Mead foot Beach area..Torquay, Devon where the evening light is perfect.
I often walk along the coastal road in the late afternoon, early evening. This spot, Meadfoot Beach, has the most breathtaking light which illuminates the sky, even on a dull day and shimmers on the surface of the sea.
I actually prefer winter evenings here…the contrasts can be quite stunning and the cold crispness in the air sharpens the beauty.
Kestrels…Coastal raptors of Devon….Torquays birds of prey.
A Kestrel on the wing…I’m almost lost for words by my admiration for them. The wind on the downs Monday was vigorous, shaking bushes, bending trees, churning the sea…yet the kestrel hung in the air without movement.
The waves below him turned and tumbled and he hovered above them completely still for seconds, then with a slight movement he moved a few feet forward. I noticed that the kestrel seemed to use its tail as a rudder in the turbulent wind. He moved slightly in the air then he dived, shooting through the air like a rocket.
Ready…steady…GO !!
Over the cliffs and rocks he hung motionless before diving out of sight beneath the coastal path.
The wind was so strong that the magpies and crows who usually bother him were safely tucked away in their trees, so he was free to hunt undisturbed and it was a pleasure to watch his flying skills uninterrupted.
The Starlings of Dawlish Warren.
Thursday I went for a meal in a local public house in Dawlish, Devon. The pub gardens were full of noisy starlings sitting on walls overlooking the tables. Apparently starlings eat insects and fruit. The pub starlings though ate whatever customers had left on the plates ie crispy chips, salad, pie crusts, etc
The starlings were mainly black, but in the late evening sun their buff coloured wing tips looked pink. The tiny white arrow shaped markings looked to me like stars in a black sky. A sheen of green and purple was visible as they moved in the sunlight.
They didn’t stay in one spot for too long, but took off in fast flight when disturbed.
I would love to have stayed and perhaps have seen a Murmuration over the sandy beaches of Dawlish….next time.
Seagulls…cull or not to cull.
Seagulls have been in the news for the past two weeks for killing and attacking a small dog and a tortoise. There are some people who want the gulls culled. This shocks me.
Herring gulls are protected birds. They live mainly by the sea and have done for thousands of years. Their diet mainly consists of fish, crabs and live food. They also scavenge.
Their enjoyment of chips, sandwiches and other human foodstuffs is the fault of people who feed them, who think that throwing chips up in the air to watch the seagulls swoop is entertaining.
We leave bags of food out on streets or on land field sites and expect these curious, intelligent, inquisitive and hungry birds to ignore them.
Intelligent they may be, but telling the difference between entertaining the crowds by taking chips midair or taking from someones hand uninvited, is something they cannot distinguish between. So we blame them and demonise them.
Herring gulls pair up early in life and stay monogamous…loyal to their partner even if they haven’t seen them for months. They will return to their nesting sites and wait for their partner to return and will not take another partner if their original mate doesn’t return.
Gulls are excellent parents..keeping their young with them for up to six months. The grey youngsters can often be seen in our harbour bleeting for food from their frazzled parents.
Gulls are birds of remarkable character with courage and determination. I’ve seen them fight of huge buzzards that tried to eat their chicks.
In the air there is little so beautiful as a gull on the wing. They soar and swoop and ride the currents…they are a joy to behold. Against a blue sky they are a distinct and attractive feature of the coast.
The Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world and it lives here. In the air it soars like Concorde…elegant and impressive.
Do they make a mess of cars and coats on occasion…yes. I’ve suffered the indignity of being splattered, but does that mean I want them dead. No….of course not. They were here long before people and buildings and will be here long after we’ve gone and I’m, for one, glad of it.
Do they take ice-creams out of the hands of people..yes. People should be made aware of this and avoid putting their ices at arms length, eat indoors or under shelter where possible. Better take precautions then kill these birds, surely.
I saw a tweet a few days ago where a farmer had put a sign up asking dog owners to keep their pets on leads. The reason for this is that a dog had raced through his flock killing nine, injuring three and orphaning eleven lambs.
Do we call for a cull of dogs for the above. No, of course we don’t. Nor should we cull seagulls who are doing nothing more than protecting their young.
I am happy to see that in a local poll 52% Torquay residents have voted to leave the gulls alone and not cull them. Most have never had a problem with them. I wish it had been more, but I’m happy with a majority.
Compass Jellyfish…Chrysaora hysoscella…Meadfoot Beach, Torquay, Devon.
I saw these Compass Jellyfish at Meadfoot Beach, Torquay. They were swimming close to the sea walls.
They were much smaller than the Barrel Jellyfish seen in the harbour a few weeks ago.
Compass Jellyfish have a bell shape. The twenty-four tentacles hang beneath this bell in eight groups of three.
These jellyfish are coloured in varied shades of brown and yellowish white with dark v-shaped marks emanating from a circular centre. The tentacles have stinging cells used to capture prey.
Fascinatingly, the Compass Jellyfish changes from male to female during its life.
A group of youngsters were throwing themselves off the harbour walls into the shallow water attempting to ‘bomb’ the Jellyfish. Our presence and my photographing of these delicate, rather lovely, marine creatures, got in their way and stopped them.
This last photo compilation was taken further along the beach in crystal clear sea water.
Barrel Jellyfish in Devon, England…June sighting in harbour …. Rhizostoma pulmo.
The harbour was full this morning of enormous Barrel Jellyfish. The first ones I saw were under the water and through the waves looked mysterious.
The next ones I saw were closer to the surface. They swam towards the harbour wall and then away from the wall giving me various views of them.
Beneath its bell shaped body the jellyfish had eight thick, clear arms. The arms were covered with frilly, soft orange coloured, cauliflower-like tissue, where they joined with the body. The frills are small, compact tentacles around hundreds of little mouths that enable the jellyfish to catch and eat its prey.
The white bell shaped body was edged with a thin frilly blue line.
This jellyfish had been stranded on a raised bridge platform. The jellyfish is 90% water.
Due to our warmer summers there is a plankton bloom around the coasts of the South-West which draw in the jelly fish who feed on it.
The jellyfish are usually eaten by leatherback turtles and other predators and its the lack of such predators that are causing the problems. The ecosystem has been upset and unbalanced resulting in large numbers of these quite incredible jelly fish on our beaches and in our harbours.
They are harmless but shouldn’t be touched, just admired. Something evolved over millions of years…a wonder of nature.
Compton Castle..Nr Torquay Devon
Tucked away down the narrow wandering lanes of Devon is Compton Castle. A charming, solid, fortified manor house.
Set in grounds of lawn, orchards, rose gardens, wild flowers and tall trees, it has a romantic look about it. A quiet home for its owners with a surprising connection to English and American history.
A house has stood on this ground for some nine hundred years. The first manor house was built in the 12th century for Sir Maurice de la Pole. In the middle of the 14th century the manor was replaced by a large hall and family and service rooms.
In 1520 a fortress like front was added by Sir John Gilbert whose son John helped command the forces sent against the Spanish Armada.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, half brother to Sir Walter Raleigh, lived here in the 1500s. He sailed with Sir Walter to America and helped colonise Newfoundland. His son Raleigh Gilbert helped establish a colony in Maine, USA in 1607.
Sir Walter Raleigh was said to have smoked the first ever pipe of tobacco brought from his travels, when visiting the castle.
The building was allowed to decay over time, but was eventually rebuilt and restored.
It now looks just as a fortified house or castle should look, with three feet thick, sturdy walls, turrets and heavy wooden doors. I do love doors..open..they are so tempting…
Bank Cormorants..endangered South African birds.
The cormorant brothers live in Living Coast…a local attraction in Torquay, Devon.
It is a huge aviary showing local coastal bird and animal life and the occasional foreign sea bird and animal.
The Bank Cormorants live on a particular cliff face in the aviary. They have settled on the ledges…making the area their own.
At this time of year they, like all the birds, are looking to mate. One of the birds sits on an untidy nest on a ledge…the other brother displays with loud noises and body movements.
The bird stretches, then curves his head and neck backwards across his body, opening his wings and raising his tail….loudly calling at the same time.
The display is an extraordinary sight and, I feel, rather sad as there are no female Bank Cormorants to perform to.
People from Living Coasts have visited South Africa in an effort to obtain a female but the South Africans are, unsurprisingly, reluctant to part with one of these endangered birds.
I have become rather fond of these lovely seabirds…..
There were only 2,800 breeding pairs of Bank Cormorants in South Africa in 2006…
The Amadea ….German cruise ship in bay…Torquay, Devon.
A German cruise ship, The Amadea, steamed into town last week. It was not due until later this month so it was a surprise to see it in the bay on a wet and very windy day.
It came into the bay because rough weather had meant its original destination..Dartmouth
was not possible.
As we watched it turned round and round in the choppy seas…..the orange life boats used to ferry passengers to and fro swung precariously from the sides.
The passengers on board were probably glad to set foot on land. They were brought into Torquay and taken on trips by coach to Dartmoor.
The Amadea was built in Japan in 1991 and sold in 2006. It is considered a small ship with 2 royal suites, 40 suites, 254 cabins.
Look out for it in the bay on May 21….
Plastic waste in our oceans.
Apparently there are 5 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans.
How did they get there? Living in a coastal town, Torquay, as I do I can see at source how this pollution ends up in our seas.
Walking the coastal paths is something I do regularly. The views are astonishing in their beauty, but unfortunately they are marred by plastic pollution. On the banks of rivers, on the beaches, on the sides of cliffs and floating in the sea…plastic is everywhere. And not just plastic…glass bottles and cans too mar the local beauty spots and end up in the sea.
One of my favourite beauty spots, by the end of summer resembles a rubbish tip with plastic bags full of rubbish thrown into the hedges lining the steep cliffs. Some bags miss the hedges and end up at the foot of the cliffs ready to be washed out to sea by winter storms.
People leave used barbecue sets on the grass, ‘take away’ food bags and cartons get thrown into the car park greenery and tins of beer are used to decorate the shrubs where beautiful and delicate butterflies fly.
I wonder why people come to our area to sit and stare at the gorgeous scenery or to picnic or sunbathe and then get up and walk away leaving behind plastic bottles, food cartons, beer cans, barbecue sets, shopping bags, nappies etc
Do they think that adds to the view? Do they think that the rubbish is going to miraculously disappear when their backs are turned?
I think you can feel my frustration in my words. I just don’t understand the mentality of these people. And clearly there are a lot of them.
Plastic pollution ends up in the food chain. The plastic breaks down to the size of a grain of sand over many, many years and this gets eaten by fish. And we eat fish…only time will tell what this is going to do to our children’s health, but I wouldn’t count in it having a positive effect.
Plastic and other rubbish also kills many thousands of birds, fish, turtles every year. It is so prevalent in our waters it can be found lying on the floor of the deepest seas.
I would like to see the throwing of litter become as anti social as drink driving. And I would like to see a major advertising campaign like we had years ago…asking people not to drop litter….or maybe telling them instead of asking them…’Don’t drop litter..take it home’.
Education is one way to help solve this problem.
Our children have a right to be informed and given the chance to do something about it. Not just by cutting out the throwing of litter on our streets and into our seas and rivers, but by understanding what is happening to the climate and their environment and how they and their actions directly effect it.
If we continue to live the way we do now we will completely destroy the conditions for our survival….the optimum temperature, clean fresh air, unpolluted food and water.
The conditions for this destruction have already been laid, if we don’t turn them around soon it will be too late.
This is Devon in all its contrasting beauty…please take care of it and take your rubbish home.
devon2mother 