Another lovely warm day, though on the coast path it was a a bit cooler with that south-easterly blowing in. No real highlight, but there was a "lowlight" with seeing a juvenile Blackbird with a poorly eye. Not quite sure whether it could see me, but I was incredibly close to it as it was picking off the Blackberries at the top of Penn's Wood. Whether it could see out of it or not, it did appear to be in good health.
Also in Penn's Wood were dozens of Dead Head Hoverflies (Myathropa florea) buzzing about in the sun, with several landing on the leaves and tree trunks. Also here were 2 Ectemnius sexcinctus wasps.
On the butterfly front, there were a few Common Blues about, mainly along the Mermaid Track and in the grounds of St Andrew's Church there were 2 Holly Blues and a Meadow Brown again.
Also in the grounds of St Andrew's Church were 2 Common Darters, a female and a juvenile male. On the buddleia were a few Buff-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) and a Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis).
On the way down the steps from Rufus Castle I always take a slight detour onto Penns Wear, its only a short walk, which takes you back to the bottom of the steps. Even though its a short walk, its quite surprising what you can find. Today it was grasshoppers, of which there were dozens, with lots of youngsters jumping about.
Here are a few images from this afternoon:
I was going to say Common Carder Bee, but though not easy to see in this photo, it was considerably smaller than a Bombus pascuorum. Another one to ID
Pennsylvania Castle at the top, centre the remains of St Andrew's Church and bottom right the bottom of the steps.
Here are a few images from this afternoon:
A Speckled Wood along the Mermaid Track
Also here a Dead Head Hoverfly
The view across Penn's Weare towards Lulworth Cove in the distance.
A Garden Spider packing its lunch
A grasshopper, though as to which one who knows.
The ruins of St Andrew's Church
Two Wall Lizards eye each other up.
A Holly Blue
And a Common Blue
As above.
A Meadow Brown. This one seems to be the only one in the grounds of St Andrew's Church.
Looking at the extended abdomen I would say this is a Tapered Drone-fly (Eristalis pertinax)
A juvenile male Common Darter, just showing a bit of red.
And a female, a lot greener.
A Lesser Hornet Hoverfly
An Ectemnius sexcinctus wasp.
And another one
On the leaves and tree trunks in Penn's Wood were dozens of Dead Head Hoverflies.
First appearance is that this "tame" juvenile Blackbird is blind in its right eye............
A new notice board.........
