silver washed muscovy damselflies

These three pictures show a wild muscovy duck (or an escapee), a white legged damselfly, and a silver washed fritillary (male qv) feeding on bramble flowers in a glade in the woods. The white legged damselfly is uncommon (see link) but there were a lot about this morning, you can see the white leg grasping the head of the grass. We disgraced ourselves by rushing up to see what someone with a very large camera was photographing ... he was not much pleased to see his specimen fly away, and he didn't seem to want to take dog photographs, and he may not have much sense of humour. Mind you we were less intrusive than the little boy with the butterfly net.

more from the Tamar valley AONB

Inspired by the nightjar walk, we decided to explore the Tamar trails created by TV AONB. We started at Bedford saw mills and walked down to the Tamar and then up and down the trail that follows the river. The first photo shows a giant hogweed. It is described as an aggressive and nuisance invader and it is irritant to the skin, but nevertheless it is very impressive. The sheep are grazing in meadows of Blanchdown farm Unfortunately this means you cannot walk along the river bank at this point.


The water in the stream below has stained the rocks a vivid green I suspect this must be due to minerals washing out of mine workings higher up the valley. The foliage also looks an unnaturally bright green and that always makes me suspect that there are high concentrations of metals in the soil. (Is this the explanation, see link )?

nightjars and glowworms 2

Eventually, in the late dusk, we heard the unmistakeable and eerie sound of the nightjars "churring", and then very briefly we caught sight of one flitting through the trees with the characteristic wings up flight as it chased its prey of large moths. They went on chirring through rain, a distant thunderstorm, and a firework display laid on by the Horn of Plenty (which, I think, used to be the mine captain's house and is now an incredibly expensive but very fine restaurant and hotel). By this time, of course, it was so dark we wouldnt have been able to take a photograph of one even if it had landed on our hand. So the best substitute is the RSPB link where you can hear the amazing churring call. On our way back, stumbling through the dark we came across some glowworms. Sad to say we have never seen a glowworm before. As this blog is a mainly a pictorial account of our life, Spot insists that I include the photograph of the glow worm ...it's the green bit on the left. A case of nature imitating William Scott (see earlier blog).
So we would like to thank Richard Hibbert, bird expert, and Ruth Davies (the AONB information officer) for a very special and enjoyable evening.

nightjars and glowworms

We went on a bit of an expedition last night. Under the auspices of the Tamar valley AONB (the man in the picture on the link is Furgus Parsons, who owns Spot's grandmother, lurcher Bracken, and Cassie's brother Byron, and he made our wonderful walnut dining room table), we went for a trip to the site of the Devon Great Consuls mine, once the largest copper and arsenic mine in the world (and probably the galaxy).



The site is like something from Mars, a great arsenical spoil heap in a barren landscape.


The ravaging of the landscape by the aristocracy has had the one serendipitous effect of creating a heathland habitat suitable for the elusive and mysterious nightjar. And even the toxic spoil tip has been used by sand martins as a nesting site. It was too dark to capture the martins as they flew in and out of the small holes in the side of the tip.

floral butteflies

the yellow flower at the top is meadow vetchling, the lower and rather exotic picture is of a poppy (not wild as far as I can tell).

lack of punctuation

the air is full of butterflies especially ringlets and meadow browns, possibly because grasses have grown exceptionally well this year. This colourful specimen is a comma, showing only its upper wings (the eponymous mark is on the other side).