Port and Wey: 21 May 22

Old Quarry Lane and Wakeham Meadow

With plans to build 33 homes on Wakeham Meadow I have decided to take it upon myself to gather as much information on the fauna and flora that would be lost here. So I apologise if the blog is a bit bogged down with visits to the lane and meadow. Hopefully I will have enough creditable information to present to Dorset County Council Planners, to at least show them what will be lost.

Mind you, having looked at the planning application documents, there is a fair bit of opposition to this housing development, including those from Natural England and Dorset Wildlife Trust. When you click on the link Here, look for:

18/10/2021 - Biodiversity survey and report
19/04/2022 - Natural England
15/12/2021 - Dorset Wildlife Trust
24/04/2022 - Ecologists Comments to Response from Natural England 280422

So getting back to today's walk, main highlights were the male Lesser Whitethroat still "rattling" away, and both Common Whitethroat and Blackcap singing here as well.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
1 Common Whitethroat
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Blackcap
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch

Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded:
Damselfly sp.

A very small individual which I just couldn't follow in the undergrowth!!

Butterflies Recorded:
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
Speckled Wood
Small Heath
Painted Lady
Holly Blue
Common Blue

A Speckled Wood

Moths Recorded:

#1 - Cocksfoot Moth (Glyphipterix simpliciella)

#2 - moth

#3 - Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

#4 - moth

#5 - moth

#1 - Cocksfoot Moth (Glyphipterix simpliciella)

#2 -

#3 - Silver Y

#4 -

#5 -

Note: I ran out of time to ID the moths above (apart from the Silver Y). I will update them tomorrow.

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

White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)
Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena cineraria)
Common Mourning Bee (Melecta albifrons)

Honey Bee

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

And a worker White-tailed Bumblebee

Red-tailed Bumblebee

And one of my favourite bees a Common Mourning Bee

Note: If you hadn't noticed and I'm sure you did, all the bees depicted above were on the same cotoneaster including a Common Carder Bee and an Ashy Mining Bee not photographed.

Ichneumon Wasps Recorded:
Several Ichneumon sp

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

Large Narcissus Fly (Merodon equestris)

Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)