Monthly report and update

Here is the link to my PBase photo galleries where you can find all my favourite images.

Southern Hawker

It’s been a hard month for wildlife watching and photography generally because of the almost ridiculously awful weather which has made July a virtual right-off. Apart from some good weather at the beginning of the month, we have had very few good days Thursday 30th being an exception and perhaps Saturday 25th. I have however made the most of it and had some good, interesting excursions out and about.

.

The beginning of the month started with a Fox encounter out on Dartmoor and on the same day a good shot of a Pearl Bordered Fritillary. On the 5th I discovered the breeding Hedgehog and her 4 hoglets in the garden and as the month progressed I bumped in to her twice more. Recently, on the 29th she was foraging in daylight in the flower-bed borders . It was around that time that one of my baby hen chicks disappeared and she is the suspect!

.

I last saw the Bush Cricket on the 5th and am yet to bump in to it again as a real adult but I am looking daily. There was an Osprey at Powderham on the 10th which stayed for several weeks and I am not sure when it continued south or if it is still there.

.

It’s been great for Butterflies as you would expect and I saw a nice Small Copper and Common Blue in two different locations and on two separate occasions, Dawlish Warren and Exminster, two very similar habitats.

.

On the 15th I enjoyed seeing an unusual Oystercatcher, a pied bird. On that day I also saw my first Roseate Terns. I have been trying for most of the month to get a good shot of the resident Slavonian Grebe off Cockwood but to achieve that I need the right combination of tide and time of day and a good sunny day as well.

Green Sandpipers are back and I have seen them on 3 different days but not had a photo opportunity.

Birds in the Garden have included the usual protagonists but I am noting more birds seen in spring but not present in the height of mid-summer. It is nice to get them back. The young Goldfinches have not been seen for a week but a small flock of tits were in the garden yesterday which included, Blue Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Coal Tits and Great. Almost a full house!

On the Marsh, I am yet to see Black Tailed Godwits but last year at this time they were very noticeable. I have been seeing Linnets, Stonechats and Reed Buntings and Pied Wagtails.

.

Two very noticeable insects in the garden have been Jersey Tiger Moth and a fleeting visit from a Southern Hawker Dragonfly which was also seen and photographed on the Marsh. See the photo above. So to summerise quite a good months wildlife watching. Just to mention our Herring Gulls that have bred on the neighbours roof. They have now fledged as big, quite attractive birds. They come back to roost and spend the day. They are extremely noisy and wake us up at first light most days……… thanks for that!