Another hot day and a quick visit to the meadows this morning. Still plenty of butterflies about and 6 Marbled Whites seen today. Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns appear to be the most abundant, along with a few Ringlets, Green-veined Whites and a Common Blue.
Only moths seen today were several Six-Spot Burnets.
No sign of the Chiffchaff with the possible tick over its eye.
Here are a few images from this morning:
A few more Marbled Whites today.
And another one.
As above.
And one more.
A Green-veined White and showing......
.........the green veins.
A Gatekeeper
Common Blue
Six-Spot Burnet
Common Carder
Red-tailed Bumblebee
Dead Head Fly
Common Green Capsid
Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Swift, Dunnock, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow and Chaffinch
Butterflies Recorded: Large White, Green-veined White, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper,
6 Marbled White and 1 Common Blue
Moths Recorded: Six-Spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae)
Bees Recorded: Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum) and Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
Hoverflies Recorded: Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) and Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax)
Bugs and Beetles Recorded: Common Green Capsid (Lygocoris pabulinus)
Slugs and Snails Recorded: White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis) and Garden Snail (Cornu aspersa)
Grasshoppers and Crickets Recorded: Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus) and Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)
The Hood
Had an evening Mackerel fishing around The Hood. We had a couple plus a Scad, but most of the interest was watching a Navy Wildcat practicing drop offs on the disused RFA ship anchored off in Portland Harbour. A friendly bunch and every fly past was greeted by waves from the helicopter crew.
There were a couple of Bottle-nosed Dolphins in the harbour which gave us a nice display as we headed off towards The Hood.
A few birds of interest were a Gannet heading towards Nothe Fort, 2 Oystercatchers and 2 Mediterranean Gulls. Also about were dozens of flying ants bobbing about on the surface.
One of the 2 Bottle-nosed Dolphins in Portland Harbour
One of them even came alongside
A Scad, safely returned to fight another day.
A fly-by Oystercatcher.
The view from Star of the Hood and the Wildcat
The Wildcat comes in on the RFA ship with its cargo.
And another shot of the Royal Navy Wildcat - -HMA2
Ships Today
This is the Maltese Tanker "Skaw Provider" off out to refuel BW Freyja. More on this vessel Here.