Well the weather forecast was for rain and it did but not before I managed a quick walk down Old Quarry Lane and around the Meadow. Unsurprisingly there were very few butterflies about, but instead there were amazing numbers of hoverflies. Whether I can name the individual species remains to be seen.
Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Common Whitethroat, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch and Greenfinch
Butterflies Recorded:
Ringlet
Meadow Brown
Marbled White
With the overcast and cooler conditions, there were very few butterflies seen. This is a Meadow Brown.
However if you did find a butterfly, like this Marbled White, they at least let you get right up close them..
Moths Recorded:
Garden Grass-veneers (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
It seems every moth in the meadow is a Garden Grass-veneer
They were everywhere.
It didn't matter where you walked, they would just rise up from the ground and fly off to another grass stem.
Bees Recorded:
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)
Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
bee sp.
Honey Bee on Knapweed
A worker Red-tailed Bumblebee
A male Red-tailed Bumblebee
This is a worker Buff-tailed Bumblebee
And another worker Buff-tailed Bumblebee
And now my mystery bee.
A sweat bee maybe. It was extremely small.
Ichneumon Wasps Recorded:
1 - Ichneumon Wasp sp.
2 - Ichneumon Wasp sp.
1 - Ichneumon Wasp sp.
1 - Ichneumon Wasp sp.
2 - Ichneumon Wasp sp.
Hoverflies Recorded:
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare)
Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
Several hoverflies sp.
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
This individual looks very dark and are the patterns right for a Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
A Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare) maybe!!
Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
hoverfly sp.
And another hoverfly sp.
A possible Blow Fly (Lucilia caesar)
Either or neither a Grass Fly (Thaumatomyia notata) or Grass Fly (Chlorops pumilionis)
Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)
Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Ischnomera cyanea)
A male Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
A female Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)
Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)
Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima)
Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera)
Roesel's Bush-cricket (Metrioptera roeselii)
I think this is a Roesel's Bush-cricket (Metrioptera roeselii). Odd colour though!!
Spiders Recorded:
Cucumber Green Orb Spider (Araniella cucurbitina sensu stricto)
I'm pretty sure this is a Cucumber Green Orb Spider (Araniella cucurbitina sensu stricto)........
..........However there are other similar looking orb spiders.
Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)
Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
Wakeham Meadow
Ragwort with nearly every flower head housing a hoverfly, a bee or Swollen-thighed Beetle
This bindweed is Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
It can either be white, pink or white & pink
And as you can see by its size, its pretty small.
Ted:
Ted has heard something..........
........and yep he did. There was a right old cat fight going on in the next meadow, and that is where Ted shot off to. Fortunately they had gone by the time he got there.