Old Quarry Lane and Wakeham Meadow
Today was a much cloudier day than we have had over the past few days. But at least it was dry.
Today was a much cloudier day than we have had over the past few days. But at least it was dry.
It was fairly windy as well, with very few butterflies about, though I did come across a couple of Painted Lady's.
However I did pretty well on the moth front, with 3 Triple-stripe Piercers (Grapholita compositella). This is a moth I haven't seen before on Portland and all 3 were in the meadow.
I also came across a couple of Common Green Bottle Flies (Lucilia sericata), which I am surprised to have not recorded before now.
Overhead were a few Swifts, House Martins and Swallows drifting south.
Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
2 Swift
House Martin
Swallow
Dunnock
Blue Tit
Magpie
Carrion Crow
House Sparrow
Goldfinch
Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
2 Swift
House Martin
Swallow
Dunnock
Blue Tit
Magpie
Carrion Crow
House Sparrow
Goldfinch
Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded:
1 Common Darter
1 Common Darter
It was just the female Common Darter along the Old Quarry Lane today. There was no sign of the male from yesterday. Here are a few photos of the female, plus a couple of videos.
Slow-motion of the female Common Darter taking off and then landing again
1 Small Skipper
Large White
Small White
1 Speckled Wood
Meadow Brown
Gatekeeper
2 Painted Lady
Common Blue
Chalk Hill Blue
A Speckled Wood
Gatekeeper
Painted Lady
3 Silver Y (Autographa gamma)
3 Triple-stripe Piercer (Grapholita compositella)
Silver Y (Autographa gamma)
This is a new moth for my Port and Wey moth list. In fact.........
............I came across three of them.
They are Triple-stripe Piercers (Grapholita compositella)
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)
Honey Bee on a Buddleia
A worker Red-tailed Bumblebee
Ichneumon sp
A very small Ichneumon sp on an umbellifer
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
Lesser Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella inanis)
Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)
A male Long Hoverfly in flight
Dead Head Hoverfly
A female Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)
As above a female Plain-faced Dronefly
Yellow Bellied Fly (Sciara hemerobioides)
Common Green Bottle Fly (Lucilia sericata)
Four Yellow Bellied Flies
And another
Common Green Bottle Fly (Lucilia sericata)
And another Common Green Bottle Fly
Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)
miridae sp.
Common Red Soldier Beetle
Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima)
Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)
Slugs and Snails Recorded:
Garden Snail (Cornu aspersa)
Garden Snail
Small Black Ant (Lasius niger)
As I was photographing a Common Blue I inadvertently stood on this ants nest. My foot was teaming with Small Black Ants. Thank goodness they don't bite.
Ted:
Somehow I get the feeling Ted is not a great lover of the long grass in the meadow.
