Sun, sea and flying insects

Well it's taken until late July but it seems summer has finally decided to show up in the UK. A well timed weekend in Devon to visit our good friends the Cream Tea Bird and her other half, the Cream Tea Birder, saw us scraping any birding plans in favour of chillin' out in the sun, listening to music, barbecuing Plaice caught off Budleigh Salterton beach that morning, as well as unashamedly polishing off humongous amounts of Rachel's rather bloody fine home made lemon treacle slices.

With my Lepidoptera obsession showing no sign of diminishing, on Saturday evening we set the moth trap up in the garden. However, on Sunday morning we found just 3 moths had been pulled in! Yep, that's 3 individual moths!! We blame the clear conditions overnight - damn this hot summer weather!

Male Buff Ermine Spilosoma luteum

Female Bee Moth Aphomia sociella. So called because the larvae feed on honey
comb inside bee and wasp nests.

Female Bee Moth Aphomia sociella.

In the early Sunday afternoon we visited the excellent Bystock Pools Devon Wildlife Trust reserve. Things were very quiet bird wise, with a Common Buzzard carrying prey being the only noteworthy-ish sighting. This is a good site for Downy Emerald Cordulia aenea and Small Red Damselfly Ceriagrion tenellum and we found at least 1 of the former on the main pool with several of the later on the acidic pools on the heath, in addition to 2 Emperor Dragonfly Anax imperator, several Keeled Skimmer Orthetrum coerulescens, lots of Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella, Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans lots of Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula, and an Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa.

Common Buzzard carrying prey.

Downy Emerald Cordulia aenea

Male Small Red Damselfly Ceriagrion tenellum

Male Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula

Pair of Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula

Male Keeled Skimmer Orthetrum coerulescens

Female Keeled Skimmer Orthetrum coerulescens

Newly emerged Keeled Skimmer Orthetrum
coerulescens

With all of us suffering from so much heat induced lethargy, other wildlife sightings worth blogging about were, unsurprisingly, thin on the ground. A Badger running across the road as we drove into Budleigh Salterton late Friday night was a good sighting, but nothing compared to the trail cam footage we obtained on Saturday night from a nearby sett (to be uploaded soon).

Just 2 Gatekeepers and a Large White were the only butterflies recorded in Jaffa's garden for Saturday's Big Butterfly Count, but a Raven overhead was a nice bonus.

Male Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus