21 May 20

Old Quarry Track, Perryfields Butterfly Reserve, Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church Grounds, Church Ope Cove, Penn's Weare, Penn's Copse, Rufus Castle, The Cuttings Quarry and Wakeham Railway Cuttings

 Another scorcher of a day with the garden thermometer reaching 23.5°C in the shade. Highlight today was the long-staying male Lesser Whitethroat, still singing away on the south facing slopes at the cove. And was that a female I saw dart into a thicket, midway up the slope. Great news if it was.

Here are a few images and videos from today:

Now I know this looks just like a hedge on the edge of a field, but once upon a time at the other end of the Old Quarry Lane (near the house at the back of the photo), there used to be a thriving Community of House Sparrows. Sadly their habitat was destroyed in order to build another dwelling on the island. Sadly not for House Sparrows but for humans. However it appears that this hedge in the foreground is now...........

........their new home. There is certainly a lot of activity going on. Also along this spot were both Common and Small Blue Butterflies.

A few days ago I was checking out this Hawthorn close to Bottom Combe Quarry and...........

..........came across (which I can now confirm) these Lackey Moth caterpillars. Mind you they look more like Prairie Dogs with a lookout on top. 😂
On the left hand side of the Hawthorn I thought I'd found another colony of Lackey Moth caterpillars, but in fact these are a different moth species which I believe are Small Eggar.

As I made my way up the slope to Perryfields Quarry Butterfly Reserve this.........

............male Common Whitethroat burst into song on the Buddleia on the other side of the Wakeham Railway Cuttings. Just a record shot of it.

Turning back the right way, I headed across the butterfly reserve and came across an......

............umbellifer with a couple of interesting flies on it.

The first was this Thelaira nigripes, a dark black...........

..........fly of the Tachinidae family of flies.

And next to it was this Sawfly.

Though as to which species I have no idea.

Next stop was Pennsylvania Castle Woods and the male Blackcap is still singing away here. Also seen were at least 2 juvenile Blue Tits.

On the way down the steps from Penns Wood via the church grounds I came across the only visible Wall Lizard on my walk.

Church Ope Cove from Penn's Weare. A very busy beach today, with BBQ's, picnics and people just having fun after 50+ days of lockdown. The good thing is that there is a distinct possibility that the increase in visitors, hasn't deterred the possibility of a pair of Lesser Whitethroats from breeding here. Fingers crossed, that if it was a female I saw, there will be a positive outcome. Also at the back of the cove was a another male Blackcap singing as well as...........

.............this Blackbird close to Penns Copse

From the cove via Penn's Weare and Rufus Castle, I had a look in The Cuttings Quarry. There were at least 2 Dingy Skippers and 2 Common Blues.

On the way back home this bug was attached to Teds tail.

I potted it and discovered when I got home that this is a Denticulate Leatherbug (Coriomeris denticulatus). It is the same family as the much larger Dock Bug. This character is around a centimetre in length, but more importantly a first for me on Portland. Thank you Ted.

And here he is.

Birds Recorded: Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 1 possibly 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Siskin, Goldfinch and Greenfinch

Reptiles Recorded: Wall Lizard

Butterflies Recorded: Dingy Skipper, Orange-tip, Large White, Small Blue and Common Blue

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

Hoverflies Recorded: Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea), Epistrophe eligans

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded: Sawfly sp. and a Thelaira nigripes

Bugs and Beetles Recorded: Denticulate Leatherbug (Coriomeris denticulatus)

Caterpillars Recorded: Lackey and Small Eggar

Wakeham.

As I walked up the path in the back garden this evening, a Sedge Warbler burst into song in my neighbours Buckthorn. By the time I'd grabbed the camera it was gone. However another good Garden Tick which puts me on 48. Sadly no photo or song of the Sedge Warbler, so a Palmate Newt video from the garden pond instead.

I counted 3 Newts in the pond this evening with this expertly catching small insects.

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

2018
Today's Sightings Here.