20 Jul 23

Old Quarry Lane and Wakeham Meadows

Main highlight this afternoon was the large number of Gatekeepers flying about. There were certainly a good 30 plus. At the other end of the scale I found just one Marbled White.

As for the moths, the most abundant seen was the Silver Y, with dozens in the meadow. What was also good to see were several Six-Spot Burnet moths, with a few mating.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
House Martin
Dunnock
Blackbird
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Starling
House Sparrow
Goldfinch

Whoops I think I spooked.........

..........this Wood Pigeon.

Butterflies Recorded:
12+ Large White
6 Meadow Brown
30+ Gatekeeper
1 Marbled White
3 Red Admiral
3 Common Blue

A Gatekeeper and........

........a male Common Blue

Moths Recorded:
12+ Silver Y (Autographa gamma)
7+ Six-Spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae)
1 moth sp.

There were dozens of Silver Y's along my walk.

And there were several Six-Spot Burnet moths with........

..........a few mating.

And my mystery moth........

..........which looks familiar, but I can't put a name to it yet.

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

A Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

And a worker Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)

Hoverflies Recorded:
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

A Dead Head Hoverfly

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Parasitic fly (Eriothrix rufomaculata)
Lesser Golden Knapweed Fly (Chaetorellia jaceae)

A Parasitic fly (Eriothrix rufomaculata) on Ragwort

A Lesser Golden Knapweed Fly (Chaetorellia jaceae) on a Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus)

And here are two more Lesser Golden Knapweed Flies and three miridae sp.

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

A Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)

And a male Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Lots of grasshoppers and crickets seen and heard

Spiders Recorded:
Flower Crab Spider (Misumena vatia)

A Flower Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) was so well camouflaged on this umbellifer it was able to capture this fly sp. More on Crab Spiders Here.

Froghoppers Recorded:
froghopper sp.

A very small froghopper sp.

Ted:

I think Ted has found something which is better than having a good run.

He did eventually oblige.