Cornwall in August

Another compilation of posts from my Pendeen Birding blog for the recent family holiday to Cornwall.

Saturday 12th August - Coming Down
At last I'm back down in my beloved Cornwall. It's been far too long but a combination of work commitments and the fact that the cottage has been fully booked all summer has meant that it's only now that we are able to get back down here for a week of family holiday.

In order to beat the usual holiday traffic we made a concerted effort to leave early and actually managed to depart at 8 a.m. - not bad considering the amount of inertia there is with a family of five. There was a modest amount of stoppage around the M4/M5 junction and down to Exeter but nothing too serious until we hit the road works on the A30 where everything ground to a complete standstill. It took the best part of an hour finally to get back to a decent bit of movement again though fortunately there was a good comedy programme on Radio 4 to keep us occupied and morale in the car was remarkably good. By way of something to do en route my VLW suggested that we stopped off at Truro as we'd never actually explored the city before. This seemed like an excellent plan to me as it was only a short hop from there down to Restronguet Creek where the long-staying Dalmation Pelican has now taken up residence - a bird that I'd yet to catch up with even after all this time. So I dropped off the rest of the family in the city centre and I then headed off on the short distance to Point, finally negotiating the narrow lanes that lead up to Point Quay. The Pelican had actually been reported a couple of times already today so I was cautiously optimistic though I did know that the bird was prone to disappearing for a while so it was by no means a sure thing.

I arrived to find a number of kids splashing around in the water in their wet suits and a few people sitting around and enjoying the sunshine. It was quite a picturesque spot with a wide river, boardered on the far side by woodland and with boats moored up down-stream a little way.

The view from Point Quay

A quick scan found nothing on the main island opposite me nor was there any sign of it downstream. Eventually I picked it out sitting on a large tree stump directly opposite me on the far side of the river though I could see a couple of people in a rowing boat drawing near, clearly intent on taking a closer look. Before I could even get my scope out the Pelican decided that the rowers had got too close and took to the air and I could only watch as it flew down the river and headed off towards Feock. So I'd seen it and had got both land and flight views though it was a great shame that I didn't have a chance at least to take some digiscoped record shots. Whilst no doubt it would be back eventually there was no point in my hanging around so I headed back to the  car and was back at Truro less than fifteen minutes later. The rest of the family were just finishing off a bit of shopping and decided that they'd seen enough for now so I picked them up and we headed back off on the route for the Penwith peninsula.

A fantastic photo of the bird taken by Mike Tout (c)

The rest of the journey was thankfully uneventful and we arrived at Penzance at around 3:30 pm. First stop was the Sainsbury's café for tea and cake before getting some shopping in for our stay, then it was down to the cottage to open it up and get settled in. Fortunately the weather had turned from rather cloudy into full-on sunshine and there was hardly a breath of wind - it was absolutely gorgeous! After another cup of tea sitting out in the garden we headed down to the lighthouse to wander about a bit and to stare at the sea. I spotted a few Manxies going by, heard at least one calling Chough and spent some time admiring the flowers though many of them had gone over already and everything was looking rather dry and a bit "tired". We spotted a seal briefly down by the rocks though it didn't linger. Then it was back to the cottage for some food and a chance to relax. 

It was good to see the lighthouse again

Once it got dark I set up the moth trap for the evening and we did a bit of star-gazing to see if we could see any of the Perseid metoer shower which is supposed to be particularly good this year. We spotted a few though it was too cloudy to see much - perhaps tomorrow will be better. We were all rather tired after our journey and soon settled down for the night. It was good to be back!

Knot Grass Caterpillar found by one of my daughters down by the lighthouse

Sunday 13th August St Just to Pendeen

This morning I awoke far too early - it always seems to take me a while to adjust when I come down to stay here in Cornwall. Eventually I gave up trying to go to sleep again and got up and checked the moth trap though there was nothing especially interesting in there. I'm finding that I'm currently going through a phase of being less interested in moths: the prospect of trawling through the guide book trying to ID a particular moth isn't presently very appealing. I don't know if this will change soon, perhaps I'm just trying to do too much at present what with birds, butterflies, odonata, flowers and moths too. 

It was promising to be a lovely day and I spent some time just admiring all the bird life around the cottage. The Swallows are nesting in the neighbours barn again and I counted a total of thirty birds on the roof tops this moring with a good mix of youngsters in amongst them so they've clearly had a good season.

One of the many Swallows

The two resident Ravens were still around as well as the usual Goldfinches (again with lots of youngsters) and Linnets. There were quite a few Warblers in the garden this morning: I spotted a Sedge Warbler briefly (they're not normally to be found in the area so this one was clearly passing through), a couple of Willow Warblers and three young Whitethroats.

Whitethroat

Juvenile Pied Wagtail

Buckshorn Plantain - it's rather plentiful around the cottage

Today our plan was to go on a walk along the coastal path so we made some packed lunches and then walked up the road into Pendeen. There we caught the open-topped coastal bus along the road to St. Just. It was strange seeing the familiar countryside from such a high vantage point: you could even peer into peoples upstairs windows should you be so inclined. We nipped into a shop for ice creams to fortify us  on what was turning out to be quite a nice warm day, before wandering off down the road towards Boscean. The Cornish lanes are a riot of colour at the moment with the oranges of the Montbretia's, the reds of the Red Campion and the yellows of the Hawkweeds and Ragworts all combinding to give a very summery and abundant feel. Once at Boscean we headed down to Kenidjack, partly as the children wanted to say hello to the donkeys. In the event we could only find one, which seemed to be dressed as a Zebra for some reason. There were a couple of Buzzards flying around as well as several Whitethroats and some Stonechats. Rather unusually, I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker flying off as we approached the bottom cottages.

The zebra donkey

Kenidjack Blackcap

We next climbed the path up to Kenidjack Castle where we had our packed lunch before heading off along the coastal path. There was nothing of particular note but it was just great to take in the vivid colours: the deep blues of the sea and the lovely purple Heather and the white Wild Carrot. At Botallack we came across a large flock of 14 Chough: apparently they've had an excellent breeding year and there are lots of new youngsters around now. Also noted were a couple of Kestrel and a Raven.

The mines at Botallack - looking very much like something out of Lord of the Rings

Sea Aster growing by the mines

Sea Spleenwort, also by the mines

Further along the path as we neared home I spotted my first Wheatear of the autumn at Geevor tin mine (where one is often to be found).

Geevor Wheatear

Juvenile Stonechat

Back in the cottage it was time for a welcome cup of tea and a chance to veg out for a bit. The weather was so nice that we had our dinner out in the garden this evening before heading down to the lighthouse to stare at the sea. As a rather chilly breeze had now sprung up we decided to shelter on the western side of the lighthouse wall and to look out for Dolphins though sadly we did't spot any this evening. Then it was back to the cottage to chill for the evening and once it was properly dark when spent some time in the garden looking out for Perseids - this time we managed to see a few. Then it was time to turn in for the night - it had been a very relaxing day.

Cliff-top Rock Samphire

Monday 14th August - Perranuthnoe
Once again I woke up too early but managed to doze for a while before getting up at around 7:30 a.m. The forecast had been for strong winds overnight so I'd not bothered with the moth trap and indeed it was blowing pretty strongly this morning. After our cup of tea in bed I decided to wander down to the Watch just to see what was going by on the sea though with the wind east of South East it was going to be completely the wrong direction for Pendeen so I wasn't expecting much.

Down by the lighthouse there was just one other person: a visiting birder who was relatively inexperienced and not aware of the relationship between wind direction and where to sea watch. We watched together for a while and there were plenty of Manxies going by but little else. The highlight was a Grey Heron which came in off the sea and a Little Egret going by, both rather unusual sightings for a sea watch! I didn't give it too long and soon wandered back to the cottage to see if the rest of the family had got up yet.

In terms of our plan for the day, regular readers will remember that earlier on in the year I tried and failed multiple times (three to be exact) to see the Hudsonian Whimbrel over at Perranuthnnoe. The tricky rocky terrain meant that there were so many hiding places that each time I'd managed to miss this bird. Amazingly, after an absence for a couple of months the Hudbrel was back again and it seemed rude not to give it one more try. I therefore suggested that we head over there again and that the rest of the family might wish to walk on the coastal path to Marazion whilst I searched for the bird before driving round to Marazion to meet up again. The rest of the family were ameanable enough as it would be something a bit different so we got our stuff together and then headed off to the east side of Mounts Bay. A "still present" RBA text came through en route which was encouraging though this had happened to me before and I'd still managed to dip so it was by no means certain.

It was very busy down in the Perranuthnoe car park with lots of people all heading down to the beach. As we were getting ready I spotted a birder coming back down the coastal path so hurried over to ask how he'd got on. He told me and another interested birder who'd turned up that he'd found the Whimbrel and that it was "by a large stone slab". Thanking him, the other birder and I headed off along the coastal path whilst the rest of the family decided to head to the café first for some fortification before their coastal walk. In the bright sunshine it was all looking really beautiful, in stark contrast to the much more muted scenery the last time I had visited earlier in the year.

Looking out from Trenow Cove over towards the Mount and Marazion

As I walked I looked out for the stone slab and eventually came across it at the start of Trenow Cove. Indeed there was already a birder there scoping what turned out to be a flock of a few dozen Curlew with which the Hudbrel apparently usually associated. This looked very encouraging! Also on view was a flock of Ringed Plover wth an attendant Common Sandpiper though they soon flew off. Of course some of the birds were obscured behind rocks but after careful grilling we decided that there were a couple of "Whimbrel" in amongst the Curlew so it was just a question of picking out the right one. The birds were mostly roosting or wandering lethargically about so that they would sometimes go out of view but eventually I spotted a Whimbrel with very strong head markings and which at certain angles looked very cinnamon-coloured - it had to be the bird! Unfortunately it went out of sight before I could get the other two birders on it. After a while we changed location in order to get a closer view and I eventually spotted it again, now some distance away from where it had been. This time it was sitting on a rock right by the shore and I was able to get the other two on it OK. We watched it for a while before suddenly and for no reason it flew off on its own to the far side of Trenow Cove. At first, to my consternation, I thought that in flight it appeared to have a white rump but when I got my scope on it a realised that it was just that in the very bright sunlight the brown feathering was looking rather pale and it was actually clearly not white. That was the ID confirmed and one more Cornish tick in the bag. 

Digiscoped record shot of the Hudbrel

I was just heading back to the car when I met the rest of the family who'd enjoyed their café experience so much that they were only now setting off. We headed off in opposite directions and I dumped my gear in the car before going over to check out the café for myself though in the end the queue was too long and I gave up. I headed off in the car the short distance towards Marazion where I soon met up with the others who had all enjoyed their walk. They went off to score some pasties though as I am wheat intolerant these days I'd brought my own gluten-free sandwich instead. We ate our food in a sheltered vantage point overlooking St Michael's Mount though we all soon decided that it was far too hot to stay there and sought some shade. The three female members wanted to do some browsing in the town so I took our son over to the Red River mouth were he splashed about in the shallows and I people-watched. I'd never seen the beach so crowded: the hot sun had brought everyone out onto the beach and I reflected that this scene was a far cry from the empty wintery beach walks that I more usually associated with this spot.

I spotted this tiny Autumn Squill growing by the side of the path at Perranuthnoe

When the other three returned we all decided that we'd had enough of the crowds so headed back for home via Sainsbury's for a bit of food shopping. Back at the cottage we had several cups of tea and a good natter before dinner. After dinner as it was still very windy we decided to forego our usual post-prandial lighthouse visit and also to skip the meteor watching so we instead stayed in for the evening doing nothing in particular.

Small Nettle growing by the side of a field at Perranuthnoe

Tuesday 15th August: Kynance Cove & Lizard Point

We've been trying to do some different things this holiday from what we usuallly do so today, driven partly by the fact that there is still a very strong prevailing East South Easterly, we decided to head over to the Lizard peninsula and explore Kynance Cove, a place a must confess that I've yet to visit despite having been coming down to Cornwall for a number of years now. The idea behind this was partly that being on the west side of the peninsula it would be sheltered from the wind. After a fairly leisurely start, late morning we set off on the hour long journey over to the Lizard peninsula. It seemed that we weren't the only ones to conclude that Kynance Cove would be a sheltered spot as there was a long queue down the entrance road and a choice of either a queue for the NT car park or parking in a farmer's field, the latter being cheaper but further to walk. As we don't mind a walk we chose the latter and were soon heading along the path over the moorland towards the cove along with hoards of other people.

Kynance Cove - lovely location, shame about the hoards of other people!

Kynance Cove turned out to be as beautiful as I'd been lead to believe though the vast numbers of people all crammed onto such a tiny stretch of sand meant that it was anything but a relaxing experience. In the end we found a small rocky spot in the shade which no one else seemed to want and had our sandwiches before electing to head up onto the cliff tops behind the Cove in order to escape the crowds. Up on top there were hardly any people though there was no shelter from the winds. I spotted an elderly couple wandering about peering closely at the ground. They had to be botanising so I wandered over for a chat. They were very happy to help a bumbling beginner such as myself and pointed out all the plants that were worth looking at in the area whilst I busily took snaps.

Cornish Heath - a speciality heather of the Lizard

Saw-wort

The Bloody Crane's-bill had all gone over apart from this one flower that I managed to find

In the wind none of us wanted to linger too much though fortunately it was very warm so it was more the constant buffeting rather than the temperature that put us off. As we were heading back down I spotted my botanising couple again and they beckoned me over. It turned out that they'd found some Autumn Ladies Tresses which they kindly showed to me.

Autumn Lady's Tresses

Chamomile

We headed back to the car and then headed the relatively short distance down to the Point where we parked up again (paying yet another chunk of money for the privilege) before strolling over to the lighthouse. Last year my VLW and here family had visited and had gone on a tour there which they had all thoroughly enjoyed so we thought that we'd do this today so that the children could get the benefit. Whilst the tour this time wasn't as thorough as the one my VLW had been on (it was after all now the height of the tourist season so they couldn't afford to go into the same level of detail apparently), nevertheless it was still very enjoyable. Afterwards, we strolled down to the the Point itself for a cup of tea and some sustenance before going down to the lifeboat launch where I admired the amazing plant life growing on the cliff. It seemed to be covered in succulents from top to bottom with Hebe, Purple Dewplant, Hottentot Fig and Rock Samphire covering almost the entire cliff face.

Purple Dewplant

We sat for a while enjoying the sun and the fact that it was sheltered from the wind before reluctantly heading back to the car and back to the Penwith peninsula. On the way back someone suggested fish and chips for dinner so we ended up going to 190o West in Sennen which was supposed to be very good. We took our food back home to Pendeen with us and ate it hungrily. Then it was time to veg out watching a movie for the evening.

Sea Spurrey

Wednesday 17th August - St Ives

We awoke to the continuation of the really strong south easterly winds so none of us was particularly in a hurry to get out today. Instead we pootled around the cottage for a while doing the odd DIY task and I did a quick tour of Pendeen but in the wind all I could find were a few Stonechats in a sheltered spot down along the coastal path.

Pendeen Stonechat

Eventually after much debate we decided to head off to visit St Ives for the day. We always end up going here every time we visit as a family though I usually opt for something else instead as I'm not a great fan of either shopping or crowds. However, with the winds all wrong for sea watching and with nothing else of interest to look at in the end I decided to tag along. We drove the scenic route along the coast to St Ives before entering the bedlam that was the Park and Ride. There were countless cars there and even with two overflow parking fields there were loads of poor souls driving around helplessly looking for a place. We were lucky in that I chanced down one section just as someone was leaving so we were able to grab their spot. Rather than endure the hoards on the park and ride bus we decided to walk down to the town which actually took far less time than we expected and left us wondering why we hadn't always been doing that. We headed off to the main harbour area to buy some pasties for lunch and I even managed to find one place that sold gluten-free pasties.

Even in an urban environment there's always something to see: Common Calamint

In the car park I found one of the Canadian Fleabane agg. - probablu Bilbao Fleabane

Lesser Swine-cress by the path down the hill

After lunch we parted company with the others heading off to do some shopping whereas I wandered over to the island to look at the wildlife and to escape the crowds. It was relatively sheltered over by the island and I spent some time rummaging through the plants and watching the birds on the sea. There were ten or so Mediterranean Gulls including one juvenile as well as 3 Sandwich Terns. As I walked along the path a Wheatear buzzed over me and headed over the hill. I sat on a bench and took it all in, rather enjoying the relative solitude and the scenery. Eventually it was time to rendezvous with the others so I started to head back only to spot a swift species hawking rather low over the brow of the island hill. I tried my hardest to make it somethinng interesting but unfortunately it was clearly just a Common Swift.

Silver Ragwort

One of the many Med Gulls

Back with the others we headed off in search of a much-needed cup of tea. The wind was dropping now and it was instead becoming rather murky as we headed back up the hill to the car. We'd been invited round to dinner by my VLW's niece who lives a bit up-county with her husband and daughter so we headed off on the half hour journey to their house. There we passed a very pleasant evening eating and catching up before heading back home to the cottage rather late. As it was at last nice and calm at the cottage I put out the moth trap before we all turned in for the night.

Thursday 18th August: Porth Kidney & Mousehole

We awoke to a thick Pendeen fog this morning, brought on by the calm conditions. As any parents of children of the right age will know, today was A-Level Results day and our younger daughter was nervously awaiting her results to see if she was going to be able to get into University or not. Her official first choice was Strathclyde but she'd actually been more inclining towards Swansea (her second choice) of late. The wind direction today was actual a moderate North West so normally I'd be down at the Watch from first thing but I felt that in the circumstances I should be around to lend moral support at this difficult and potentially holiday-spoiling time. Instead my VLW and I lay in bed listening to the sound of Daughter 2 getting up (she sleeps in the room above us) and firing up her lap top to see what had happened. Fortunately, the outcome was good as, despite not getting quite the grades that she was hoping for, Swansea still accepted her which was a great relief all round. Back to holiday mode!

The moth trap was quite full and my children and I helped to sort through it though as things were rather damp from the fog in the garden I ended up storing the moths in a cardboard box by way of a shelter for the day. 

The best of the catch (at least as far as the children were concerned) was this giant female Oak Eggar

As the others were in no particular hurry to get out, I suggested that whilst they pootled around the cottage I would go out on a birding expedition. 11 Little Terns (a species which I still needed for Cornwall) had been reported over at Carnsew Basin at Hayle yesterday evening though we'd been at our dinner party then so I'd not been able to do anything about it at the time. According to Dave Parker (who'd found them), they'd looked settled so I decided to go and take a look this morning. The fog was incredibly think up on the hill between Pendeen and Penznce with viewing down to about 30 yards so I had to take it very slowly though fortunately it was clearer over the other side. I stopped off very briefly by the causeway bridge at Lelant (where I noticed they've re-done the pavement to include a cycle track) though there was nothing of note. Similarly, Carnsew Basin held almost nothing. Dave had suggested that as it was low tide then Porth Kidney Sands might be a better bet so I went to take a look. This was not a site that I'd actually been to before but by following signs for the beach I managed to find a large car park that overlooked the Hayle river estuary. 

Porth Kidney Sands

In the distance I could see some Terns though they turned out to be 13 or so Sandwich Terns with one Med Gull in amongst them. I did spot a couple of Terns flying along the shoreline which didn't look like Sandwich and which seemed to have the long-winged look of Littles though they were too far away for me to be sure. I also spotted one Tern flying around which seemed to have a rosy breast and long streamers and pale wings so of course I was thinking of Roseate but again it was just too far away to be certain

Back at the cottage we had lunch before heading out for the afternoon. Today's location was Mousehole as the others wanted to potter about amongst the shops. I was in two minds about whether to tag along or to go and see something but in the end I couldn't think of anything that I obviously wanted to do so I came along. By way of somethinng different, we parked up in a layby along the Newlyn to Mousehole road and took a footpath down to the concrete path that borders the shoreline all the way along there. This offered a very pleasant alternative to walking along the busy road and it meant that we didn't have to endure the parking and driving nightmare along the tiny streets of Mousehole. On the way I took snaps of any interesting plants that I found and we spotted a loafing seal nearby.

White Fumitory

Marsh Woundwort

Once in Mousehole we decided to visit the Rock Pool café which I'd learnt about earlier in the year when looking for the American Herring Gull. My VLW  has a thing about small sheds or shepherd huts in gardens and we managed to secure the garden "shed" table. The great things about this café was that they had a very large selection of gluten-free cakes - I was almost overwhelmed by the choice. The tea, cakes and location were all first rate and we unanimously decided that this was our new Tea Room of Choice for Cornwall, surplanting Delicious in Marazion (which has now closed anyway).

After our tea, the three girls went off for some girly shopping whilst our son decided to do some paddling in the harbour so I sat on a bench and kept an eye on him. It was all very pleasant and I happily watched the people coming and going about Mousehole. 

Mousehole haarbour

Eventually the others came back and we headed off back towards the car and the cottage. After a hearty pasta dinner we all realised that we were rather tired so after a bit of vegging out I released the moths out of their box into the garden and we went to bed relatively early.

Friday 19th August: Pendeen & Marazion

Increasingly strong winds were forecast for today culminating in a proper storm tomorrow. The wind direction was South East veering around to South West so Porthgwarra would be the place to go but as I've mentioned previously, when I'm en famille it's rather hard to get away as it's a half hour slog down there in the first place plus the walk from the car park to the watching point all takes time as well. So, as previously, I went to Pendeen instead though in the conditions I wasn't expecting a great deal. 

It was one of those Pendeen mornings with bright sunshine behind me as I watched which meant that everything was brilliantly lit up. In these circumstances I often end up using my bins which gives a much wider field of view as you can see every bird really clearly. I soon got into the zone of watching the changing colours of the Manxies as they sheared away: brown or black above (depending on how the light caught them) and gleaming white below. One bird remained brownish below as well and turned out to be a Balearic Shearwater, which was nice. I also had a Ringed Plover and a Golden Plover go by but apart from that it was just the usual stuff. Later in the day I got various RBA reports of a good passage of Cory's at PG which made me a bit envious but then you can't see everything.

Back at the cottage there was a minor spot of DIY to do and some general pootling before we had lunch and then headed out for the afternoon. The others wanted to look around the shops at Newlyn and PZ which of course I wasn't really interested in. Instead I had a brief peer around the rocks at Tolcarne (five Turnstones and some loafing gulls) and at the bus station (a few Fulmars out in the bay) before giving up and listening to the radio whilst I waited for the others to return. Then we headed over to Marazion and parked up next to Jordans to watch a weather front come in while enjoying some take-away tea and cake. As we watched the weather went from bright sunshine to dark clouds and lashing rain before clearing again in about fifteen minutes. 

The weather front just hitting the Mount

After that I went for a stroll (if it can be called that given how strong the wind was) along the shore to find the usual Marazion beach wader flock. I caught up with them eventually: there were several hundred birds, mostly Ringed Plover and Dunlin with some Sanderling and a few Turnstone as well and I busied myself with trying to take some photos but the wind was so strong that the only way that I could do it was to lie on my belly and rest the camera on the edge of the concrete breakwater.

Ringed Plover

A mixed bag of waders

After we'd all had enough, it was back to the cottage via Sainsbury's to pick up some food. After dinner it was time to start packing the car and we were treated to the spectacle of the next weather front in the impending storm coming in. It was quite a sight to behold!

More weather - unfortunately the photo doesn't really do justice to it

Wrap-Up - Mostly About Moths

As readers will no doubt have guessed I'm back home in Oxford now after an uneventful journey on Saturday. Looking back on the week, as a family we all enjoyed the holiday and from a birding perspective I achieved my two main goals which were to see the Dalmation Pelican (by the skin of my teeth!) and the Hudsonian Whimbrel (finally!). It would have been nice to have managed a proper sea watch (one of these years!) and I'd have like to have seen the Little Terns but we can't have everything. I managed to see a few new plants and all in all it was a good trip.

I've been waiting before posting this last post because I had a bunch of moths from my two trapping sessions that I wanted to go through and ID. I think that I've more or less achieved this now but do let me know if you disagree with any of the ID's. The main moth de la semaine was Flounced Rustic - I got good numbers of this as well as some Square-spot Rustic and Small Square-spot Rustic. 

Flounced Rustic

There were also the usual migrant moths: Rusty-dot Pearl, Dark Sword Grass, Small Mottled Willow and Rush Veneer

Small Mottled Willow

The things that I were most interested in were some specialities of either coastal regions or the South West, especially things that I'd not seen before. These included Devonshire Wainscott, Agonopterix umbellana, Hoary Footman, Notocelia incarnatana and Delplanqueia dilutella.

Devonshire Wainscott

Hoary Footman

Notocelia incarnatana

Delplanqueia dilutella

Agonopterix umbellana (sorry for the poor photo quality)

All good stuff! So that was my August trip. Next stop is the highlight of my Cornish birding year when I'm back down in October for the peak of the birding season.

Lulworth Skipper - Completing the Set!

Regular readers will know that I've been closing in on the complete set of resident British butterflies. This year I've been knocking off the last few with Swallowtail, Mountain Ringlet and Heath Fritillary all in the bag and indeed all that was left now was the enigmatic Lulworth Skipper. This little Skipper is right at the northern end of its range in the UK and can be found in a few coastal locations from Swanage through to Weymouth on the Dorest coast. I'd been talking with the rest of the family about a trip to the south coast this summer as they were keep to visit Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door but in the end we ran out of time so with August fast disappearing I decided that I'd have to go this week if I could find a window of opportunity with the weather and with my work.

Such a window duly presented itself on Tuesday morning with a forecast for hot sunny weather with just a moderate breeze and with a clear diary on the work-front. We'd been out all the previous day with a gathering of the clan for my side of the family and I'd been feeling rather tired so had no intention initially of making another trip the next day but in the end by 10 a.m. I was bored at home so decided to have a go anyway. On a full day out I normally like to set off much earlier in order to have more time on site but I reasoned that I should have plenty of time as long as there wasn't too much traffic. Famous last words! I have not in a long time experienced such a troublesome journey on that front: several times on the A34 we ground to a half due just to the sheer volume of traffic then there was an accident on the M3 which closed one lane and which took ages to get past. I foolishly took the Sat Nav at her word and followed her route around Bournemouth which, given the sunny weather was a bad idea so that was very stop-start. Finally I was past the worst and heading towards Swanage and Corfe Castle - not an area that I'm personally familiar with though my VLW regales us all with tales of these places from her childhood. Relieved I finally pulled up in the car park some four hours after setting off!

The weather was as hot as forecast so I sun-creamed up thoroughly, got tooled up and headed off to the visitor centre to ask for some advice on the best spots to look for Lulworth Skipper. There I met up with the resident warden who told me that it was rather late in the season now (boo!) but that there were a few still about (yay!). She told me that the Cliff Trail (which funnily enough runs along the cliff top) and the slopes above the lighthouse as well as the Wildlife Trail were all good areas. Armed with this knowledge I duly set off along the Cliff Trail keeping my eyes peeled for butterflies. The sea was a dazzling blue and dotted with yachts and other small boats and all looking very picturesque in the sunlight. On the butterfly front however there was little to be seen. I spotted a couple of Meadow Browns, a Gatekeeper and a male Blue of some description but that was about it.

The grassy slopes - full of wild flowers

I soon found myself out on a grassy south-facing slopes on the opposite side of a valley from the lighthouse. This looked very promising and what's more there were lots more butterflies about so I started to scour more carefully. There were reasonable numbers of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers and the odd Small Heath and I even spotted a Clouded Yellow but nothing else. I spent some time working carefully over the area but all to no avail so I started to head on up the slope to the Wildlife Trail. There there were lots more plants including Wild Carrot, Greater and Common Knapweed, Birds-foot Trefoil, Wild Basil, Red Bartsia, various Sow-thistles and loads more. Most of it had more or less gone over now so it was looking rather tired but nevertheless it was great to wander around through it all. I kept my eyes peeled for butterflies but to be honest apart from the odd Meadow Brown this area was rather barren.

The Wild Basil had long gone over though the seed head was still rather striking

I'm more used to Lesser Knapweed locally but this is Greater Knapweed which tends to inhabit more coastal areas

I was just wandering off the beaten track through a taller patch of grass when a small almost chocolate brown insect fluttered across my path. It was so tiny and fluttery that at first glance you'd think it was a moth but I instinctively knew that it was my quarry and sure enough I homed in on a couple of females fluttering away in the tall grass (presumably Tor Grass as that's their main plant). One was on view though partially obscured so I hastily took a record shot before it flew off and I couldn't re-find it.

At last! A rather battered female Lulworth Skipper

Encouraged I renewed my search, concentrating now more on the longer grassy areas though it was still rather tough going. There were other insects to distract me though and I found several male Adonis Blues, their wing colour looking amazing in the strong light though it was so hot that they wouldn't settle with their wings fully open.

Male Adonis Blue

Common Darter

Eyebright

The area is of course well known for its mining - this is one of the old mines

There were lots of immigrant Silver-Y moths about

Eventually I spotted another small fluttering insect that had to be a Lulworth and sure enough it was. This time I was able to get a bit of a better record shot though it's amazing how quickly they can just disappear from view again.

Lulworth Skipper

So with now a total of three sightings in the bag and aware that I didn't have that much time (I'd more or less promised to be back by late afternoon and it was getting on for four o'clock already!) I headed back to the visitor centre for a quick cup of tea and some cake before firing up the Gnome mobile and hitting the road again.

I was kind of hoping for a more uneventful journey back but I still managed to get bogged down in traffic around Bournemouth (Doh! you'd have thought that I'd have learnt by now to go a different route). Then on the A31 there must have been a severe accident going the other way as the whole of the opposite carriageway was completely shut and the traffic there was backing up for miles and miles - I pitied the poor people coming the other way. Even the A34 wasn't immune with further hold-ups and yet another accident on the other carriageway meaning that part of that route too was completely closed. In the end it took a little over three hours to get back which wasn't so bad considering but I'd spent a total of over seven hours driving for just two hours butterflying so it wasn't a very efficient trip in that respect. I didn't really mind though - after a bit of work I'd seen my last British butterfly and got to know a great new site that I'd love to visit again.

I'm not sure how much more insecting I'm going to do this year. I'm done on the butterfly front but there's still Willow Emerald to have another go at as they last well into September and I'd like to go on another Moorland Hawker expedition as well. We shall see.

Field Scabious

Purple Revenge

There's clearly a colour theme emerging from my last two posts! The day after my trip to Minsmere I was away en famille down in the picturesque town of Bath when I got a phone call from Otmoor blogger Peter Barker saying that someone had reported seeing a probable/possible juvenile Purple Heron on at Otmoor that afternoon. Badger (the central hub of all county birding information) was out of county and un-contactable so Peter was wondering if I could put the news out. It all sounded rather tentative to me but as Peter said, if the news wasn't put out and it turned out to be one then people would be cross so I sent out a county group text. I then had to field a few resultant phone calls from people wanting to know more but I assumed that it would all amount to nothing as these things so often do. How wrong I was! 

About an hour later I got another call from Peter saying that a couple of county birders had gone down to check it out and it was indeed a Purple Heron that was flying around between the fields at regular intervals (see Ewan's account of the day here). This was starting to be rather gripping as this was a bird that I not only needed for my county list but, rather embarrassingly, I also needed it for my UK life list as well, having dipped one at Slimbridge last year by leaving the hide five minutes too early after a three hour reedbed staring vigil. So there was history with this species! Of course this species is notoriously difficult to twitch as it's so often only seen in flight and can go very long periods skulking in reeds. I'd started to realised that my best chance of seeing one was always going to be if one should turn up in Oxon so I could go and put in the hours waiting for it to fly. Well, that chance had finally arrived and yet I wasn't able to go for it. Still, there was nothing that I could do about it as we weren't going to be back home to Oxford until around 9 pm and I surprised myself as to how philosophical I was about it all. The bird was duly reported regularly on Otmoor for the rest of the day so clearly a Monday visit was going to be in order.

I had some work things to do first thing and Badger was driving back from Lincolnshire so we arranged to meet up at the Otmoor car park at 11 a.m. for a Heron hunt. The car park was completely full though I managed to take the place of someone who was leaving just as I arrived. We wandered along the track to the bridleway and I admired the riot of summer flowers as we went. Along the bridleway itself there were quite a few people, most of whom I didn't recognise, all looking out for the Purple Heron though there had apparently been no news of it so far. The two Otmoor Cranes were on view and apparently a Whinchat had also been seen.

Sneezewort

We decided to explore over towards the Big Otmoor field where the Heron had last been seen yesterday evening and wandered off, grilling all the pools and channels as best we could though to be honest the best chance was going to be if it took flight. After about three quarters of an hour of staring at empty fields Badger got a call from Paul Greenway saying that it had just been seen on Greenaways flying towards the eastern side. Back we hurried where half way along the bridleway we met Paul and a few other birders who had apparently had great views of it - it had even landed briefly on the island on the scrape right in front of them. They all reckoned that it had gone down right on the eastern side of Greenaways so Badger and I went to that corner for a thorough look though, as everywhere else, the cover was so dense that there was no hope of seeing it. We put in a good long session of watching the area before moving our vantage point slightly so that we were closer to the middle of the bridleway. Various other birders arrived including Lee Evans and Klackers. I amused myself with taking photos of the dragonflies and plants and we spotted a Hobby, a few Little Egrets and a Marsh Harrier while we waited.

Greater Bladderwort

Ruddy Darter

I was starting to wonder how much more of this I could take when we got a phone call from Klackers - the bird had apparently just flown up for thirty seconds from the ditch alongside the main diagonal track across the middle of Greenaways before dropping back down again. How on earth had it got there from the eastern side of the field we wondered. Anyway, we went to get the details from Klackers, meeting Peter Law and various other happy birders who'd all just seen the Heron. How frustrating to have now missed it twice! We relocated to the cattle pen gates so that we could look along the length of the ditch and waited. At least now we had proper gen on where it was hiding so I started to feel more optimistic that we might actually end up seeing the bird. Paul Chandler and his wife turned up to join the vigil. 

The diagonal track with the extensive reeds on either side

Suddenly Badger exclaimed "There it is in flight" and indeed it had gone up, heading initially westwards before turning back round and landing again in the ditch on the other side of the track, once again in the air for all of thirty seconds. I watched it in silent reverence, relieved finally to have seen it. I was struck by its very different ("rakish" is how the Collins guide describes it) jizz, it's dark colouring (it was a burnt cinnamon colour with blackish flight feathers) and smaller size than I was expecting. As it flew I got my bridge camera out to try and take a photo but it was too far away and not really in the air long enough to attempt a shot.

 

A great flight shot from Jim Hutchins (c)

Badger (who also needed this bird for the county) and I shook hands and congratulated each other on our success - it had been a long old slog but we'd got there. Whilst he decided to stay on for more views I had to get back so we parted company and I headed back to the Gnome mobile and headed for home, a most contented bunny, having finally got a county and UK life tick and having revenged my Slimbridge dippage.

Suffolk Purple Patch

I'm sure that all birders have been aware of the news of a Western Purple Swamphen that was showing all last week at the RSPB's flagship reserve at Minsmere in Suffolk. This species was originally just called Purple Gallinule (the latter meaning "chicken-like" apparently) though was recently split into a number of different species and renamed, hence the rather cumbersome new soubriquet. This group has a rather chequered history with the rarities committees in the past and indeed it had yet to make it onto Category A of the British List with a number of birds having been rejected due to concerns about escapes as some of the species are often kept in captivity. So what was so interesting about this particular bird? Well, for starters, there's a severe drought in southern France and Iberia where they breed which had subsequently lead to a massive dispersal with birds seen in at least half a dozen parts of France north of their usual breeding area in the last few weeks so the Minsmere bird's arrival fitted in with this dispersal pattern. The icing on the cake though was that this particular species wasn't generally kept in captivity. As people on Bird Forum were saying this was about as good as it was going to get and indeed the Gnome Rarities Committee had been very quick off the mark and had already accepted the bird.

So, the Swamphen was very much on my radar but as it was a fair distance away and I had various work commitments, it wasn't clear if and when I might get a chance to see it. Finally a small window on Saturday morning surfaced but in order to fit in such a trip I would have to do one of my overnight stays. I'd originally intended to leave after work finished and endure the rush-hour traffic in the long slog over to Suffolk before making a dawn raid on Saturday morning but in the end I finished work early and managed to depart at 3:45. The traffic was terrible of course and with the internet reporting delays of one and a half hours around the M25 I elected to go the long way, via the A43 and A14. This route too was awful with delays out of Oxford, along the M40, A43 and on the A14 and my Sat Nav was reporting an ETA of about 8 pm. There was nothing I could do about it so with Radio 4 to keep me company I slogged my way westwards. It had crossed my mind that I'd be arriving whilst it was still light and with Rails and their ilk generally showing best at dawn and dusk there was an outside chance that I might get to see it this evening. After all it had been reported on RBA regularly at last light this week. In previous accounts that I'd read, the bird would only show occasionally as it made it's way along the edge of the reeds and would spend large amounts of time out of view but there was a chance that I might be able to luck in on a late showing if I didn't get there too late.

As I neared my destination I found that the A12 had been closed and we were all diverted though fortunately this was more or less where I needed to turn off anyway and it didn't seem to affect the sat nav ETA at all. Finally I was turning off the main road and down some very narrow lanes. The last minor road that lead into Minsmere itself seemed to go on for ever but eventually I arrived in the car park at just after 8 pm to find just half a dozen cars there. Hurriedly I tooled up and set off though I wasn't entirely sure where to go but fortunately someone was just leaving as I arrived and they gave me directions. I yomped off in a hurried walk, passing the West Hide and then seeing what must be the location in the distance. There were only three people there, one guy looking through his scope and two other people talking and looking over the reeds. I hurried up to the scope person and asked: "Any sign of the Swamphen?". "Actually, it's in my scope now" he replied. I couldn't quite believe it but a quick peep in his scope and sure enough there was the Purple Swamp Monster preening away in a gap in the reedbed and looking very contented. I hurriedly set up my scope and soon found it for myself though by now it had tucked its head down and looked to be going to sleep.

Sleeping Swamphen - thankfully you can see its bright red legs

I waited to see if it would wake up again and whilst I did so the other two people came over. They were asking about the bird and apparently weren't aware that it was actually on show as they'd been viewing from a corner where it wouldn't be in view. I let them look through my scope and we chatted for a while before they left. After a while the Swamphen woke up and had a preen and I was able to get a bit of video though the light was fast fading by now.

After it's preen it went back to sleep. I had a bit of a chat with the only other person there now, a Yorkshire man, judging by his accept. He was staying over locally tonight and was going to come back tomorrow morning. Having now managed to see the bird, I was much more relaxed about arrangements for tomorrow and was thinking that I no longer needed to get up at first light but instead could have a bit of a lie in. I wandered back along the path in the half light in a very contented frame of mind, with all the troubles of my journey now forgotten. In the wood a Tawny Owl hooted nearby - a lovely finale to the day.

The South Girder pool in the fading light

I fired up the Gnome mobile and let the sat nav guide me the short distance to my accommodation for the evening, an Air B&B house nearby in Leiston. In general I find accommodation in this area is rather expensive (perhaps because of Sizewell) but I'd found a shared house for just £25 that I'd been assured I would be the only person in though in the end there turned out to be one other person though he was so quiet that you wouldn't know he was there. The room was functional but clean and comfortable and did the job nicely. I watched a bit of telly, phoned home to check in and then settled down for the night, most pleased to have the Swamphen already under my belt but looking forward to more views tomorrow morning.

Not having to be up at first light, I'd set my alarm for 7 a.m. but in the end I awoke at around 5 a.m. anyway. After a quick cup of tea I got dressed and was out of the house and heading back to Minsmere at around 6 a.m. There was a marked contrast in the car park this morning which was now nearly full - this was after all the first weekend since the bird was properly found so there would be good numbers here today. Back down at the South Girder pool there were at least a hundred birders there, four deep in places and it was in fact hard to get along the path. I found a less busy area where I spotted a couple of friendly faces in the form of Andy Last and Dave Lowe from God's Own County. They'd apparently come down the previous night, had slept in the car park and were on site at first light though they informed me that sadly there'd been no sign of the bird at all so far. Given that it had been seen every morning at around 5 a.m. since first being found, this didn't look too good and quietly I thanked my lucky stars that I'd been able to get a last gasp sighting yesterday evening. We whiled away the time whilst we waited for the bird to show with the usual conversations that birders have: we discussed listing, my increasing interest in plants, butterflies and dragonflies, about previous birds that we'd seen - all the usual stuff. Dave managed to find me several Bearded Tits in his scope on the far side of the pool that I needed for a year tick and we passed the time photographing the Water Rails that were showing quite well.

Adult Water Rail - there was also a rather showy juvenile

Time marched on but there was no sign of the bird at all and at around 8:30 I decided that I would start to make a move onto the rest of my itinerary for the day which involved a number of dragon and damselflies that I'd been researching. To start with though, I popped over to the other side of the reserve near where the Sand Martins nest where, according to Andy, there were some rare bees to be found. I soon found them as well as the chap who'd been at the pool yesterday evening and we remarked on how the two of use had been the last people to see the Swamphen.

Bee Wolf - actually a type of Wasp

Pantaloon Bee - so called because of it's baggy pollen basket trousers

Naturally I kept an eye out for interesting plants and managed to find a few that piqued my interest

The very-prickly Bugloss

Common Centaury

Common Cudweed

Skullcap

Then it was back to the car park to fire up the Gnome mobile and to head just a few minutes up the road to Thorpeness for my first Odonata appointment. I'd been given the boating lake at Thorpeness as a site for the rare Willow Emerald Damselfly, a recent colonist of this country which is presently only restricted to the eastern parts of East Anglia. It only took ten or so minutes to get there from Minsmere and I was soon parked up and crossing the road over to the boating lake. I'd been told that the trees near the boats was a good place to look but I found that there was only one rather grotty island there with almost no bankside vegetation. Further around the lake it looked more promising but there were forbidding "Private"signs up everywhere so I decided not to bother. I'd been told that searching some of the islands on the lake itself by boat could be productive but that looked like it could take a bit of time and given that there was a rather off-putting stiff breeze blowing anyway I decided to give this site up and hurry on to my back-up Willow Emerald site, a reservoir called Alton Water some three quarters of a hour's drive away.

The traffic was rather heavy on the way south but eventually I arrived and parked up. Whereas the last site seemed to have too little vegetation, if anything this had too much and it wasn't easy to access the shoreline at all. I hacked my way down to the shore by the car park where I found that the water had a plentiful number of small Willow trees and lots of reeds about. After getting my eye in I started to spot reasonable numbers of Odonata with Black-tailed Skimmer, red Darters and lots of blue Damselflies but nothing emerald. I decided to explore along the shoreline to the east first and here found some fishing swims where it was easier to access the shoreline though this side was all very much in the shade at this time of day and there weren't any insects to be seen at all. So next I tried in the other direction though there was no proper access to the shore at all. There were occasional half paths running down through the vegetation and when I followed these down I'd always be rewarded with some decent sightings: more red Darters, Brown Hawker, a Migrant Hawker and plenty of blue Damsels though still nothing emerald. In the end I had to give up as I was running out of time. I returned to the car and set the sat nav for the next site which was Wat Tyler Country Park - a site that is now famous in odonata circles for one particular dragonfly, namely the immigrant Southern Migrant Hawker.

Alton Water Migrant Hawker

This next leg of the journey should have taken about an hour though in the end the heavy traffic meant that it took a little longer. I eventually reached the gates of the country park, which were familiar to me from my Streetview pre-trip research, and headed down the road towards the car parks at the far end. Eschewing the usual car park I went right to the end towards the marina car park, passing en route a group of three or four photographers all actively papping something in one of the pools just past the toilet blocks. That looked encouraging! I parked up, grabbed my bins and cameras and hurried around behind the buildings to the first pool with the concrete ramp. There I found just a single photographer who told me that whilst there had been no Southern Migrants seen at this pool they were showing well just along the boardwalk so I hurried on. All along the boardwalk it was a fabulous riot of colours with lots of flowers blooming everywhere you looked. It was mostly Goat's Rue though there was a large clump of White Melilot and various Vetches, it all looked great! 

Goat's Rue

I soon arrived at the pond where I'd seen the photographers and sure enough there was a male Southern Migrant Hawker patrolling this pond continuously with an occasional interloper appearing only to be chased off. Apparently there'd even been a mating pair earlier on in the day so they're obviously becoming quite well established here. I watched the Hawker for a while though it hardly settled and when it did it was usually out of sight. Superficially, the colour on these dragonflies of green thorax and blue abdomen might lead you to mistake them for Emperors though in the flesh the Hawker patterning along the abdomen was very striking and there was no mistaking them for what they were. Given how much I was behind schedule already I didn't really have the time to wait for a decent photograph so in the end I opted for a quick in-flight record shot and then went back to the car.

male Southern Migrant Hawker record shot

The last item on my itinerary was Scarce Emerald Damselfly for which I had a couple of sites. The first was just at the other end of the country park back in the first pool along the entrance road so I drove the short distance and went to take a look. The pond was over-grown, which is supposedly how Scarce Emeralds like it, but to such an extent that it was impossible to see anything at all. There were several narrow channels into the otherwise impenetrable reeds which to me looked very much like someone had gone in and that was going to be the only way to see anything here. As I was neither equipped nor inclined for such a venture I decided to give it a miss and to move onto my second site for this species, just a few minutes up the road at Bowers Marsh RSPB.

The impenetrable pond

Some New Zealand Pigmyweed found growing by the pond, a tiny invasive pond plant

Bowers Marsh RSPB was right next door to Wat Tyler CP though it involved a five minute drive back to the main road to get there. Whereas Wat Tyler had been full of people doing all sorts of family activities, Bowers Marsh was empty with just two other cars in a large car park. There was a large field being harvested next to the car park and it all looked very brown and dry compared to the rich colours I'd been enjoying along the Wat Tyler boardwalk. I got my gear together and set off on the walk of a few minutes to the pond. This was a small affair just a few metres across in a corner of a ploughed field along the path and there I found another damsel seeker already installed. It turned out he'd been there just five minutes but hadn't seen anything so far. This pond was over-grown as well though not nearly to the same extend as the last one and one could at least get views across the water through the reeds though in the strong wind the reeds kept moving across ones field of view. It only took me a couple of minutes to find an emerald Damsel and as a male it did indeed seem to lack much of the blue on the second segment that is diagnostic of Scarce though try as we might neither of us could get a photo due to the swaying reeds. Eventually I found another one on our side of the pond and after some trying we both managed to get some shots which at least clinched the ID.

Scarce Emerald Damselfly - you can see that the lower half of S2 (the bulge at the base of the abdomen) is green rather than blue, distinguishing it from Emerald Damselfly. At this angle you can't see the anal appendages properly which are also diagnostic

A more aesthetic photo though it's harder to see S2 on this one.

It was a shame that I didn't have time to hang around long to get some better photos but with the ID finally in the bag I bade my companion farewell and headed back to the car.

The last leg of the journey back home to Oxford was slightly under two hours and fortunately the traffic wasn't too bad so I texted my VLW my revised ETA and headed off. Back home I had my usual celebratory cup of tea and a chance to catch up on family news. It had been a very productive trip with a nice slice of luck ensuring that I got my Swamphen tick just in time, some new Odonata ticks under my belt and just Willow Emerald letting me down, all in all it had been a good outing.

Appendix

Since posting this, some doubt has been expressed about the identify of the Damselfly in the photo and doing further research myself I'm now not so sure about it either. The first one that I didn't photograph had markedly less blue at the base of the abdomen so I'm more confident about that one. I'd still like to get a confirmed sighting though so another trip is clearly called for.

Botanising in Scotland

A few days again the Gnome family made a sortie north of the border to Glasgow so that our younger daughter B could take a look around Strathclyde University which she's hoping to attend this autumn. This was a strictly family affair with no real birding opportunities and despite a very tempting White-winged Scoter just a few hours away in Aberdeen it was made very clear that any attempts to sneak a visit in would be severely frowned upon. 

We headed off on Wednesday afternoon after B finished her shift at work and stopped over at some relatives who live in Cockermouth in Cumbria overnight before making the push north of the border the next day. We have some good friends who live in Glasgow but unfortunately the timing wasn't right as they were away on holiday. Still, they generously let us stay in their house which made an idea base to explore the area. It being suburban Glasgow, there weren't any real opportunities to do any birding en passant but at least I was able to indulge in my new-found interest of looking at all the weeds that were growing in the area. I even found a new plant for me in the garden, a tiny and invasive foreigner called New Zealand Willowherb, that apparently is spreading rapidly though it hasn't reached Oxfordshire as yet (that I know of).

New Zealand Willowherb

The next day was spent exploring Glasgow in the morning before attending an open day at Strathclyde University in the afternoon which was very helpful for B.  After that we had a pizza in the town centre before heading back to base.

The following day we decided to do some hill walking, a pastime that my VLW and I used to be rather fond of in our younger days. Indeed our two daughters have been up Snowdon in Wales a number of times though we seemed to fall out of the habit when our son L came along so he'd not really experienced much of it. We decided to climb Ben Lomond, a relatively easy Munro (Scottish peak over three thousand feet) that wasn't too far from Glasgow next to Loch Lomond. We arrived at around midday to find the car park virtually full though we managed to grab a spot when someone left, already up and back down the mountain no doubt. We took it nice and slowly, being passed regularly by younger and fitter walkers as we made our way through the woodland area and up through a boggy region before emerging onto the hillside proper. Naturally I kept my eyes open for any unusual plant life and found a few things of interest.

Small Cow-wheat in the wood, a cousin of the Common Cow-wheat that I saw at Blean Woods recently

Common Spotted-orchid

Heath Spotted-orchid

Once out in the open we stopped to have our packed lunch and to enjoy the view.

Our packed-lunch view

Out on the hillside proper, the plant life changed to more heathland ones with lots of Tormentil, Eyebright, Heath Bedstraw, some Common and Heath Milkwort and a small pink thing that was new to me which turned out to be Lousewort.

Lousewort

We made slow but steady progress up the hillside. A Peregrine flew right over our heads and there were several cronking Ravens and a few Meadow Pipits but that was about it on the bird front. Eventually we made it up to the summit where on the top I found a plant that I didn't recognise and which turned out to be Alpine Lady's Mantle. It was quite exciting to find something new in such a remote and relatively inaccessible place!

Unfortunately it was rather gloomy on the summit which rather obscured the view

Alpine Lady's Mantle

Team summit photo

After taking some photos and admiring the view we started the long decent. Whilst it's much easier going down in terms of how much effort is required, both my VLW and I have in the past suffered from knee problems when going down hill in our hillwalking days and sure enough both of us started to get knee gyp again on this descent. Progress was slow and painful but eventually we made it down again some time after 7 p.m. We headed off back to Glasgow, stopping en route to grab some take-away fish and chips which we ate hungrily in the car park. That night we slept very soundly!

The next day it was time to head on home. Sunday is of course not the best day to travel down the M6 and sure enough we hit quite a few jams so it took a good hour and a half longer than it should have done. Still, we all agreed that it had been a most enjoyable few days away and I'd even managed a few new plant ticks to boot.