Garden Butterfly Surprises

This period of hot and sunny weather is doing wonders for butterfly numbers. I'm seeing excellent numbers and so many different species whenever I've been out and about.  Just brilliant.

My garden continues to attract a nice selection too, including two species I really wasn't expecting... 

The first one was most bizarre, not just because of the species it was, more because I found it fluttering around our bathroom at 10:30pm on Wednesday night!!

Yep - that is a Wood White resting on our toilet roll basket!

 

The bathroom window had been open all day, but for some reason I just didn't notice it until bed time!  I potted it and the next morning let it go in the garden.  It looked alot better floating around our front garden, plus it lingered long enough to allow me to get some more natural photos of it...

A very localised species around here, I have never seen one away from known sites

I got muddy shorts getting this shot!

Today gave the second unexpected record, with a Wall Brown flying around the back garden before resting on one of our walls.  The nearest ones I know of are on Beer Head/Axe Cliff...

Beautiful markings

 

I potted it to get some better shots, but it just wouldn't show its upperwing again!

Long may this sunny weather continue, as hopefully will these surprises!  Take care all, and stay cool...

 

Dolphin, Mandarin and Norfolk Hawker

Didn't have much time out yesterday (Friday), but the time I did spend out and about proved eventful...

First surprise during a speculative flat-sea sea watch from Spot On, was a very playful and inquisitive Bottlenose Dolphin that I could see distantly chasing and playing with the fishing boats coming out of Beer...

It was miles away for me, but the views from Beer would have been brilliant

 

Like a trained animal!

 

The above two stills were taken from this short video, which I took through my telescope...

 

 

I was about to leave, but a final scope sweep across the bay showed a small duck flying in fast from the west.  Took me a while to work out what it was - a fem/juv Mandarin!

...not that you can tell what it is from this photo!

 

It spent about six minutes flying back and forth over the bay, at a variety of distances between virtually over the beach to a distant speck!  Eventually though, the River Axe enticed it in and it disappeared up the valley.  I naturally followed, and there is was on the Estuary where I was able to confirm it as a juvenile...

Probably only come from somewhere else in Devon, but still exciting to see a Mandarin vis migging!

That was from an hour out in the morning, but then mid-afternoon I had half an hour out at Lower Bruckland Ponds looking at dragonflies.

It was nice to see all the usual species out in fairly good numbers. The highlight though was stumbling upon a Norfolk Hawker, the third year this species has been recorded here...

Like the first one it didn't land for a photo, however unlike the first one that basically zoomed past me and disappeared, this one remained on view for the whole time I was watching it, partrolling a small terriorty.  Surprisingly I did manage this photo when it came to blows with a neighbouring Emperor...

This is the third year with a record of a single male here - surely that means they must actually be breeding!?

 

I put the moth trap out again last night but will leave that for another post.  Check back soon for more!

 

Wood Sands and Crossbills

Am pleased to say I have some more bird news!  July hasn't half come around fast, but am glad it's here because it's always the month that you really feel autumn-migration gains some serious momentum.

Black Hole Marsh, now that we have some muddy edges, is proving a real magnet for the first returning wading birds. I just spent half an hour down there with Jess, this showed 40+ Black-tailed Godwits, 20 Redshank (including my first juvenile of the year), five Common Sandpiper, three Lapwing, three Dunlin, two Greenshank and two lovely Wood Sandpipers.

The Wood Sandpipers were quite close, but in appalling light so my photos aren't anything special...

The two adult Wood Sands with singles of Lapwing, Common Sand and Dunlin

   

Again both Wood Sands, although the darker of the two is fast asleep!

Fifty shades of Blackwits!  Some real stunners in full breeding plumage still

 

It's not just waders here, there's lots of Black-headed Gulls about including at least five juveniles, and Shelducks have clearly had a fairly reasonable breeding season with lots of grown up babies about.  

Earlier this week I was pleased to get my first vismig Crossbills of the season.  And even better, they were from my garden whilst I was emptying the moth trap.   Two flew south west over the garden, and although I didn't capture them on this video, if you turn the sound up you can hear them chupping away...

 

 

There's been a lot of gulls feeding out in the bay in recent days, so am hoping to take a closer look at them in the morning. Hopefully they lure something better into the bay.

Birds and Butterflies

When the clouds cleared this morning and sun emerged, an almost constant trickle of white butterflies (seemed to be a mixture of Small and Large Whites from what I saw) began arriving from the east along the beach and over the sea.  Nothing like the scenes from Norfolk last week (see HERE) but it's always exciting to see insect migration however heavy or light.

Because of this I took a walk down the harbour at lunch time, where a Painted Lady showed well, only my fifth of the year and another sign of butterfly migration...

Yes their upperwing has most the colour, but their underwings are spectacular!

 

Although most the whites I saw were the ones mentioned in the first paragraph, flying straight through, just for a change one of the local Wood Whites (saw five in all during this visit) actually decided to land for me...

The wonderfully-shaped Wood White

 

An even better view!  Rarely are they this approachable

Head-on Wood White

I saw my first Ringlets of 2025 during this wander too, along with plenty of Meadow Browns.  The Everlasting Pea is in flower at the moment at the harbour, be nice if the Long-tailed Blues returned!

I have some birds news too, thanks to a message on the local WhatsApp group. Shortly after midday today I had a five minute view of an Osprey fishing, or attempting to fish, on the upper Axe Estuary.  Another consecutive year with a mid-summer Osprey record, presumably something to do with the expanding English breeding population?  

We are now up to over twenty Black-tailed Godwits on Black Hole Marsh, but I missed the first returning Green Sandpiper of the 'autumn' which Ian M reported on 25th.  

On 28th I gave the sea an hour as the wind was blowing from the right direction.  Four adult Med Gulls west were my first for a while, also had 17 Common Scoter, 15 Manx Shearwaters and 10 Shelduck all west.  But am still waiting for my first skua of 2025.  On the Estuary afterwards I saw my first juvenile Black-headed Gull of the year.

With all this insect migration today, of course the moth trap is out again tonight...

 

Even More Moths

The exciting mothing spell continues - hence another post so soon after my previous one!

I have trapped both nights since my last post, catching 225 macro moths of 54 species on Friday/Saturday night, and 194 macro moths of 45 species on Saturday/Sunday night.  It's out again tonight too!

Elephant Hawkmoths have appeared in excellent numbers, they were the second most numerous species in the trap (behind Riband Wave) on Friday night when I caught 30 of them! 

 

The migration continues, with Bordered Straw on both nights and a single Pearly Underwing on Friday night.  Am still waiting for a my first migrant Hawkmoth for the garden though, which hopefully isn't far away!  

My most surprising catch was a species new to me, so I honestly had no idea what it was when I first saw it in the egg boxes, I just knew it was a type of Wainscot that I had never seen before...

An obvious warmish reddish tinge to it and that striking split black stripe down the wing.  Also note those two rows of black dots on the upperwing which are key to its identification.

 

A Webb's Wainscot it was.  A species that has records from the heart of Axe valley, being a reedy specialist like many of the wainscots.  Most likely this one has just wandered from there, however the fact it seems to be over a month early (shouldn't really be on the wing until August-September) does make me wonder whether it may have originated from a continental population?  

As Wainscots go it's got a lot going for it!

 

Another nice highlight was a species I only caught twice in over ten years of trapping at Mum and Dad's, a Royal Mantle...

I was a little confused by this one mind as the reddy areas seemed to be completely lacking!  Almost looked like a black and white version, it should look like THIS

 

My other highlights, and all firsts for the garden, were more usual species but ones that I always take great delight in seeing...

A not all that ruddy Ruddy Carpet

 

My second Tiger sp for the garden, a lovely Scarlet Tiger

Bum in air which is typical for this species - Phoenix

Marbled Green with friends (Buff-tip and Privet Hawmoth)

Blue-bordered Carpet

Blood-vein. Have already caught a couple of their smaller cousins.

Maybe fairly common, but always stunning.  Rosy Footman.

Not sure numbers will be as impressive tonight.  It is still, but it's also clear so I suspect the temperatures will drop a bit lower than they have in previous nights.  But as we all know it only takes one...

Garden Wildlife

We seem to be in the middle of a really good spell of moth-action.  The mild nights are great for moths in general, but there's also plenty of insect migration going on at the moment so there's been a good and steady arrival of migrant moth species too - making it forever tempting to stick the moth trap out when the conditions are half decent.

This post won't just be about moths though, I thought I would update on how the garden wildlife is getting on in general - although I can't top the Nighjar when it comes to the birds! 

Our back garden.  The lawn looks a bit dry in this pic, but I am thrilled with the diversity within it as it's full of mosses and wild flowers. The large hedges that enclose our garden are mix of several species as well.

I'll kick off not with moths, but with a surprise I got whilst mothing the other night.  I could hear it rustling for about ten minutes before it appeared, but when I did, I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to see a Hedgehog in our garden! 

Not seen a live one in Seaton for at least five years, and that one was my first for several years

 

Another creature I was really happy to see in the garden a couple of weeks ago was a Slow worm, actively feeding in an area of bare earth.  Any time we turn the earth over I am always delighted with how many worms and other creepy crawlies it reveals.  We really do seem to have a wildlife-rich garden, and we haven't really done all that much yet we've only been in the house for seven months!

Of course with so many mini-beasts, there are plenty of birds to eat them.  It seems like Starling and House Sparrows have had a good breeding season in the local area, especially the latter as at any one time there can be up to  25-30 in the back garden.   All the usual garden species have got young at the moment, especially Blackbirds and Robins who have both fledged their second broods now.  Such a thrill to see so much bird life!  

On the butterfly front, really happy to see a Marbled White in the garden today. Otherwise just the usual expected species like Meadow Brown, Large White, Small White, etc.  The only Odonata species I have seen here so far is a single male Large Red Damselfly.  Mind you I wasn't even expecting that as we don't have a pond (yet!). 

And now to the moths. Wow.  Last night needs a special mention, with an impressive 237 macro moths of 54 species in the trap.  Otherwise over the last few weeks whenever I have had the trap out I've been catching around 150 macros moths of 30-40 species each time.   The highlights...

A new moth for me, and there were two of them last night.  Small Marbled, a usually fairly scarce migrant species but there's a real influx of these underway at the moment.

 

A silky smooth White Satin, another migrant species that I caught on 21st. Love those zebra-striped legs!

The first Bordered Straw that I caught 20th, but I have had six more since!  A migrant.

One of two Small Mottled Willows from 21st - another migrant

 

Not a migrant species but a beautiful one - Beautiful Golden Y.

Was pleased to catch this Crescent Dart on 25th, a species I did well for at Mum and Dad's.

Another nationally uncommon moth that I got used to catching at Mum and Dad's, so pleased to have caught three of these Four-spotted Footman in my garden so far.

 

Another nationally uncommon moth that I used to do well for at Mum and Dad's suggesting they breed locally - a Portland Ribbon Wave

 

True Lover's Knot - a resident but never seem to be numerous.  I have caught two so far here.

 

A striking one from this morning - Cloaked Carpet

Honestly, I could keep going with the photos, the quantity and variety of moths has really blown me away.  I wasn't expecting results anything like this.  

I am one happy man.

 

Garden Nightjar

Well last night was just completely bonkers! Let me explain...

Both Jess and I were woken abruptly at 03:26 by the loudest churring Nightjar.  At first, in my drowsy state, I thought I was dreaming... Then I thought Nightjar song was playing on my phone.... before I properly came to and realised it was actually a real bloody Nightjar!  And judging by the volume of it, it must only been right outside our open window!  We think it was probably perched on the roof.

I grabbed my phone and managed to just record the end of the song (listen HERE).  I then shot outside, but there was no sign of it by the time I got out into the front garden in a partially decent state.  

Nightjar was not at all a bird I was ever expecting on the house list - certainly not one in full song!  I know that Nightjars will come down into towns and valleys from their breeding areas, to feed, and presumably this is what this one had done.  Whether it came from our breeding Nightjar site which is just under two miles from my house, or from a bit further away where there are more birds present (like Trinity Hill) who knows?  But I am sure it wasn't an early autumn migrant due to its persistent churr.

Presumably it was mostly just luck as to why it chose our roof to churr from, but I did wonder whether it has realised I sometimes run a moth trap here.  My Robins, Blackbirds, House Sparrows and Dunnocks have learnt it so why can't a Nightjar?  Well if this was the reason, he was out of luck last night as I wasn't trapping. If he came back tonight he would have more luck as I have just set the trap up.

Seeing as I'm posting, I will catch you up on all the recent patch bird news.  And the best thing I have seen over the last few weeks that wasn't a Turtle, was this lovely adult Spotted Redshank on Black Hole Marsh on 19th, found by Clive...

It was surprisingly elusive!  Can you spot it?

 

What a looker - although to the perfectionist it was just past its best

I reckon there is every chance this is the same bird that stayed with us for one day on 24th June 2024.  This year it was a one day wonder too, so guess we will have to wait until June '26 before seeing it again.

Other than the Spot Red, a few Common Sands, Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew and Redshank have appeared on the Estuary, it won't be long until numbers really start to build.

Over the sea, I went down for a half-hour watch on the evening of 22nd thanks to a blustery southerly breeze.  It was very clear, which is presumably why 90% of the Manxies I saw were literal dots on the horizon - but there were a heck of a lot of them!  In half an hour I saw over 400 Manxies, most moving west but some banking back around east so I think many of them were actually feeding.  Disappointingly there was nothing else of note, well nothing within range anyway!

Although I haven't had any vismig Crossbills yet (there's some good counts coming in from other sites), I have seen them in local conifer plantations twice over the past two weeks, along with plenty of Siskins.  Hopefully there is a good finch autumn ahead.

Two posts in two days... don't get used to it!  Saying that though autumn is approaching fast!  

Leatherback Turtle

Although I have a bit of birds news to tell, that's going to have to wait for another post as the star of this blog post deserves its very own post!

The first any of us knew of a Leatherback Turtle in Seaton Bay was this post and video on Facebook, taken from a Lyme Regis based boat late afternoon on Wednesday 18th June...

Link to video here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AoDME2R9K/

 

Soon after we were aware of this, news came through (again via Facebook) that a large Turtle was off Seaton Beach. And am glad to say it stayed for the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday, delighting so many people - mostly locals but others who had come some way to see it.

Personally I was absolutely thrilled to see such an incredible creature off here. Nothing prepared me for the first view I had of its head coming up out of the water - really emphasising just how big an animal it was!

What a beast!

A nice view of its leather back

 

At times it came really close to the beach, although from my viewpoint the views were occasionally obscured by a fellow patch birder...

No prizes for being to identify that distinctive look!

 

And am pleased to say that any boats/paddle boarders that came over for look seemed to be respectful enough...

This photo shows its size well!

 

Many locals, although pleased to see it, were concerned about its presence, asking whether it should be here and why it was here.  Well the sheer number of Barrel Jellyfish in the bay recently was probably the answer to that... am sure it enjoyed munching on these!

This is the third land-based sighting of Leatherback Turtle from Seaton as far as I know.  Phil A saw one several decades ago, plus there was one that we all missed that did a swim past in front of one lucky observer about ten years ago.  There probably has been a few others too, but it felt incredibly special to be treated to such prolonged and good views of this pelagic animal so close to Seaton Beach.

Absolutely amazing.  And I have to say, in my books it even beats the Northern Bottlenose Whale of Sept 2018 to the accolade of being the best sea creature I have seen from the patch! 

 

Risso's Dolphins

In the absence of any local bird news just a short one tonight, but it does contain some mega cetacean news!

Thanks to a timely message from Phil last Wednesday, I saw my first ever patch Risso's Dolphins!  

I arrived once they had swam east through most of the bay, and were well east of the harbour mouth still moving east, by the time I got there. Saying that though I had several views of one or two calves jumping completely clear of the water, and saw the huge dorsal fins and backs of the adult animals breaking the surface several times.  There looked to be about half-a-dozen animals in the pod, but it was really hard to be sure with the views I had.

Hopefully they'll be back as I would love to see them again.  Thank you Phil for the find, message and binocular use!

Garden Moth Update

I have nothing but Moths to update you all on I'm afraid...

Part of the reason for this is that we spent four days in North Wales last week, which was absolutely amazing.  However it is also because I haven't seen any birds locally worth mentioning!  Saying that though, we all might have missed a Curlew Sandpiper reported twice on Black Hole Marsh via BirdGuides on 31st May - although several people tried for it on the day and didn't see it which is a bit of a mystery.  In more recent news, Clive has just turned up what we can probably quite safely call our first autumn migrant of 2025, with a Cuckoo near Black Hole Marsh this morning.

The weather has clearly broken from those weeks and weeks of sunshine, however before this happened to the extent it has now I enjoyed two absolutely stonking moth nights in the garden.  Not only am I absolutely thrilled my new garden (which we are always trying to improve wildlife-wise) is producing such good numbers, but also that there are these numbers about - last spring/early summer was a disaster for insect numbers and it still haunts me.

On the morning of 23rd May I had 151 macro moths of 47 species in the trap, and on the morning of 31st May 142 macro moths of 46 species. I won't list them all, just pull out the highlights starting with the two migrants...

The Gem - captured on 23/5

Cream-bordered Green Pea - not exactly a stunner - caught on 31/5.

Let's get this one out the way! Least Black Arches - captured on 23/5

How about this, a stunning Puss Moth from 23/5.  Never numerous but always spectacular.

Another moth that is never numerous, Peach Blossom.  Such an amazing creature!

Love how contrasty Alder Moths are, and three on one night was a great capture on 23/5

Scorched Carpet - captured on 23/5

The best of the resident Hawkmoths the Privet Hawkmoth - pleased to be catching a good supply of these, three on one night the best so far

A trio of Eyed Hawkmoth.  Eyed Hawkmoth were fairly irregular when I trapped at Mum and Dad's, so nice to be seeing these in most catches with this three the highest number in a single catch.

Probably the commonest Hawkmoth locally - the Elephant Hawkmoth - but my first two didn't arrive until 31/5 when they became the fourth species of Hawkmoth trapped in the garden so far.

Am looking forward to the next calm night so I can try again!  I am yet to trap in June so it will be interesting to see what new species for the garden, and maybe me, the month brings...