Port and Wey: 30 Jun 21

Verne High Angle Battery and Fancy's Farm

Today's walk was around the High Angle Battery and Fancy's Farm with a few good highlights, including an Adder and my first Small Heath for the year.

The Defences at Portland

Birds Recorded:

Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, 2 Swift, Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Blackbird, Common Whitethroat, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Chaffinch and Goldfinch

There are quite a few Jackdaws in this area. Mind you Fancy's Farm is very close-by.

Reptiles Recorded:

Adder

Three bits of info that I need to remember when there are Adders about.

1. Don't walk through overgrown paths in sandals.

2. If you have no choice then carry your dog through it.

3. And you will know when you have found one, as they hiss when you stand on them. Fortunately both he and me came out of it unharmed.

And here it is moving off at great speed.

Butterflies Recorded:

Small Skipper, 1 Small Heath, Meadow Brown and 12+ Marbled White

The last couple of days has seen a few Marbled Whites on the wing, especially along Penn's Weare.

Today at the High Angle Battery there were dozens emerging from the undergrowth and drying their wings out.

A record shot of my first Small Heath of the year.

Moths Recorded:
Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

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

Ichneumon Wasps Recorded:
Ichneumon stramentor, a Diphyus quadripunctorius and Protichneumon pisorius

This Ichneumon stramentor is head down into this umbellifer.

If I have ID'd this one correctly it is a Diphyus quadripunctorius and my first one on Portland.

I might have to recheck this ichneumons as I think this is a Protichneumon pisorius. If so it would be another first for my Portland List. Two in one day. Hmm would be great!!

Hoverflies Recorded:
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta) and a Mimic Bee Hoverfly (Volucella plumata)

This is another first for the year a Mimic Bee Hoverfly (Volucella plumata)

Sawflies Recorded:

Rose Sawfly (Arge ochropus) and a sawfly sp.

If I have ID'd this correctly as a Rose Sawfly, it will be my first one on Portland.

As for this one, is it a Sawfly. I'm not sure, one to ID later.

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Grass Fly (Meromyza sp.) and fly sp.

Left is the Rose Sawfly, centre a fly sp. and top right a Grass Fly (Meromyza sp.)

An enlarged photo showing the fly sp. and Grass Fly (Meromyza sp.)

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva) and Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

I can't believe its taken this long to see my first Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva) of the year. Here it is about to take off.

And here it is just landing on another plant.

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima)

Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima)

Plants Recorded:

Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare), Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea), Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys), Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre) and a Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis)