Butterflies of Torquay, Devon 2015….

Butterflies of Torquay, Devon 2015….

There are two areas in Torquay which I visit regularly. One is Daddy-hole Plain, a large area of grass with a coastal path running close by. The other area is Cockington Water Meadow where a small stream runs alongside a meadow edged with trees and wild flowers.
I photograph wildlife in these areas every week…butterflies, moths, insects, birds and in spring deer.

Daddy-hole Plain.

Cockington Water Meadows.

These are some of the butterflies I’ve seen this year:

This year we were told to expect millions of Painted Lady Butterflies. I waited and waited but only saw half a dozen or so on the coastal path in Spring. Disappointing but not surprising. Wildlife is all about surprises..good and bad.

Last year there were several sites in Torquay that were thick with Red Admirals, but again this summer the same sites held absolutely none. I saw the occasional solitary Red Admiral but not in the numbers of last year.

Peacocks and Tortoiseshells were early spring visitors. Seen in a local wood they brightened up the pathways with their vibrant colouring and markings. After the spring showing, very few of either butterfly appeared in summer.

Green-veined Whites and Large and Small Whites flitted over the Woods and Water Meadows. The Whites seem to be a hardy bunch and can be relied on for a good show. They were still mating a week ago…

Speckled Woods too flew in the Water Meadows…brown and cream in colouring I find it one of our prettiest butterflies.

Brimstones were in abundance, but only in one local country park….Stover. They almost disappeared when hanging from a plant with leaves of a similar colour. A pale greenish yellow they flitted from flower to flower, bright in the sunshine.

Another pale yellow butterfly seen only once this year on the coast path was the Clouded Yellow.

Orange Comma Butterflies I caught sight of regularly along one section of the coastal path. The site has now been completely destroyed by the local Countryside Trust who want the slopes returned to bare rock. It will be interesting to see how many of the many butterflies and insects I have captured on film at this site return next year.

Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers in the water meadows…..a rarer sight this year then last.

Holly Blues have had a good year. Delicate and sky blue in flight, but almost hidden when at rest with their pale blue, spotted wings together. Seen in a garden and along the coast path.

A Marbled White, absolute beauty…..the first I’ve ever seen on the coast path and the only one so far.

Another butterfly I hadn’t seen before was the the Purple Hairstreak. Tiny and easily missed….. this one was on the coastal path, tucked away in an area rarely visited.

No Wall Browns this year and Orange Tipped Whites few and far between.
I repeatedly visited sites where I usually see a fair amount of butterflies, but they were almost bare this year.
The cutting down of large areas of land in local nature reserves in the Spring and the cooler wet weather didn’t help. Red Valerian is attractive to most butterflies and unfortunately its the first thing cut down.

There are few other things in wildlife that can lift the heart like a beautiful butterfly…I hope you enjoy Devon’s little beauties.

Late June in Cockington Water-meadows, Torquay, Devon…the beauty and tranquility of which is totally ignored by some visitors.

Late June in Cockington Water-meadows, Torquay, Devon…the beauty and tranquility of which is totally ignored by some visitors.

The Water-meadows are this week overgrown and full of life. The mown fields of just a few weeks ago are now richly green with new growth.

Water trickles through the meadows..a narrow spring of life for so much nature.
Here a Demoiselle flits close to the banks. These beautiful damselflies flew or rested just above the water, some in pairs, dancing and circling each other in the air. They lay their eggs under water in vegetation.
I alone watched in wonder.

I stop and stare constantly on my walks in the meadow. There is so much to see. But many visitors totally ignore their surroundings.

I met a lady last week, a staff member at the local zoo…we had stopped on a bridge overlooking the stream running through the zoo to watch the red-crowned cranes dancing and running through the streams and stopping only to feed their newborn golden, fluffy chick.
We were thrilled to have witnessed the sight. She remarked how she was always so surprised that people came to the zoo and rarely ‘looked’…she said, something as wonderful as this and look at them…she gestured to people walking past, on their phones, totally ignorant of the wonderful scene playing out below their feet.

I know exactly what she means….I see the same thing at the Water-meadows….
Some people come not to enjoy the beauty of the water-meadow, but to use it as a short cut or simply to walk their dogs. A few people let their often big dogs off the lead to rampage through the streams and race down the paths…terrifying children and smaller dogs on leads and disturbing wildlife. Some of the most uncaring do not pick up after their dogs…leaving pathways and river banks unpleasant.

Look at these views of the meadows…it is a place of tranquility and beauty. It is admired by people I’ve met from Europe, America, Australia, as well as from the UK.

And, if you look, there are many surprises too. This black caterpillar crossed the earthen pathway in front of me. It is the caterpillar of the Peacock butterfly. Looking closer I saw it was covered in tiny white spots and sharp spikes. Extraordinary that the gorgeous Peacock butterfly can emerge from such a fierce looking caterpillar.

Nature is extraordinary…. My daughters response when she saw the caterpillar was, ‘Yuk..it’s ugly,’ then she looked closer and said, ‘but beautiful at the same time.’…
Nature is like that… Its a pity some people don’t take the time to enjoy it.

Mid June walk in Cockington Water Meadows…nature’s gone to sleep.

Mid June walk in Cockington Water Meadows…nature’s gone to sleep.

Walked in the meadows expecting an abundance of wildlife, but got so little was surprised.
Several of the meadows had been mown completely flat and nothing, not even flies, flew above them.

The streams where I usually see Damselflies, and later Dragonflies, were empty and silent, but for dogs racing through them.

I saw one solitary Speckled Wood and several white butterflies, a green-veined White amongst them, but that was it

Last year at this time there were Tortoiseshell, Holly Blues, Meadow Browns, Common Blues, Commas, and Green Veined Whites in abundance.

The tiny Wrens from last year were back and feeding chicks that were still hidden…..thank goodness, because a large black dog raced through the stream jumping and lunging as he went and the wrens nest is quite low on the bank. I held my breath as it hurtled towards them, but the wren parents quietly waited on branches out of reach until it had passed.

I did see Emerald Damselflies, but not in the meadow. There were four flitting along a very narrow stream near the village, much too narrow for dogs, so they were safe.

Going through the arch to Cockington Lakes I saw this little Robin…today named as Britains favourite bird.

The Mallard Ducks were resting on the pathway until a dog ran towards them scattering them in all directions.

This New Zealand tree shows the huge roots and space needed by trees.

Cockington …the lakes and water meadows are beautiful, peaceful places to visit….hope to see butterflies and damselflies returning when I next visit.

Damselflies of Devon..early June sightings.

Damselflies of Devon..early June sightings.

This is the time of year for damselflies. Similar to dragonflies, but smaller and slimmer, they are beautiful insects…giving us surprising and delightful flashes of vibrant colour along our waterways.

Damselflies generally hold their wings close to their bodies, unlike the larger dragonflies which spread their wings. They eat small insects, mosquitos and flies.

The Emerald Damselfly prefers still water and plenty of vegetation. I saw these damselflies on the banks of a very narrow strip of water running alongside a road towards the village of Cockington, Devon. Clumps of wild flowers and grasses swayed in the breeze on the banks of the brook giving shade to the area.

There were four or five Emeralds of varying colours ranging from glossy emerald to glowing gold.

The Common Blue Damselflies I saw a week earlier on the banks of a brook meandering through Meadfoot Meadows.

Damselflies lay their eggs in plant tissues close to, or under, water. Water that must be kept clean, still and pollutant free.
Both these Devon damselflies are vulnerable. The brook where I saw the Common Blues is usually filled mid-summer with beer cans, used barbecue trays, paper and plastic bags and other such rubbish.
The area where I saw the Emerald Damselflies is fairly safe, being to narrow for dogs to splash about in and is kept clean and rubbish free.
The Cockington WaterMeadow however is not such a good place for these incredible insects…which include in summer the stunning Demoiselle.

Rubbish is not so much a problem here as dogs. Some dogs are allowed by their owners to race through the stream disrupting and disturbing anything that gets in their way.
I have asked if signs could not be put up to explain to dog owners the importance of keeping dogs on a lead at certain times of the year to allow nature to progress in peace, but no response from Trust or council.

Cockington Water Meadows, Torquay, Devon….May walk.

Cockington Water Meadows, Torquay, Devon.

The Water-Meadow starts from the village of Cockington. The pathway meanders through the meadows following the small stream and finishes a short distance before the sea and coast road..

At this time of year it is full of wild flowers…buttercups, dandelions, bluebells, wild garlic and more. Sunshine yellow and sky blue being the predominate colours of the wild Spring flowers with an occasional blush of pink.

There were butterflies…Orange-tipped Whites, Green-veined Whites, Small Heaths and beautiful Peacocks.

The Orange-tipped butterflies were particularly busy…floating over the meadow, rarely settling, but meeting up with other orange-tips and twirling together in a greeting/mating dance before going their separate ways.

Birds were singing but hidden in the trees…I saw colourful Jays, black Crows, fat Wood Pigeons, but could only hear the small song birds. Busy I expect with their nest building and chick feeding.

Along the banks of the streams thick grasses grew and yellow water irises attracted bees and other insects.

The beautiful Demoiselle Dragonfly has not appeared yet…too early.
But sadly as some dogs are being allowed to race and play in the streams it probably means fewer will be seen over the years as their eggs and nymphs will be dislodged and destroyed.

Walking back to Cockington I passed the lakes and the Gamekeepers Cottage, first documented in the year 1517. It was damaged by vandals in 1990 but has since been restored.
A lowly workers home still standing after five hundred years. Surrounded by vegetation from foreign climes it still looks very English.

On the pathway back to the village, banks of ferns could be seen through the arch of a small bridge glowing in the sunshine though they prefer shade.

A walk along the stream and water meadow and through Cockingtons lakes always gives me a feeling of calm and makes me smile.

Demoiselle…metallic blue-green Damselflies… gorgeous insects

Demoiselle…metallic blue-green damselflies….gorgeous insects

A type of damselfly, the demoiselle is extraordinarily beautiful. It is a metallic blue green colour that shimmers in sunlight…a similar Damselfly in America is called the Ebony Jewel-wing a much better name for this stunning insect.

Eggs of the demoiselle are laid on vegetation close to water…along the streams of Cockington Water Meadows. The larvae live in water for two years and then climb out and cling to plant leaves beside the stream until they emerge several hours later as an adult.

The demoiselle can be seen from May until August. But I worry that some people walking in the Water Meadows let their dogs off the leads and let them race through the streams dislodging the eggs and larvae.

I have asked the council to post a notice to inform people about these insects and how we can ensure their survival in our area, but they ignored my request.

Habitat loss and pollution effect the numbers of these insects and in some countries of Europe they have become endangered. We are lucky to have them.