3 Jul 22

Old Quarry Lane and Wakeham Meadow

It was a quick visit to the meadows this afternoon with the main highlight, on a very warm and sunny day, hearing the Lesser Whitethroat singing from the direction of Wakeham Cuttings.

Often or not there is a lowlight and today it was the demise of the Slow-worm nest in Old Quarry Lane. It and around 500 square metres of grassland was removed for the new eco-bungalow soon to be built. Hopefully the contractors were sympathetic towards the Slow-worms and were able to coerce them into the hedgerow.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Dunnock
Blackbird
Lesser Whitethroat
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
House Sparrow
Goldfinch


Butterflies Recorded:
Small Skipper
Large White
Ringlet
Meadow Brown
Gatekeeper
Marbled White
Common Blue

A Ringlet

And another Ringlet with its wings open

A Gatekeeper

Marbled White

And a very worn Common Blue

Moths Recorded:
#1 - Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
#2 - Downland Conch (Aethes tesserana)

#1 - Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

#1 - Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

#1 - Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

#2 - Downland Conch (Aethes tesserana)

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

Brown-banded Carder Bee (Bombus humilis)
Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)
Large Meadow Mining Bee (Andrena labialis)

A male Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)

Brown-banded Carder Bee (Bombus humilis)

Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)

Ichneumon Wasps Recorded:
Ichneumon sp.

Ichneumon sp.

Hoverflies Recorded:
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
Mimic Bee Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans)

Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)

Mimic Bee Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans)

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)
Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)

A male Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

And at long last a female Swollen-thighed Beetle

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)
Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

A Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)

Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

Slugs and Snails Recorded:
White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
Garden Snail (Cornu aspersa)

A Betterment Properties Planning Request.

And this was the response by the resident Garden Snails on the next post along. Says it all!!!!

Plants:

Lady's Bedstraw (Galium verum)

Lady's Bedstraw (Galium verum)

Ted:

Ted practising his "Pointer" dog stance.

Aircraft Today:

This is the privately owned Van's RV-9A aircraft G-CCGU. Information on this aircraft and its flight path over Portland this afternoon can be found Here and Here.