21 Aug 20

Tout Quarry

A trip to the tip and then a walk around a very windy Tout Quarry. No real highlights in fact I counted just 9 bird species, 4 bee species, 3 butterfly and likewise 3 species of hoverfly. Well I say three I definitely had a Marmalade Hoverfly, Common Dronefly and what I think was another Eristalis. The latter I will check.

Here are a few images and videos from today:

A very worn male Common Blue

Here it is showing the underwings.

I guess this is another Common Blue, going by the markings etc on the underwings, but the camera doesn't do justice to how vibrant those colours were. This was a very small individual.

A Common Dronefly and another hoverfly was..........

.........this one, which was a lot smaller but............

..............I suspect another Common Dronefly, as their size does vary according to size of the larvae before it pupated.

Its been awhile since I've come across a Blood-nosed Beetle. And today I came across two.........

Both trundling along the tracks.

A Common Field Grasshopper

"Still Falling" carved in the rock wall. More on "Still Falling" Here

And a well-groomed Ted taking me through one of the few narrow tracks in the Quarry.

Most of my videos of Storms are usually filmed from the sea defences at Chiswell. For a change here is what I think is Irish named Storm "Ellen" from Tout Quarry.

The huge waves crashing up onto Chesil Beach isn't unusual.....

.......but to see this in the Summer and with hundreds of cars on both sides of the Portland Beach Road, is very bizarre.

At least our Boat "Star" (red topped cabin roof) is safe from the raging seas in Portland Marina.

Birds Recorded: Kestrel, Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Great Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow

Butterflies Recorded: Large White, Common Blue and Chalk Hill Blue

Bees Recorded: Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum), Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius), Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) and White-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

Hoverflies Recorded: Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax) and a possible Eristalis sp.

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded: Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)

Bugs and Beetles Recorded: 2 Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa)

Ships Today

This is the Liberian Oil Tanker "Fredericia" anchored in Portland Harbour. More on this vessel Here.

I had thought that from my viewing point at Tout I would have seen a few of the Cruise Ships in Weymouth Bay. However as you can see from the live screen shot I made at 15:55 they have all left the Bay and are either in the English Channel or between Portland and Torbay.

The following cruisers had been anchored in Weymouth Bay
Ventura
Azura
Marella Explorer
Marella Explorer 2
Marella Discovery
RMS Queen Mary 2
Britannia
Queen Elizabeth

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

2018
Today's Sightings Here.

2017
Today' Sightings Here.