Port and Wey: 25 Jun 22

Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Church Ope Cove Wood, Rufus Castle, The Cuttings and Bumpers Lane

After 10 days of being positive with Covid-19, finally today's reading was negative. Happy Days!!

So it was a venture down to the cove today. Not because I was negative but because there was a howling south-westerly and I thought it would be relatively calm in the lee of Pennsylvania Castle Wood and Penn's Weare. It seemed not and apart from the odd sheltered spot the wind was pretty full on in and around the cove.

Main highlights, on this sunny and dry afternoon, were a male Blackcap singing in Penns Wood and a Chiffchaff singing close to Rufus Castle.

And also for the first time this year I managed to record 12 butterfly species including my first Lulworth Skipper of the Summer, but not a single "blue" butterfly!!

Birds Recorded:
1 Buzzard
2 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
2 Stock Dove
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
1 Blackcap
1 Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch

One of the local Common Buzzards..........

.............. looking a little worn.

A Kestrel hovering over the cove.

And success. I'm not sure what it caught, perhaps a small rodent.

A pair of Stock Doves along Bumpers Lane.

A male Linnet

And a juvenile Goldfinch

Reptiles Recorded:
Wall Lizard
2 Slow-worm

Under a metal sheet along my walk were an adult Slow-worm and a juvenile (left)

Butterflies Recorded:
1 Dingy Skipper
1 Small Skipper
1 Lulworth Skipper
1 Large Skipper
2 Large White
4 Speckled Wood
3 Ringlet
5 Meadow Brown
8 Marbled White
1 Red Admiral
1 Painted Lady
1 Comma

A male Small Skipper

Another male Small Skipper. This one is looking a bit worn.

And my first Lulworth Skipper of the year. This is a female and here.........

.......................she is showing her underwings.

The Marble Whites have only been on the wing for a few weeks now, but are beginning to look a bit worn.

A Comma.

Bees Recorded:
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)
Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica)

Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica)

Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

Hoverflies Recorded:
#1 - Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
#2 - Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

#3 - 2 Bumblebee Plumehorn (Volucella plumata)

#4 - Vagrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)

#1 - Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

#2 - Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

#3 - Bumblebee Plumehorn (Volucella plumata)

#3 - And another Bumblebee Plumehorn (Volucella plumata)

#4 - Vagrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
6 Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa): all deceased
Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

A male Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

I'm pretty sure this is a Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

And a grasshopper that is lacking any colour pigment.

Lacewings and Scorpionflies Recorded:
scorpion fly sp.

scorpion fly sp.

Plants:
Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis)

Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
Common Hawkweed (Hieracium vulgatum)
Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare)
Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea)

Giant Viper's Bugloss (Echium pininana)
Ivy Broomrape (Orobanche hederae)
Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)
Eyebright (Euphrasia officinalis)

Hebe (Hebe sp.)

Common Hawkweed (Hieracium vulgatum)

Hebe (Hebe sp.)

Using the PlantNet app on my phone, it tells me that there is an 85% chance that this is a Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare). Behind back left is a Pyramidal Orchid. Thank you to my good friend Ed Wilson for recommending this plant identification app. So far so good. More on this thistle Here.