Sand Point & Velvet Bottom - Sun 15 May

After church we drove straight up to Weston-Super-Mare and made a visit to Sand Point in the hope of finding some Glanville Fritillaries. Unfortunately the bright sun we had experienced back home was missing and a strong wind was blowing off the Bristol Channel. We sat in the car and had our picnic and then I braved the elements and took a walk out on to the point whilst Ellie sat in the car and read her book. In the wind I was surprised to see a couple of Common Blues and a Small Copper but not the target species. Several House Martins were zooming around and a Common Whitethroat was also seen, but due to the very blustery conditions I soon returned to the car.
Ellie suggested we head inland in the hope of calmer conditions and she thought a walk down Velvet Bottom and Black Rock might be better. So after a pretty uneventful drive to Cheddar and up through the gorge we parked near Charterhouse and had an enjoyable walk down through Velvet Bottom to Black Rock. Along the way I nearly trod on an Adder:

A couple of Ravens were flying overhead and on our return to the car we saw a female Redstart and a Mistle Thrush flew over. So after a good walk we were back in the car and home before it got too late.