A Spot Of Dartmoor Birding

Work has wandered back into the way of the important things in life [ie birds] again, and so it has been that only now am I posting and only on Sunday did I get out.


I went off to fill in a missing Spot on that Yearlist and despite elusive birds and a sunny Sunday's worth of assorted civilians I managed to find them. So that was good.


The what [as you may have guessed] was Spot Fly, the where was Venford. Spotfly was one of those birds I figured would be pretty simple and so didn't worry too much about [kinda like Little Tern, and we all know how that one's turned out so far...]. Then reports started drying up [as canopies opened, I guess], especially from my two favourite sites [Yarner and Challacombe - the latter even has a Spot Fly Tree].

So I tried site three, and scored from the dam, and then again further down the Ven Brook. Very mobile and busy flycatching, so no chance of piccies [[Stop cheering]]

I continued down into White Wood, where [after a bit of persistence] Wood Warbler and Pied Fly showed very well. These are firsts for the site for me - the birds are there, but oh so hard to see well normally.
Then it was up to Bench Tor, where I plonked down at a nice spot out of the way of the casual visitor but with a good view. There to have lunch and see what was flying around. You never know, after all.

As it happens, this was mostly Woodpigs! There was a small movement going on - all down the Dart valley in small groups [no more than 8]. I'd noticed over the last week or two that Woodpigs seemed to be moving in small numbers, but thought maybe it was just the local birds foraging. This seemed to be a definite passage, though, and all adults. Interesting. Failed breeders maybe?

Time for a piccie!

Dart valley and SE Devon, from Bench Tor

I then moved on in search of better Spot Fly views and maybe even a Cuckoo [or something else flying over] to Sousson's and Vitifer, where Cuckoos yes, but Spotflies no. I did a little better with insects; three Small Pearl-bordered Frits messing about an area of boggy grassland [got me wondering for a second before I saw them well], Tiger Beetles, a big rove beetle sp. [I got a bad photo, but not enough to ID], and this longhorn sat on a car!

Itsa Beetle

It was very nice up there, and while no low-flying storks or brightly-coloured things showed up, it was still a good day's birding.