As Dawn was driving home last night at around 11:35pm, a Badger crossed the road in front of her Here at Wyke Regis and headed up the drive to Chesil Vista Holiday Park.
Mermaid Track and Bumpers Lane
A late afternoon walk in the sun. The heavy rain from yesterday fizzled out in the early hours of this morning, leaving a cloudy start to the day. Still quite windy, but temperatures high enough that you didn't need a jacket.
Main highlight was the number of Chalk Hill Blues out along the Mermaid Track. There must have been a good dozen or more males with a couple of females in amongst them. A complete contrast to their usual patch along Bumpers Lane where all I could find was a pair. I say a pair they were actually a good 50 metres apart.
I know butterflies like moths can vary in size, but one female Chalk Hill Blue was almost half the size of the other females. Most odd. Turns out it was a Common Blue and as you will see from the images below most of my female Chalk Hill Blues were in fact all Common Blues.
Other butterflies seen were a couple of Red Admirals, a Large White, 2 Ringlets and a Gatekeeper.
On the moth front no Six-spot Burnet or Silver Y's found, but I did come across a Mint Moth.
Also recorded were Common Field Grasshoppers (Chorthippus brunneus), Common Green Grasshoppers (Omocestus viridulus), 2 Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) and a Syrphus sp. hoverfly.
Here are few images from this afternoon:
A Red Admiral along the Mermaid Track
Also along here a Ringlet in its usual sitting position..........
.........so it was nice change to see this one open its wings for me. Not a sight you normally see.
A male Chalk Hill Blue
And a worn female Chalk Hill Blue or so I thought. Turns out its a Common Blue.
Now this one has me completely bamboozled. I'm going to say a female Chalk Hill Blue..........
A lone Gatekeeper.
Along Bumpers Lane, this patch of short grass last year was absolutely covered in Chalk Hill Blues.
This year one female.
And a tatty one at that.
And a good 50 metres away a male. And that was it.
A Mint moth
Common Dronefly
And a hoverfly. Closest I can get is a Syrphus sp.