Nut Leaf Weevil. This one took a liking to my hat!

Ashy Mining Bee. Mining!!

Wood Sorrel. Growing on a tor, not in a wood. Because.

3/ There were plenty of other interesting sights to see while not seeing the inviso-Cuckoo 🙃
So here be things smaller and closer-to;

🐞🐝🌼

Wheatear! Popped up to see if I had any spare sammiches while I was having lunch.

Another male Wheatear, on the typical Emsworthy wall.

2/ Redstarts hogged attention, not least due to being so hard to catch on pixels. But three Wheatears were on site, so time for some Wheatear Goodness!
🦉

Spot the Redstart. Go on, I dare you. He's really hard to see, I know, but he is there!

Redstart, female. More elusive.

Another male Redstart.

Male Redstarts engaging in a rather physical debate over whose territory this is.

1/ After losing Saturday 🤕 {argh, the timing 😖}, I was for some starnge reason at Emsworthy on Sunday morning 🤔
Nopooe, of course, 😔 but 1st Gropper & Cuckoo for the Year were some consolation. {Though not feeling visible..}

Redstarts {6+} were showing well, chasing each other around;
🦉

Lilies, suitable for an unwary birder's memorial....

And finally...

An encounter with either of those two is likely to lead to you needing some of these.
🌼

Lesser Black-backed Gull, River Exe.

Mute Swan on nest, next to access road for the Double Locks. Note human-defence shielding...

As I ought to have SOME birds on here {or get Forbidden again...}, behold, two from my meanderings.

Near where once was a Lesserlegs, this one has yellow legs, at least?
😉
And here's a 'lovely' Mute Swan. The fence is not to protect the nest, but to protect passers-by from the swan, btw....
🦉

First Comma of the year! Which practically flew up to me as I was not getting a pic of my fifth Orange Tip of the Year and day... Then, as I looked up from taking this, a Brimstone ambled by. But still; woo! Comma!

Green-veined White. This was a teeny one that I was sure wasa female Orange Tip. When it landed in a patch of Nettles, I was so excited. When I hit it, I was momentarily exultant {Orange Tips are a bogey for me to photo, you see}. Still, first of the year. And one of more than 15 along the Exe canal.

Comfrey. I THINK this is colour-variant Common, not the hybrid Eurasian thing. Note the leaf wings. There is plenty of proper White stuff about, and no obvious Purple Monsters, but I am far from expert!

Lovely macro shot of Common Storksbill, by a roundabout on Matford estate. You may note the sunshine lighting up the bloom.? It was supposed to be heaving it down, and I was dressed accordingly. Yerch... But I did get to see this, I suppose.

A day spent not {properly} birding about Exeter didn't stop me from improperly birding*. 🙃
1st House Martin {at last} & Garden Warbler of the year {up canal from Double Locks} were too fast / too hidden. Have some butterflies & flowers instead!
🦋🌼

{*No optics, just the 📷. Oh noes, I'm a 'tog...😱}

I am, it seems, back!
✨😀✨
Perhaps not entirely disassociated with the DDoS attack on Bluesky yesterday? 🤔

For some reason, I am now 'Forbidden' and cannot even see my own profile, let alone anyone elses?!?
😖
Though I can still post.
🤨

Hey @bsky.app , what's going on????

Early Purple Orchid, a goodly-sized one!

Early Purple Orchid. Teeny tiny small one, hiding in the grass.

Another very small Early Purple Orchid. Only three flowers on the spike, with the first not yet fully open.

Early Purple Orchids on Patch.
Sometimes they're quite big, sometimes very very small... {Awww}
😄🌼

Sandwich Tern. One of 15 passing North {and 5 going South}, this one came inshore and did a little fishing.

Shelduck! Male and female passing north. The Berry Head Quarry birds, maybe? {They went by at 10:04}

The Ore Stone, with auk colony. Almost entirely Guillemots. How many can you see? Many are facing the rock face, which is quite three-dimensional, so counting is a fun challenge on a quiet seawatch {when the Sun goes in and you can see them!}

And a little more from Sunday morning.
Not big numbers passing the Nose, but some nice ones in there!
😄
The auk colony on the Ore Stone also doing well {with RIBs being respectfully-piloted}
🦉

Whitethroat, male, Hope's Nose. With nesting material!

Redstart, male, Emsworthy. With shiny white forehead!

Sunday in two birds.
✌️
🦉

Tawny Mining Bee, basking on a sign.

Painted Lady, feeling bashful in long grass.

A later attempt at skywatching for say, a nice Kite, came to nought but Buzzards. 🙃
I did get pixels on a couple of pretty insects, though.
Another Tawny Mining Bee {I like them} and my first Painted Lady of the year;
🐝🦋

Three Red-legged Partridge, at surprisingly close range - aided by the intervening vegetation you can see - this morning.

Out chasing Yearticks between Teign and Exe today until weather stopped play.
Got 8! 😁
Also - thanks to some careful stalking - my best ever pics of Red-legged Partridge;
🦉

Ok, this one I know! Bloody-nosed Beetle is a common sight muntering across paths.

This is a small Click Beetle, possibly 'a' Small Click Beetle, or Pale Agriotes, or... Er???

Its a caterpillar. Yep, definitely a caterpillar.

Saving the best pic for last; NINJA SLUG!!!! No idea what proper species it is, though.

3/ The mixed bag!
More beetles plus the squishy ones. Also some of the iffiest IDs of all, including the wonderful "Er.. I dunno", so any help appreciated.
🤔
🐞🐛🐌

Proper Seven-spot Ladybird

Improper Harlequin Ladybird

And another...

And yet another...

2/ The ever-popular Ladybirds!
Ok, these are almost all Harlequins, but there are lots of Seven-spots out this year.
😄🐞

I think this is Chocolate Mining Bee

I think this is Cliff Mining Bee, though it could be another Chocolate?

Trimmer's Mining Bee?

Buffish Mining Bee?

Right then, my long-awaited {by me, if nobody else..} latest thread of inverts and so on;
We start with bees 🐝
Now, bee ID is not one of my strengths, so please take any attempts with more than the usual amount of salt..🤷

Streamer on a window {outside}. This one is very purple, apparently they can be like that when freshly-emerged. The night before, I'd tried some mothing but got nothing. Go figure.

First moth of the year!
Found here yesterday, but only uploaded today due to Reasons.

Behold, a fresh and very purpley Streamer;
🦋

Chiffchaff, Fernworthy Res. No Willow Warblers on site yet, but many singing Chiffies. Also lots of Siskin, but impossible to photo in sunny treetops!

Long-jawed Orbweb Spider, Metellina mengei, Fernworthy. Also Canis horribilis salivatus in background.!

Platycheirus ambiguus {silver bands on abdomen} on Lesser Celandine, Fernworthy.

Ambling about Fernworthy with the Folks yesterday. Lots of very vocal Siskin, but only bird photo I got was this {also vocal!} Chiff.
A male Long-jawed Orbweb Spider, Metellina mengei, showed better at our picnic site, while hoverfly Platycheirus ambiguus {I think} posed on a Lesser Celandine.
🦉🕷️🦟🌼

Male Xysticus audax; note size relative to Gorse calyx.!

No bird pics taken today {le gasp!}, so here's something from my next upcoming thread on Patch Inverts!
{Oh yes, there going to be another one...}

New species; the pretty little Gorse specialist Xysticus audax, which crossed the path in front of me. My camera pouted and only took 1 shot, though;
🕷️

Pendeen Watch (5th April)
Strong westerly - four hours from 7:15am.

144,000 Manx Shearwater
1 Red-throated Diver the highlights.

Male Blackbird with slugs. That'll be for a nest with young!

Fulmar, ON?

There's an interesting tern sp. in this photo. Can you see it? Roughly 8 o'clock from the buoy, about 2/3 up. Yeah... It was very pale but wasn't a Sarnie; more compact, had white remiges {which lit up like a Sab's: caught the eye}, no obvious wedge, black atop the head. Blimmin' camera {it was much closer earlier: 'camera says no'. That is the only image I have of it} It's too early for a Roseate, Commons and Arctics are darker, {{the F is still in place...}} I'm stumped. Birds. What can you do? {{Get a better camera}}

Patrolling the sheltered side of the Patch today provided no migrant landbirds, though a brief seawatch from Black Head gave my year's first Manxies {3 > S}. 10 pairs of Fulmar @ Hope Cove.
Not far away, this ♂️Blackbird - FF with slugs - came very close as I sat with a ☕ {birding skills, there 😉}
🦉

I blame Bl&&dy St*pid Time.
🙃

Purple Sandpiper, now much spottier!

Five {can you see them all?] Purple Sandpipers taking it easy.

Purple Sand, looking very dapper.

Turnstone. Not a Purple Sand, also not seeming to be moulting into breeding plumage. A 2cy?

Later, at Haldon Pier - despite all the mundanes wandering around - 8 Purple Sandpipers {coming into b/p} and a Turnstone.
No sign of those Sarnies, though {It was a bit blowy for long-range viewing, mind..}
🦉

Itsa Sarnie!

A blustery Nose this morning and, as well as @shiphaybirder.bsky.social , I also saw my first Sandwich Terns of the year {3 flew into the Bay}.
I even got a pic!
😁
Couldn't find his Willow Warblers, though.
🤷🦉

A small spike of Early Purple Orchid. As one of these plants has already been stolen this year, I'm not telling where they are. 'Somewhere in Patch'...

Hedgerow Cranesbill, with plant leaves to show it's not Dovesfoot

Patch today and a couple of firsts for the year.

First blooms, that is!
😁
Early Purple Orchid and Hedgerow Cranesbill
🌼

Some pretty scenery.

I saw but couldn't get a pic of a Dotted Bee-fly, so this {I think} St. Mark's Fly will have to do, as it actually landed.!

My first Willow Warbler of the year was less helpful, but there's time for one to feel showy.
Also Redpoll, Siskin, Stock Dove {not all at the same places!}, and at least 14 soaring Buzzard; including 4 together over there, and 6 over there!
Hordes of Tiger Beetles now marauding, too...
😱
🦉🐞

Wheatear! Headland Warren. Ok, yes, he's in a Hawthorn, but it's at Headland Warren.

Today I started my Happy Eostre Fun Time Of Fun by wandering around a very sunny if a-bit-nippy-in-the-wind Dartmoor, in hope of an Ouzel, Ringed flavour.
{I can dream}
No Ouzel, but I did not only find my first Moor Wheatear of the year, but he even struck a pose for me!
😃
🦉

Oystercatchers roosting over the high tide, Lead Stone, off Hope's Nose. How many can you see?

Gratuitous Violets {oh, did I make a typo up there?}, Second Slope {that's the real slope, btw}, Hope's Nose.

As this thing is supposed to sort of be about birds, I'll show you the Nose Oystercatchers. Unfortunately, they were sulking out on the Lead Stone...
🤷
Oh, and also some gratuitous violence {just for clicks}
😇
🦉🌼

How's this for a textbook pose? The contrast between upper and underside on the Peacock is truly remarkable.

Left Peacock: "No, no, get my good side!"

Finally from the Nose on Monday {yep, still going on about it}, I saw my first butterflies of the year that actually let me photo them.!! 🤭 {Unlike, say, the Brimstone at Dartmeet on Sunday..}
And they did a proper job.
So, we have Peacocks for you!
Woo! 😁
🦋

Tawny Mining Bee, Top Dell. This one was not co-operating, and had to be shot through cover like a frickin' warbler.!

Common Carder Bee. These always catch the eye.

Someone who knows bees will probably be able to ID this easily. I am not that someone. It also was not being helpful, as you may have guessed from the stealth photo...

As also promised, here are three new bees for the year!
Tawny Mining Bee is a first time photo'd {and was hard work, too}, Common Carder Bee is a Nose standard, and then the inevitable 'some sort of Andrena'.
🐝