11 Mar 20

Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Church Ope Cove Wood, Penns Weare, Penns Copse, Rufus Castle and Portland Museum

Yet another day where the early morning sun soon disappeared and the clouds moved in.

Highlights today were a Firecrest at the back of the cove where there was also a Chiffchaff with another Chiffchaff in Penns Wood.

The big difference this morning was the increased number of bees, hoverflies and flies. Wherever there were Alexanders in the sun, there was quite a bit of activity on them.

Here are a few images from today:

The local Kestrel hunting over Church Ope Cove

Keeping out of sight a Chiffchaff at the back of the cove.

Here is the same Chiffchaff flitting about in the bushes with a Peacock butterfly flying across from left to right.

More Wall Lizards

And another.

And another from the grounds of St Andrew's Church

This one however was with 2 others at the back of the cove along the track.

An Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)

A Honey Bee on an Alexanders.

And another with quite a bit of orange on the abdomen.

And another with a large pollen sac.

An Andrena bee sp.

And another Andrena bee sp.

A pair of mating................

................ 7-Spot Ladybirds

Just the one Bloody-nosed Beetle today. This one in the grounds of St Andrew's Church

A Common Dronefly

And this is a Migrant Hoverfly

The cove seems to be quite a good spot for this hoverfly.

I even managed a video of one.

So many of these Muscid flies out on the wing. This is Phaonia subventa

A White-lipped Banded Snail

And a Kentish Snail

It was surprisingly warm down at the cove as Ted found out. Sadly not warm enough for any other butterflies, other than the Peacock that appeared in my Chiffchaff video.

Birds Recorded: Kestrel, Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, 1 Rock Pipit, 2 Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Firecrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Goldfinch

Reptiles Recorded: 8 Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis)

Butterflies Recorded: 1 Peacock

Bees Recorded: Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) and Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)

Hoverflies Recorded: Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax), Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) and Migrant Hoverfly (Meliscaeva auricollis)

Flies, Gnats and Midges Recorded: Kelp Fly (Coelopa frigida), Muscid Fly (Phaonia subventa) and Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

Bugs and Beetles Recorded: 1 Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) and 2 7-spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata)

Slugs and Snails Recorded: White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis), Garden Snail (Cornu aspersa), Kentish Snail (Monacha cantiana) and Black Slug (Arion ater)

Ships Today

This is the British Offshore Ship "Ocean Osprey" just off Portland. More on this vessel Here.

This is the British Frigate "HMS Lancaster" in Weymouth Bay. More on this vessel Here.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On this day..........
2019
Today's Sightings Here.

2018
Today's Sightings Here.