Mermaid Track and The Cuttings Quarry
Well after having endured a whole week stuck at home on antibiotics, because of a nasty abscess, I was able to get out for a short walk today. To be honest the abscess, as painful as it was, wasn't the main reason I was house bound, but due to the fact that my sense of balance was, well lets say more akin to a newly born giraffe walking for the very first time.
But what a day to go for a walk, and so as not to overdo it, I chose a short walk to The Cuttings Quarry via The Mermaid Track and then returned home. What I didn't expect though, as I was checking out the beasties in the quarry, was for one possibly 2 Bee-eaters to fly over my head, calling away as they do.
Having heard Bee-eaters on Portland before, I can honestly say they are notoriously difficult to pinpoint as they fly so high. All I can say is, there may well have been 2 birds calling to each other as they headed north. Here's hoping someone else got to see them or at least hear them.
So after all the excitement here are the rest of my sightings from today.
Well after having endured a whole week stuck at home on antibiotics, because of a nasty abscess, I was able to get out for a short walk today. To be honest the abscess, as painful as it was, wasn't the main reason I was house bound, but due to the fact that my sense of balance was, well lets say more akin to a newly born giraffe walking for the very first time.
But what a day to go for a walk, and so as not to overdo it, I chose a short walk to The Cuttings Quarry via The Mermaid Track and then returned home. What I didn't expect though, as I was checking out the beasties in the quarry, was for one possibly 2 Bee-eaters to fly over my head, calling away as they do.
Having heard Bee-eaters on Portland before, I can honestly say they are notoriously difficult to pinpoint as they fly so high. All I can say is, there may well have been 2 birds calling to each other as they headed north. Here's hoping someone else got to see them or at least hear them.
Here is a short audio of a Bee-eater calling in flight, courtesy of Xeno-canto
This is looking back along the Mermaid Track where enroute I came across my first........
.........Marbled White of the year. By the looks of things this one has already lost part of its wing.
Also along this track were a few Lulworth Skippers. I believe this is a female.
This one I'm not sure of. It appears to be a lot darker, maybe a male Lulworth Skipper. It was certainly in the same area as the female! above.
A Common Drone Fly and probably one of our commonest hoverflies in the UK
Had you asked me what this is a few years back I wouldn't have had a clue. Well it is the prodigy of one of Portland's most numerous of shieldbugs, the Common Green Shieldbug. This is the nymph stage and there is more info on this shieldbug Here.
They are always about and often seen using the tracks and paths as highways. Bloody-nosed Beetles, a name they have acquired by their defensive mechanism of excreting a red fluid from their mouth
A beetle and an ant. There must be a story here somewhere. The beetle I will attempt to ID later.
A Dark Bush-cricket. As I walked along the paths and tracks you could see them everywhere.
One of the muscid flies I believe, however there are quite a few orange species, so ID'ing this individual may prove difficult.
From the Mermaid Track I made my way into what I have called "The Cuttings Quarry". Whether it has a given name I'm uncertain, but it seems appropriate considering the old railway cutting used to be beyond the ridge in the background.
The quarry is a good location for butterflies. It is well sheltered, even from easterlies and is off the main trails, so free from people continually passing through. And the first butterfly I came across was my first Ringlet of the year. Also here was a solitary Meadow Brown and Large White.
As you enter the quarry you usually see a few Common Blues, however it wasn't particularly sunny when I arrived and instead I found a few Large Skippers.
And a moth species I have found here before, a Straw-barred Pearl (Pyrausta despicata), though looking at some of my other photos of this species I'm wondering whether the others are now, as this looks a lot lighter than ones I have come across. More checks tomorrow.
This is a White-barred Gold, Micropterix aruncella.
I did wonder whether I would have to seek assistance with this one, but lo and behold it is a species I found close by at Church Ope Cove in June 2018 Here. Today there weren't quite as many as I have seen before, but then this is a different location. There were at least 5 all "dancing" around a flowering Privet.
And here is Ted, absolutely loving the fact that he can stretch his legs and do a bit of mountaineering as well.
And well, when you've done that amount of exercise, it's good to have a break, even if you can't make up you're mind where to lie down.
Birds Recorded: Buzzard, Kestrel, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Swift, 1/2 Bee-eater, Swallow, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, 1 Blackcap, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Raven, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch
Reptiles Recorded: Wall Lizard
Butterflies Recorded: Lulworth Skipper, Large Skipper, Large White, 1 Ringlet, 1 Meadow Brown and a Marbled White
Reptiles Recorded: Wall Lizard
Butterflies Recorded: Lulworth Skipper, Large Skipper, Large White, 1 Ringlet, 1 Meadow Brown and a Marbled White
Moths Recorded: 5 White-barred Gold (Micropterix aruncella) and a Straw-barred Pearl (Pyrausta despicata)
Bees Recorded: Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris), Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum) and Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
Hoverflies Recorded: Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta) and Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded: Muscid Fly sp.
Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded: Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) and Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)
Bugs and Beetles Recorded: Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa), Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) and Common Green Shieldbug nymphs (Palomena prasina)