A very windy start to the day. Good to see that the few fence panels Dawn and I put up yesterday afternoon, were still standing this morning.
This morning, another walk down through Pennsylvania Woods to St Andrews Church and then back up to Rufus Castle and home.
A few very large trees have been felled in the wood and sadly it looks like a huge Horse Chestnut tree is about to suffer the same fate. I'm assuming its a goner as it has a purple spot painted onto the trunk, as have a few other smaller trees; a sure indication they are to be felled.
The only reason I can think that the Chestnut tree is coming down is that it is suffering from bleeding canker which is a disease that affects Aesculus hippocastanum. Though to be honest I couldn't see any signs of it. More on Bleeding Canker Here.
The ruins of St Andrews Church are a magnet for hoverflies and today there were 4 Hornet Mimic Hoverflies (Volucella zonaria), a Pellucid Hoverfly (Volucella pellucens), a Dead Head Fly (Myathropa florea), Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) and several Pied Hoverflies (Scaeva pyrastri) and Marmalade Hoverflies (Episyrphus balteatus).
There were a few butterflies about including 3 Commas, 2 Red Admirals, a Large White, a Small White, 2 Ringlets, 3 Meadow Browns and 2 Common Blues.
By the Ope archway there was a female Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) sat on the stones in the sun giving me great views.
On the way up the steps to Rufus Castle, the wind was really strong and unsurprisingly I didn't see a single Lizard let alone any insect life bar a Speckled Wood sheltering in the brambles.
However from the castle to the museum, which was well sheltered, there was a Dark Bush-cricket and a Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes).
Here are a few images from this morning.
A few very large trees have been felled at the top of the wood...........
.........and it looks like this Horse Chestnut is about to follow suit........
......as are these marked up with mauve spots.
The ruins of St Andrews Church a magnet for all sorts of insects.
Here a Red Admiral and Comma share the nectar from a buddleia.
And another Comma
And another Red Admiral. This one is well bedraggled.
A Meadow Brown
I don't know why I struggle so much with ID'ing "blue" butterflies. However I'm going with Common Blue for this.......
.........this..........
.........this.......
.......and this one.
Same as above but this time I managed to get in really close and use the macro setting.
A Hornet Mimic Hoverfly
Pellucid Hoverfly
Dronefly
Dead Head Fly (Myathropa florea)
A female Common Darter soaks up the suns rays.
The Races with a female Kestrel thrown in.
And here she is a bit closer, hovering over Church Ope Cove.
A Dark Bush-cricket
Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)
A Hornet Mimic Hoverfly soaks up the sun.
The first ripe Blackberries are starting to show. Is Autumn really just around the corner!