19 Jul 18

Mermaid Track and Rufus Castle

It was fairly cloudy when I left the Cottage and then the sun burst through for another very warm afternoon.

Main highlights again was the many Chalk Hill Blues along the Mermaid Track and down to Rufus Castle. Still several Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns, but numbers of Marbled Whites and Ringlets have greatly reduced. In fact over the past 3 days I have only seen singles of Marbled Whites.

Still plenty of Large and Small Whites and I even had a fly-by Painted Lady which didn't stop.

On the moth front I had 3 Silver Y's and there were dozens of Six-spot Burnets on the wing.

Also recorded were, Common Red Soldier Beetles, a Marmalade hoverfly, Common Wasp, a Sarcophaga sp. fly and a Hairy Shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarumin) its Summer colours. More on this Shieldbug Here.

Just the one Wall Lizard seen along the wall by the archway at Rufus Castle.

Over Rufus Castle quite a few House Martins chattering away, whilst around the lookout several juvenile Wrens calling from what seemed all the bushes around me!

Here are a few images from this afternoon:

Two male Chalk Hill Blues

And another.

And this male with it's wings open.

Not too many females about. Just two seen.

A Comma.

I nearly typed Gatekeeper for this butterfly. But in fact it is a Meadow Brown. Gatekeepers have two distinct white spots in the black "eye" and if you go by what the text books tell you, Meadow Browns only have one. Occasionally you do come across Meadow Browns with a very light second white spot. But this one has the most distinctive second spot I have ever encountered.

A Silver Y. This past week or so has seen many of these migratory moths hit our shores. The one thing I have noticed though, is the variation of colours ranging from pale grey to dark brown, like this individual. Apparently the different colours are down to what the temperature was at the time of the caterpillar’s development.

One of the many Six-spot Burnet moths still flying about in the grasses.

A Marmalade Hoverfly

Sarcophaga sp. fly

Common Wasp

Common Red Soldier Beetle

The extremely hot and sunny conditions has really effected the Wall Lizards and actually finding one has been a real challenge this summer. They certainly don't like being out in the direct sun and the only ones I have found (heard) have been those scurrying under the bushes. However today I found junior, who looks like he has had a narrow escape. From snout to tail he would have been about 8cm, but having lost part of his tail, he's considerably smaller.

Wakeham

In the back garden this morning a female Common Darter. Also about were Large White and Comma butterflies. A few Goldfinches congregating in the neighbourhood.