Port and Wey: 31 Aug 21

Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Penn's Weare, Penn's Copse, Rufus Castle, Bumpers Lane and Lower Horse Paddock

It was a bit sunnier today and if you found some shelter from the cold northerly wind it was quite pleasant.

Main highlight today was a Pipistrelle-type Bat in Penns Wood. I'm not sure why I happened to look up when I did, but as soon as I pulled my head back, it dropped down from one of the Sycamores and flew off up through the wood. The bat that is, not my head😂😂

Also about were 2 Yellow Wagtails heading south and a Chiffchaff in Penns Wood and another along Bumpers Lane.

Mammals Recorded:

6 Bunnies
Pipistrelle-type bat

Birds Recorded:
1 Cormorant
1 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
2 Yellow Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
2 Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch

Reptiles Recorded:
Slow-worm

Butterflies Recorded:
Large White
Small White
Speckled Wood
Gatekeeper
Red Admiral
Common Blue
Chalk Hill Blue

A Small White

And a very worn Red Admiral

Well I thought the Red Admiral was worn, but this female Common Blue is in tatters.

A male Chalk Hill Blue

And here it is again with its wings wide open.

Moths Recorded:

Cocoon Six-Spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae)

moth sp.

This is the empty cocoon of a Six-Spot Burnet moth

This moth was in the conservatory when I got home

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

Hoverflies Recorded:
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
hoverfly sp.

A humming hoverfly. Sounds almost like a giant mosquito

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Sieve-winged Snail-killer (Coremacera marginata)

Every now and then, I come across something different.

The first time I came across this fly was back in 2018 and it is one of Marsh Flies, a Sieve-winged Snail-killer (Coremacera marginata).

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

Spiders Recorded:
spider sp.

A spider carrying its eggs

Slugs and Snails Recorded:

White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis)

A rather anaemic looking White-lipped Banded Snail

Plants:

Yellow-wort (Blackstonia perfoliata)

Montbretia

Plant sp.

This Yellow-wort is just coming into flower.

Montbretia seeds

A plant I don't think I have come across before.

Here is a close up of the flowers. I'm not sure whether it was this plant or the one next to it, but there was a minty smell coming from the leaves. An update on this plant. It is a Common Calamint (Clinopodium ascendens). More on this plant Here

General Shots:

And way way across Weymouth Bay is the headland of St Aldhelm's Head viewed from from Penn's Weare. The building in the middle, on top of the headland is St Aldhelm's Chapel Here. More on the Chapel Here and Here

A rocky outcrop, but not any old outcrop, but one of the best places I have found on Portland for Ivy Bees (Colletes hederae). This species was first seen in the British Isles in Dorset in 2001, having arrived from continental Europe and is solely dependant on Ivy flowers. It is what I call a "seasonal" bee and can be found between September and the end of October / start of November, depending on the amount of Ivy still in flower. The Ivy flowers are just about to bloom now, so hopefully they will appear any day soon.

Ted: