24 Jul 18

Wakeham.

I was not surprised to see this Woodlouse Spider (Dysdera crocata) wandering around the Cottage. With so many woodlouse about, it's good that they have a predator to keep their numbers down.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but this a great spider to have in and around the house to keep check of those woodlouse.

Mermaid Track, Rufus Castle, St Andrews Church and Pennsylvania Castle Wood.

Another scorcher of a day, thank goodness though for a lovely breeze to keep the air moving around.

Main highlight today was seeing 2 Migrant Hawkers, one at Rufus Castle and the other in the grounds of St Andrews Church, though it is possible they were the same.

Also about were lots of Chalk Hill Blues along the Mermaid Track, where there were quite a few Large Whites and a Speckled Wood. As in past days the numbers of Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers, Ringlets are well down. And today was the first day I didn't record a Marble White. A couple of Commas seen.

Still lots of Six-spot Burnet moths on the wing and a couple of Silver Y's.

Hoverflies were out in force with Marmalade, The Footballer and several Syrphus sp.

This prolonged hot weather seems to have seen a drop in bees, certainly in the middle of the day. Maybe they are more active early morning late evening. Needless to say I only saw a few, mainly Red-tailed Cuckoo-bees (Bombus rupestris), a Small Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) and an Andrena sp.

No Wall Lizards seen today, in fact I didn't even hear one scurrying away!

Here are few images from today:

A Speckled Wood in its usual resting place under the Sycamores along the Mermaid Track

A male Chalk Hill Blue

And a female

Here she is just about to be nudged off the flower......

.......by a male.

A Meadow Brown

And another

Note that this Meadow Brown has that feint second white spot in the black "eye", whereas the Meadow Browns above just have the single white spot.

A worn Ringlet.

A couple of Commas about. This one is on the buddleia in the grounds of St Andrew's Church.

Small Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)

One of the Andrena bee species. Even without the covering of pollen, that is probably as far as you can get with ID'ing this species.

Its been awhile since I saw my last Rose Chafer (Cetonia aurata). This one was in the grounds of St Andrew's Church.

This is a Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) hanging below an Ash Tree by Rufus Castle. 

Not sure if this is the same one, but this/another one was on a buddleia the grounds of St Andrew's Church.

Ships Today

Here is the vehicles Carrier Lavender Ace, flying the flag of Panama. This ship is on its way from Portbury, England to an unknown destination. More on this vessel Here.