24 Jun 17

Wakeham

This Evening
Well the rain and sea fog eventually disappeared leaving a lovely sunny evening albeit still a bit windy. So with a chance to stretch the legs of mine and the pooches it was off out onto the cliffs behind the cottage. The first thing that was noticeable was that all the buddleia was out. There wasn't a bush without a flower on it. It's amazing what a bit of sun and rain can produce.

Quite a few butterflies out and my first Ringlets here, with 2 very skittish individuals. Also 4 Marbled Whites and 3 Meadow Browns.

Under the cover of some leafy Sycamores were dozens of hoverflies and 3 or 4 "black" bees.

Unsurprisingly there were a few large Black Slugs.

Apparently the "black" bee is one of the Mining Bees, Andrena sp.

Here are a few images from this evening's walk.

Just to the east of Rufus Castle a few Herring Gulls were dive bombing something below them. Also there were Magpies, Carrion Crows and a pair of Ravens. Not sure what that was about!

A Blackcap, I took 3 photos and not once did he look round, except we he took off.

A Ringlet with wings open.........

........and closed. You can see how it got its name.

A Meadow Brown, wings closed............

.......wings open.

A Marbled White. Quite a few about now.

A White-tailed Bumblebee I think. Well it does have a white tail.

My mystery "black" bee. According to UK Bees on Facebook its a Mining Bee, Andrena sp.

A Black Slug

And a mammal we are not supposed to mention.


This Morning
Well I guess it couldn't last for ever and as I got up at 3:30am to switch the moth trap off, the first spots of rain started to fall to end the long spell of hot and humid weather we have had.

On top of the moths I potted last night (Garden Tiger, Common Wainscot, Plum Tortrix and a pug sp.) I had quite a few more in the trap this morning. In total I had 50 moths of 12 species. A few I know (well I think I do) and the rest still to be ID'd.

ID No - Species -  (Number Recorded)

Moth 1 - Heart & Dart, Agrotis exclamationis - (33)
Moth 2 - Garden Tiger, Arctia caja - (1)
Moth 3 - Plum Tortrix, Hedya pruniana - (1)
Moth 4 - Smoky Wainscot, Mythimna impura - (4)
Moth 5 - L-album Wainscot, Mythimna l-album - (1)
Moth 6 - The Flame, Axylia putris - (2)
Moth 7 - The Lackey, Malacosoma neustria - (1)
Moth 8 - Early Thorn, Selenia dentaria - (1)
Moth 9 - Dark Arches Apamea monoglypha - (1)
Moth 10 -  12 Garden Grass-veneer, Chrysoteuchia culmella - (3)
Moth 13 - Green Pug, Pasiphila rectangulata - (1)
Moth 14 - A Heart & Club, Agrotis clavis which flew off before I had the chance to photograph it.

Many thanks to Martin Cade (Portland Bird Observatory), Harry Rutherford (UK Micro Moth Identification Facebook Group) and my good friend Nigel Sluman for their help in ID'ing quite a few of these moths.

Moth 1 - Heart & Darts

Moth 1 - Heart & Dart

Moth 2 - Garden Tiger

Moth 2 - Garden Tiger

Moth 3 - Plum Tortrix

Moth 4 & 5 - Smoky Wainscot (top) and a L-album Wainscot

Moth 6 - The Flame

Moth 7 - The Lackey

Moth 8 - Early Thorn

Moth 9 - Dark Arches

Moth 10 - Garden Grass-veneer

Moth 10 - Garden Grass-veneer

Moth 11 - Garden Grass-veneer

Moth 12 - Garden Grass-veneer

Moth 13 - Green Pug, Pasiphila rectangulata

The two actinic bulbs light up my neighbours Common Buckthorn. A lethal shrub with 2in long thorns, and I thought our Blackthorn was deadly

Unsurprisingly with all this wet weather there were lots of Garden Snails (Cornu aspersa). Also about Southern Pill Woodlouse and a Speckled Bush Cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) on the Nasturtiums.

Garden Snail

Southern Pill Woodlouse

Speckled Bush Cricket