A good walk around the Village and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth!

Tuesday 5th October 2021.

This stunning sunrise this morning grabbed my attention at 7.15am as I looked out the kitchen window! 

Because of the heavy rain last night, i didn't put the moth box on overnight, but today, I was blessed with sightings of both Hummingbird Hawk-moth in the garden and a Common Marbled Carpet while walking the dog through the Village this morning here in East Prawle; so therefore, I got my moth ‘fix’ today!

Top photo, the Common Marbled Carpet seen on a Cottage within the village and bottom photo, the gorgeous Hummingbird Hawk-moth basking in the morning sunshine.

Though there were a few rogue heavy showers today, it was much drier than yesterday by a long shot, though the blustery north-westerly wind persisted all day long, which in turn kept the temperature cool at times. It was lovely when the wind dropped now and then, but it didn't last long. So with no moth box on first thing to check, before breakfast, I then did some birding from the back garden and in two hours, I picked up quite an impressive list of birds.

Top photo, the male Stonechat I saw along the lane near Welles House and below, this male Common Darter was found basking in the sunshine by the Village Pond.

My first Grey Wagtails of the trip here were seen as well as a distant Raven flying over the fields to the east. A Great Spotted Woodpecker showed several times throughout the day (also seen in the afternoon when we had coffee and nibbles in the back garden!) and a flock of 5 Jays flew low over the rooftops heading north. Swallows, Meadow Pipits and a lot of finch species flew over the garden in very good numbers and even a flock of 13 Skylarks passed over. Meanwhile, in the garden itself, a Wren (down to about 3 feet!) two Robins and the local House Sparrows entertained when it went briefly quiet. A Siskin was heard twice, but I failed to see the bird. The list of birds and numbers are as follows:

• 4 Grey Wagtail
• 3 Pied Wagtail
• 31+ Swallow
• 7 Greenfinch
• 1 Pheasant (in fields to the east)
• 50+ Meadow Pipit
• 5 Jay
• 14 Goldfinch (although seen flying over,  most were preening in a nearby conifer)
• 5 ‘alba’ Wagtail
• 3 Linnet
• 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
• 16 Skylark
• 11 Long-tailed Tit
• 8 House Martin
• 1 Chaffinch
• 1 Raven (over fields to the east)

This Starling was singing in the sunshine near the Cottage.

Incredibly and totally unexpected, a Hummingbird Hawk-moth came into the garden and was looking for somewhere to settle on the back wall of the Cottage. After several tries in finding somewhere to roost, it eventually chose an area close to where I was standing and I managed to grab a few nice photos of it with my main camera.

Speckled Wood butterflies were seen along the small bridle-path near Welles House.

After breakfast, I took Scruff for a long walk around the village, kicking off with another walk along the lane by Welles House. I was photographing one of the many Drone Flies that was nectaring on the Ivy plants on one of the stone walls when a chap came up to me curious in what I was photographing. He then told me about the rare Cuckoo Bees breeding in the soft clay down at Prawle Point. I shall keep an eye on them should I take a walk down there tomorrow morning. 

Drone Flies were abundant on the flowering Ivy plants.  

It was fairly quiet down the lane and the usual large mixed flock of large Gulls were in the same field as yesterday, including at least one Lesser Black-backed Gull. Both Skylark and Meadow Pipits were abundant, but there was no sign of the Wheatear from yesterday. On the outskirts of one of the sheep fields, a male and female Stonechat were seen along with several Meadow Pipits nearby. At the end of the lane, I saw a Common Buzzard soaring over the fields, while in the small enclosed pathway, a Chiffchaff was seen briefly and both Speckled Wood and Red Admiral butterflies were basking in the sunshine. 

Common Buzzards have been scarce on this trip here so far, so one drifting over the fields was a nice surprise. 

Walking back, I passed the small pond slowly as i could hear a few Chiffchaffs calling in here, of which at least one or possibly two, i actually saw. This time last year, I had a Yellow-browed Warbler in exactly the same spot, but sadly, nothing that exotic here today. A Small White and Red Admiral butterfly was noted and on the bench, enjoying the sunshine, was a male Common Darter dragonfly sharing the bench with a Noon Fly. A Frog was briefly seen sinking back into the water as I made my way out of the Pond area and back up the road, until doing a right into Town Lane. 

One of the male House Sparrows enjoying feeding on the berries in the garden while being buffeted by the wind this morning.

I walked past one of our most stayed in Cottages, Skippers, and was a bit disappointed to see that it was now being used privately rather than rented out. I was tempted to walk the bridle path to the east for anything like a rarity hiding along there, but seeing all the mud and puddles before me, I quickly changed my mind and walked down the hill and back to the Cottage.  The scent of the flowering Ivy Plants was strong down here and out of the wind, it attracted good numbers of both Hoverflies and Bumblebees, including a Tree Bumblebee enjoying the plants. Sadly, just before I got back into the Cottage, I found a dead Frog missing its head on the side of the road! A casualty of a Cat perhaps?

This Noon Fly was also basking in the sunshine on the same bench as the Common Darter. 

Becky was itching to get out and so we took a drive down to the small village of Torcross, parking up in the large car park by Slapton Ley. Almost immediately, I saw a Sandwich Tern flying along the shoreline over a very calm sea. I had a quick scan over the beach for any Wheatears, but there were none, however, there was a good gathering of House Martins hawking over the beachfront houses, including one adult feeding its youngster on the wing. We had a nice coffee in one of the local Cafe’s then took a drenching from a passing shower on the way back to the car. Before the rain came in, Becky had to feed the ducks and while she did that, I picked out a Chiffchaff and a Migrant Hawker dragonfly by bushes close by. then the rain came and we raced back to the car. 

From top to bottom: Slapton Ley; a juvenile Moorhen among some 'colourful' Mallards and Becky enjoying feeding the ducks! 

We popped into the Farmshop on the way back to the Cottage to pick up something for tonight's tea and then drove back to our Cottage. We spent a nice hour having coffee and nibbles in the back garden, with a very tame Robin coming down to feed close to where we sat as I picked out the birds flying over including the Woodpecker again and the Grey Wagtails and also making plans on where abroad we would like to go in the near future. Precious time with my precious Becky.