Something Moor.

In light of once more being far behind, I am trying something different.

I have a variety of seawatches [ok, three] to now report on, with associated lists of birds and whatnot, but also I've been up on t'Moor again.

So I'm going to split by subject rather than time.

Hey, at least you're getting something, right?

You may recall that the last time I was up on t'Moor - aside from an afternoon with the Folks on Rippon Tor - I was beyond cryptic with the actual location, on account of sensitive rare species of a potentially breeding nature.

Fortunately for you all, I saw no Grouse, Red or Falcon, Hobby [or anything else rare, for that matter] so I can say where I went.

Woo. 

Ahem.

I hit the south Moor, wandering from Whiteworks to Fox Tor, then down and over to Ducks' Pool, before deviating from my normal route [due to heat and idle curiosity] to head straight over the bogs to Great Gnats' Head, then down over the Plym to Eylesbarrow, back on the usual route.

Things were complicated from the start as I found I was sharing the Moor with not one but two sets of endurance runners, as an ultramarathon and half ultra were being run... Hmm. Well, could be worse. They were at least restraining themselves to the more well-trodden routes, so I'd not meet the runners until I was descending from GGH [not that I knew that then, but the lack of those little flags was reassuring].

Since my last time up top, there had been at least a little rain, and it was markedly damper, with much more green in evidence, though still by no means actually wet. More like closer to where you'd expect Summer to be, perhaps. Though of course as we've had feck all falling since then, it may be browning over again.. Regardless, it wasn't exactly hard going [I'd think at least once before heading straight for Gnats in winter, say] and surprisngly and pleasingly free of Horseflies [dry weather has its uses; as Horsefly larvae live in the soil, it drying out puts a crimp in their lifecycle. {Yes, yes, part of nature, yes, yes, lots of other things that don't bite through denim don't like the soil drying out. Moving on.}]

I found there were still many Wheatears up on t'Moor, including adults still feeding young in the nest, and you may have seen a few pics thereof on gluesky [they've annoyed me, so don't get their name written correctly], also a few dragonflies, a couple of which even posed, despite the fresh breeze.

It was lovely up there, though out of the wind it was quite toasty - which is the main reason I'd decided to avoid the notoriously hot head of the Erme valley - and in it quite frisky. Interesting times, but that's t'Moor.

The very next day I was up again, this time with the Folks [and of course, Canis horribilis salivatus], for a more restrained time - as it was less windy and more 'ot - around the Meavy valley area of Burrator. Many were the Beautiful Demoiselles about the Devonport leat, and many the species of birds seen and heard, too. 😁 

 

Juvenile and female Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Willow Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a lone Wheatear were outside the compound and notable [I will get some pics up eventually] when we relocated to somewhere a little less sheltered and with more of a view.

It may be of interest that I recorded 14 species of bird, butterfly, and dragonfly on the tops, and 37 in the valley the next day. 

Far more varied habitat, of course, or should I say habitats, and I suspect if I had been more assiduous in counting say plant species, or even included other inverts [that's three up for the tops off the top - boom boom - of my head] that it would be less one-sided. 

Anyways, 'twas a good weekend, and in defiance of the heat, too.

 

Be Seeing You...