Monday 27th June 2016: Hartland Point
For the third morning in a row the moth trip again provided me with a new species this morning: Waved Carpet. This is another scarce species with a stronghold in SW England, although it does also have populations in S.Wales and in Sussex.
Today the weather was fine and we did a long walk (~15km) around Hartland Point from the National Trust car park at Brownsham. We started by heading East through the woodland at Brownsham until we reached the SW coastal path. We then turned West and did a long section of the coastal path, some of which was rather overgrown. Lundy Island was in view for most of the route. Eventually we reached Hartland Point (which marks the western limit of the Bristol Channel) where there is a small cafe and stopped for coffee (me) and tea (Alison). We continued south on the coastal path until we reached the track from Hartland Abbey - this is a private track but we took it anyway, rather than finding another way round. After passing along several footpaths and some minor roads we eventually got back to the car. An enjoyable day's walking, somewhat hampered by an abundance of horse flies. Not a great deal of wildlife, but we did find nesting Fulmar in the coastal cliffs at Windbury point and a Dark Green Fritillary in the Titchberry section of the coastal path.