Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Penns Copse, Rufus Castle, Bumpers Lane, Shepherds' Dinner Quarry and Broadcroft Quarry Lane
Another lovely sunny but breezy morning. Fewer warblers today with a Blackcap and Chiffchaff at the back of Church Ope Cove, and a Blackcap and 2 Common Whitethroats along Bumpers Lane.
Just 3 butterflies this morning with a Small Copper and a Holly Blue in the grounds of St Andrew's Church and at Shepherds' Dinner Quarry I had a Wall Brown.
Just the 2 species of moths today with a Carnation Tortrix in Penns Copse where there was also a Green-longhorn. There was another Green-longhorn at Rufus Castle
Still "swarms" of nomad bees along Bumpers Lane, and I have been told that the only way to confirm they are Nomada ruficornis will be by photographing the tip of the mandibles and forwarding a photo to a nomad expert. All I need now is a net.
There was a Common Green Shieldbug in Penns Copse and as I was walking up the steps to Rufus Castle I came across the really small nymph of a Dark Bush-cricket. Good to know my eye sight is still in good nick.
Other things of interest was a Brown-banded Snail by Shepherds' Dinner Quarry, where I also spotted a Wolf Spider (Trochosa terricola) scurrying across the track.
Here are a few images from this morning:
..........this Common Green Shieldbug. Despite a north-easterly wind blowing into the copse, it is still turning up many insects. Should be interesting to see what happens when it's in the lee of the wind.
It looks like I have misidentified this Nomada leucophthalma as a Nomada flava back in May last year. This individual was along Bumpers Lane along with..........
And finally a Common Water-crowfoot, Ranunculus aquatilis which is flowering well in the puddles by Shepherds' Dinner Quarry.
Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 2 Swallow, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, 2 Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch.
Reptiles Recorded: None
Butterflies Recorded: 1 Wall Brown, Holly Blue and a Small Copper
Moths Recorded: 1 Carnation Tortrix (Cacoecimorpha pronubana) and 2 Green-longhorn (Adela reaumurella)
Bees Recorded: Early Mining Bee (Andrena haemorrhoa), 2 Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria), 1 Flavous Nomad Bee (Nomada flava) and 50+ possible Common Bee Wasps (Nomada ruficornis).
Wasps Recorded: 1 Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
Hoverflies Recorded: Syrphus sp.
Bugs and Beetles Recorded: 1 Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) and a Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) nymph
Slugs and Snails Recorded: 1 Brown-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)
Spiders Recorded: Wolf Spider (Trochosa terricola)
A very distant and magnified photo of the Portuguese container ship "Mirror" on its way from Rotterdam, Holland to Dublin. More on this vessel Here.
Another lovely sunny but breezy morning. Fewer warblers today with a Blackcap and Chiffchaff at the back of Church Ope Cove, and a Blackcap and 2 Common Whitethroats along Bumpers Lane.
Just 3 butterflies this morning with a Small Copper and a Holly Blue in the grounds of St Andrew's Church and at Shepherds' Dinner Quarry I had a Wall Brown.
Just the 2 species of moths today with a Carnation Tortrix in Penns Copse where there was also a Green-longhorn. There was another Green-longhorn at Rufus Castle
Still "swarms" of nomad bees along Bumpers Lane, and I have been told that the only way to confirm they are Nomada ruficornis will be by photographing the tip of the mandibles and forwarding a photo to a nomad expert. All I need now is a net.
There was a Common Green Shieldbug in Penns Copse and as I was walking up the steps to Rufus Castle I came across the really small nymph of a Dark Bush-cricket. Good to know my eye sight is still in good nick.
Other things of interest was a Brown-banded Snail by Shepherds' Dinner Quarry, where I also spotted a Wolf Spider (Trochosa terricola) scurrying across the track.
Here are a few images from this morning:
A Holly Blue in the grounds of St Andrew's Church. There was also a Small Copper here as well.
Not to many Green-longhorn about at the moment. This one was in Penns Copse where there was also this.........
............Flavous Nomad Bee.......
.........an Early Mining Bee and.........
Rufus Castle and the lookout area in the foreground. Great views from here and just down the steps I came across.........
..........this nymph of a Dark Bush-cricket
On the leaf of a Sycamore tree by the castle another Green-longhorn Moth.
.............a possible Nomada ruficornis, which I still need to confirm.
A Brown-lipped Banded Snail at Shepherds' Dinner Quarry.....
..........where there was this spider..............
.............scurrying across the track. This is a new one for me on Portland a Wolf Spider (Trochosa terricola)
Close by a Wall Brown landed briefly.
Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, 2 Swallow, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, 2 Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch.
Reptiles Recorded: None
Butterflies Recorded: 1 Wall Brown, Holly Blue and a Small Copper
Moths Recorded: 1 Carnation Tortrix (Cacoecimorpha pronubana) and 2 Green-longhorn (Adela reaumurella)
Bees Recorded: Early Mining Bee (Andrena haemorrhoa), 2 Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria), 1 Flavous Nomad Bee (Nomada flava) and 50+ possible Common Bee Wasps (Nomada ruficornis).
Wasps Recorded: 1 Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
Hoverflies Recorded: Syrphus sp.
Bugs and Beetles Recorded: 1 Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) and a Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) nymph
Slugs and Snails Recorded: 1 Brown-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea nemoralis)
Spiders Recorded: Wolf Spider (Trochosa terricola)
Ships Today
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On this day..........
2018Today's Sightings Here.