumblebees on Orcombe - I suspect the top one is red-tailed but as always I'd appreciate any help with identification. All four photographed species were of similar size - pretty small.
Edit - many thanks to 'Slush Puppy' for identifying the bumblebees.

Swan-feather Dwarf

Nightjar

Heath Spotted Orchid

Red-tailed Bumblebee - Bombus lapidarius

Common Carder Bee - Bombus pascuorum

Buff-tailed Bumblebee - Bombus terrestris

 

Early Bumblebee - Bombus pratorum

Minimal News

Nettle-tap

 

Almost no news for this weekend. Yesterday was spent at a football tournament and today has been busy with family stuff, though I did manage a ten minute look off Maer Rocks around 7'ish this morning, noting 4 Great Northern Divers, 4 Sanderling and a single Sandwich Tern.

A typically high-flying May Great Northern Diver

A male Dartford Warbler on heathland within the Exmouth boundary.

Small Copper

Peregrine over the garden.