Fremington

Last week we managed to nip down to Devon for a couple of days and stay with my in-laws in their new (moved last year) property in Fremington, which is west of Barnstaple along the Taw Estuary. We couldn't have picked a better couple of days weather-wise with glorious sunshine and decent warmth. I should have packed a moth trap but thought better of it, there will be chances in the future I'm sure. But when I do I think it could be interesting to see what turns up, as within spitting distance of the garden is a large marshy field that is part of the Fremington Local Nature Reserve called Lovell's Field (cyan dot), a small tidal tributary (yellow dot) which becomes Fremington Quay where it meets the Taw Estuary (green dot).

Around Lovell's Field are a good mix of broadleaved trees, though a lot of the oaks in the area are Lucombe Oaks - a naturally occurring (not in UK) hybrid between Turkey Oak and Cork Oak. There are loads of them in Devon; I have no idea though if those around here are self-seeded (unlikely) or planted a couple of hundred years ago (very likely!) but they do have some sort of preservation order on them I believe.

Although I did not take a trap, I did take a pheromone lure. Within minutes of arriving we were lounging in the garden in sunshine with a cuppa, chatting away whilst I had one eye on a red rubber bung. Around half an hour later I was dashing off to get my net and shortly afterwards showing everyone this ....

Cracking Emperor Moth

I also hung out a couple of lures in pheromone traps hoping the local oaks would hold interesting Pammene spp. but no joy on that front.

We had walk around the area, and though there was not too much of birding interest along the tributary I did find a cracking Greenshank.

Fremington Quay

Whilst walking back along the edge of Lovell's Field, I found masses of Three-cornered Garlic and some dipteran mines on Hart's-tongue Fern that are immediately identifiable ....

Chromatomyia scolopendri

We also had a walk around nearby Instow. Nice to get on some sand and enjoy a proper (Hocking's) ice cream. It's not quite a beach though, the sea is a very long way off: this is where the main estuary splits into the Taw heading east to Barnstaple and the Torridge heading south to Bideford. In the far distance in the shot below, there is Northam Burrows on the left (with Appledore mid-distance) and Braunton Burrows / Saunton Sands on the right. In between is a massive expanse of tidal sands.

There is a new album from Orbital out later this year, celebrating 30 odd years with new versions and remixes of classics. Some tracks are already available, and I like them.