It was a bit of a wait for the mornings rain to clear, but when it did, it was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon.
There was only one real highlight and that was the incredible numbers of Dead Head Hoverflies and Hornet Plumehorns on the Japanese Spindle in Pennsylvania Castle Woods. There must have been at least 20 Dead Head Hoverflies and 10 Hornet Plumehorns.
There were at least another 10 Hornet Plumehorns in the grounds of St Andrew's Church, where there was also a lone Pellucid Hoverfly and a Four-banded Beegrabber.
Birds Recorded:
1 Buzzard (heard)
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
2 Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
Reptiles Recorded:
3 Wall Lizard
In the centre a Wall Lizard and on the left a Green Bottle fly sp. and a Buff-tailed Bumblebee on the right.
Butterflies Recorded:
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
1 Meadow Brown
2 Gatekeeper
2 Red Admiral
1 Comma
5 Holly Blue
4 Chalk Hill Blue
A male Chalk Hill Blue on Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)
And a female Chalk Hill Blue. Both were in Penn's Copse.
Moths Recorded:
1 Silver Y (Autographa gamma)
Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum)
moth sp.
A Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) on a Budleia
It stayed around long enough for a.............
.............video.
A moth sp. There's not much of it to get a good ID, so I think it will remain that as well
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)
A Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum) on a Carline Thistle (Carlina vulgaris)
Golden-moustached Fly Fox (Ectemnius cavifrons)
A Golden-moustached Fly Fox has just caught this fly sp. in Pennsylvania Castle Woods.
10+ Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
1 Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
20 Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
1 Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
1 Pellucid Hoverfly (Volucella pellucens)
20+ Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria)
A Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
A Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea).........
.............and another also on the flowering Japanese Spindle Tree (Euonymus japonicus)
A Pellucid Hoverfly (Volucella pellucens)
A Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria)................
.............and another one on Japanese Spindle
A hoverfly sp.
Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Four-banded Beegrabber (Conops quadrifasciatus)
#1 - fly sp.
#2 - fly sp.
A Four-banded Beegrabber (Conops quadrifasciatus), which is one of the species of Thick-headed Flies.
#1 - fly sp.
#2 - fly sp.
Spiders Recorded:
Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)
A Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)
Plants:
Japanese Spindle Tree (Euonymus japonicus)
General Shots:
The grounds of St Andrew's Church
Ted:
Ted with a mouthful of Alexanders seeds. Well at first glance it looks like it.
Ted about to have a drink out of his new water bottle.