4 Apr 23

Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadows, Wakeham Railway Cuttings Pennsylvania Castle Woods, St Andrew's Church, Penn's Weare, Penn's Copse, Rufus Castle, The Cuttings, Bumpers Lane, Broadcroft Quarry Lane, Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, Higher Horse Paddock and Lower Horse Paddock

Now that's more like it, lots of sunshine and blue skies, with a light but cool south-westerly. Church Ope Cove was packed with Easter Break Holiday makers, so I gave that a miss on this particular walk.

A few Spring migrants about with 4 Chiffchaffs and 6 Willow Warblers, with a few singing from both species.

Also noted were 2 Red Admirals, a nomad bee sp., my first Dark-edged Bee-fly of the year and both Dock Bug and Bloody-nosed Beetle.


Mammals Recorded:
Brown Rat

Roland Rat in my friends nature reserve close to Wakeham Meadows.

Birds Recorded:
5 Buzzard
3 Kestrel
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
3 Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
4 Chiffchaff
6 Willow Warbler
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch
Greenfinch

It was a bit of a Buzzard day with 5 seen in total, here are.........

..........a couple of them.

And the Kestrels were out as well with these two..........

.............females and this..........

............male...........

...........over Broadcroft Quarry Butterfly Reserve. (Slow-motion and no sound)

Meadow Pipits in the horse paddock west of Broadcroft Quarry Lane

A Dunnock singing its heart out, as were.......

.............a few Willow Warblers like..............

............this one. Other birds singing and calling are a Robin, Dunnock and Great Tit

Reptiles Recorded:
Wall Lizard

And any sun will see the Wall Lizards........

............out basking.

Butterflies Recorded:
2 Red Admiral


Bees Recorded:
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
1 nomad bee sp.

A Buff-tailed Bumblebee coming into land on this Wild Cherry. I also came across a nomad bee, but I wasn't able to ID it as it flew off before I had a chance to photograph it.

Hoverflies Recorded:
Lots of unidentified species


Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major)

And my first Dark-edged Bee-fly of the year.

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus)
Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa)

My first Dock Bug of the year sat on a nettle sp.

And a Bloody-nosed Beetle trundling along the path close to the Cuttings.

Plants:
Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)

Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana)

Bluebells already. These were along the Railway Cuttings.

Common Dog-violets

General Shots:

From Penns Weare looking south towards Church Ope Cove, St Andrews Church and Transylvania Castle

Ted:

A happy Ted as he doesn't need to wear his coat today

Ships Today:

This is the Singaporean Container Ship "One Olympus" on its way from Le Havre to Brixham. More on this vessel Here.

This is the Dutch Tug "Siskin" on its way from Lowestoft to Portland Harbour. More on this vessel Here.

This is the British Fishing Boat WH148 "Rampant" heading back to Weymouth Harbour.