Yep another visit to my wildlife oasis and my first Marbled White seen this year. Also about were 20+ Swifts screaming overhead, whilst a little lower, at rooftop height, a pair of House Martins calling.
In the meadows and hedgerows at least 15 Meadow Browns and 5 Speckled Woods. Just the one female Common Blue seen, whilst on the moth side there were a good 6+ Garden Grass-veneer, a single Six-spot Burnet and a small brown micro moth on a bramble to ID.
New for my Portland List was a Dasysyrphus tricinctus hoverfly. It doesn't have an English Common Name, but the German equivalent is Broadband Forest hoverfly.
And I am doing really well with new species on the island with two new Ichneumon Wasps. The first an Aritranis director and one which I'm not 100% certain of, but I believe is a Black Slip Wasp (Pimpla rufipes)
Here are a few images from this morning:
New for my Portland List was a Dasysyrphus tricinctus hoverfly. It doesn't have an English Common Name, but the German equivalent is Broadband Forest hoverfly.
And I am doing really well with new species on the island with two new Ichneumon Wasps. The first an Aritranis director and one which I'm not 100% certain of, but I believe is a Black Slip Wasp (Pimpla rufipes)
As you walk down the track in the distance is the gate that leads you...........
One of the many Meadow Browns in the grass.
And another sunning itself on a bramble leaf.
A beautifully marked Speckled Wood.
And my first Marbled White of the year.
A Six-Spot Burnet Moth and a male Red-tailed Bumblebee
This is also a Red-tailed Bumblebee, but a worker and no guesses on how it got its name.
Buff-tailed Bumblebees mating
Buff-tailed Bumblebees mating.
This is the Ichneumon Wasp - Ichneumon sarcitorius
This is a new Ichneumon Wasp for me on Portland and is an Aritranis director
Another angle of the Aritranis director
And another Ichneumon Wasp............
...........which I'm not 100% certain of, but it could well be a Black Slip Wasp (Pimpla rufipes)
Hopefully I have this correct an Epistrophe diaphana hoverfly.
And a shot of it taking off.
A Mimic Bee Hoverfly - Volucella bombylans
A Dagger Fly - Empis tessellata
A very very small fly to be ID'd.
This is a Broad Centurian fly which looks pretty ordinary until it.............
.............opens up its wings. That is some colour combination.
A pair of Common Green Shieldbugs. I know they are a pair because.............
..............they are mating.
A Great Green Bush Cricket.
A Dock Bug
Right this is the the nymph of a Harlequin Ladybird, which I have been identifying correctly. However............
A Mullein Moth caterpillar............
...........and another on a Buddleia
And a Brown-tail Moth caterpillar. It has certainly been a good year for them.
Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, 20+ Swift, 2 House Martin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Goldfinch.
Butterflies Recorded: 2 Common Blue, 3 Speckled Wood and 15 Meadow Brown.
Moths Recorded: 6 Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella), 1 Six-Spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae) and a Dichrorampha sp.
Bees Recorded: Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum), Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius), Buff-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) and Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)
Ichneumon Wasps Recorded: 4 Amblyteles armatorius, 1 Ichneumon sarcitorius, a Black Slip Wasp (Pimpla rufipes) and an Aritranis director.
Hoverflies Recorded: 10+ Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), 1 Mimic Bee Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans) and a Broadband Forest hoverfly (Dasysyrphus tricinctus)
Flies Recorded: Broad Centurian (Chloromyia formosa), 1 Dagger Fly (Empis tessellata) and a fly sp.
Bugs and Beetles Recorded: Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Ischnomera cyanea), Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis), 5 Common Green Shieldbugs (Palomena prasina), 3 Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus), 2 Harlequin Ladybird nymph (Harmonia axyridis) and 2 7-Spot Ladybird nymph (Coccinella septempunctata)
Slugs and Snails Recorded: White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis) and a Garden Snail (Cornu aspersa)
Grasshoppers and Crickets Recorded: Dark Bush-cricket nymphs (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) and a Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima)
Moth Caterpillars Recorded: 2 Mullein and 1 Brown-tail