23 Jul 23

Old Quarry Lane and Wakeham Meadows

What a difference a day makes. After yesterday's deluge, it was back to sunny conditions.

Main highlight was the number of Six-Spot Burnet moths seen, with 20 plus noted on the Common Knapweed. Also in good numbers were Hornet Plumehorn hoverflies with at least 6 recorded.

Other highlights were 5 House Martins and 2 Swallows heading south.


Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
5 House Martin
2 Swallow
Dunnock
Blackbird
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Starling
House Sparrow
Goldfinch


Butterflies Recorded:
1 Large Skipper?
12+ Large White
5+ Small White
2 Green-veined White
10+ Meadow Brown
20+ Gatekeeper
1 Marbled White
4 Red Admiral
5 Common Blue
3 Chalk Hill Blue

This "skipper" is so worn, I'm unsure as to what species it is. On size alone I would hazard a guess that it is a Large Skipper. But!!

A Small White on Buddleia

A Meadow Brown a nettle

And a Gatekeeper on Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba)

A Marbled White on Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

Half a Red Admiral

A male Common Blue on Red Bartsia (Odontites vernus)

Another male Common Blue and here.......

..........showing its underwings.

A male Chalk Hill Blue and.......

..........another male.

Moths Recorded:
5 Silver Y (Autographa gamma)
20+ Six-Spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae)

1 Marbled Bell (Eucosma campoliliana)

#1 - moth sp.

A Silver Y  (Autographa gamma)

Six-Spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae)

A Marbled Bell (Eucosma campoliliana)

#1 - moth sp.

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

White-jawed Yellow-face Bee (Hylaeus confusus)

A Honey Bee on Common Knapweed

A White-jawed Yellow-face Bee (Hylaeus confusus).

And another view of it.

Hoverflies Recorded:
15+ Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
6 Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria)

1 Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
1 hoverfly sp.

A Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria) on Buddleia

And another Hornet Plumehorn just leaving the Blackberry flowers as a Honey Bee forced it off.

A Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) resting on an Ivy leaf

And my mystery hoverfly resting on a Blackberry leaf. One of the Eupeodes perhaps.

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Red Spotted Parasite Fly (Eriothrix rufomaculata)

Sieve-winged Snail-killer (Coremacera marginata)

Flies are not everyone's favourite insect, but there is something quite........

..........colourful with these Red Spotted Parasite Flies (Eriothrix rufomaculata). Video in slo-mo.

This is one of the Marsh Flies. Its name is.....

Sieve-winged Snail-killer (Coremacera marginata). Looking at those wings I can see how it derived its name.

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Common Red Soldier Beetles (Rhagonycha fulva)

A Common Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva) on an umbellifer sp.

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera)
Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)
Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)

This was a rapid point and shoot before it shot off into the undergrowth. Right at the bottom of the photo you can just make out a Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera)

A Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus) and its.......

.............cousin, a Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)

Ted:

And not for the first time of late, but I think Ted has sussed me out. All that running it does for me, so that I can get a sequence of photos, and he's now realised he's not getting anything out of it. I guess I'm going to have to buy some dog biscuits now!!

Aircraft Today:

This helicopter is a British privately owned Bell 407GXP registration G-COGS.

 It flew around Portland before..........

..............heading back to Essex........... 

.............Here. More on this aircraft here, here and here.