23 Oct 21

Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadow,  The Windmills, Wakeham Railway Cuttings, The Cuttings, Bumpers Lane, Broadcroft Quarry Lane and Lower Horse Paddock

The sun was out briefly as I set off on my walk, but not long after the clouds rolled in and it turned pretty dull. At least the wind had died down and made it a lot easier to find a few birds of interest including a few Meadow Pipits, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Stonechat, 2 Song Thrush, 10 Chiffchaff and 2 Siskin in amongst a flock of Goldfinch.

There were a few more bees about today including a Common Carder Bumblebee, the first I have seen for a few days.

The only butterflies seen were 8 Red Admirals, with everyone of them on the wing.

Mammals Recorded:
Grey Squirrel
Bunny

One of the Grey Squirrels along the railway cuttings

Birds Recorded:
2 Buzzard
1 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Meadow Pipit
2 Pied Wagtail
1 Grey Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
2 Stonechat
Blackbird
2 Song Thrush
10 Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
1 Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
90+ Linnet
2 Siskin
Goldfinch

Though other Stonechats have moved on, this pair.........

..........still remain in the Windmills area.

And it was better day for Chiffchaffs with 10 recorded along my walk.

Reptiles Recorded:
2 Slow-worm

These are only Slow-worms I have come across at all the sites I know of. As you can tell by the empty shell of a Garden Snail, these are juveniles.

Butterflies Recorded:
8 Red Admiral


Bees Recorded:
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
1 Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)
Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae)


Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

The Common Wasps now out-number the bees and hoverflies on the Ivy.

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


Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
3 Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

This is the Harlequin Ladybird form succinea and appears to be.........

.........the commonest form of Harlequin Ladybirds that I have come across.

The other form I occasionally come across is spectabilis

Caterpillars Recorded:
Large White butterfly

A Large White

General Shots:

St Aldhelm's Head

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

Ted:

Oh dear not my best effort of capturing a few Ted's. He was supposed to keep running down the track at the top and not the one I was standing in. Next time!

Ships Today:

This is the Maltese Ro-Ro Cargo Ship "Celine" on its way from Zeebrugge to Dublin. More on this vessel Here.

This is the Belgium Ro-Ro Cargo Ship "Melusine" on its way from Zeebrugge to Cork. More on this vessel Here.

This is the Liberian Container Ship "Independent Horizon" on its way from Southampton to Cork. More on this vessel Here.

This is the British Oil Products Tanker "Whitchampion" on its way from Plymouth to Southampton via Portland Harbour. More on this vessel Here.

This is the British Fishing Boat "Quarter Bell" returning to Weymouth Harbour. More on this vessel Here.

This is the British Fishing Boat "Molly Jane" heading back to Portland/Weymouth.