24 Oct 23

Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadows, Wakeham Wildlife Site, Wakeham Railway Cuttings, Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Penn's Weare, Penn's Copse, Rufus Castle, Bumpers Lane, Broadcroft Quarry Lane, Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, Higher Horse Paddock, Lower Horse Paddock.

With the forecast of sunshine and showers, it was a case of picking a dry slot and hoping I didn't caught out. As it was I left the house and it stayed dry for the entire walk.

Main highlights were:
Meadow Pipit - Three in the butterfly reserve
Rock Pipit - Three on the beach, including the double leg-ringed bird.
Pied Wagtail - Two still on the beach
Stonechat - A pair on the butterfly reserve.
Chiffchaff - One in Penns Wood, one at the back of Church Ope Cove and one in Broadcroft Quarry Lane.
Goldcrest - One in Penns Wood
Long-tailed Tit - Seventeen in Penns Wood
Siskin - Two over Old Quarry Lane


Mammals Recorded:
2 Grey Squirrel


Birds Recorded:
Kestrel
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
3 Meadow Pipit
3 Rock Pipit
2 Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
2 Stonechat
Blackbird
3 Chiffchaff
1 Goldcrest
17 Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
2 Siskin
Goldfinch

Just three Rock Pipits on the beach today, including the double leg-ringed bird.

The juvenile Pied Wagtail is still present on the beach. The male Pied Wagtail was close-by.

A Dunnock (left) shares a bramble with a female Stonechat.

Quite a distance away was a male Stonechat

Just 3 Chiffchaffs seen today. This one was in Broadcroft Quarry Lane

A couple of very busy...........

..................Blue Tits looking for a snack. 

Goldfinches on the seed heads of Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus)

Reptiles Recorded:
1 Wall Lizard

Just the one Wall Lizard. This juvenile was in the grounds of St Andrew's Church

Butterflies Recorded:
2 Green-veined White
1 Speckled Wood
3 Red Admiral

Moths Recorded:

2 Rusty Dot Pearl (Udea ferrugalis)

Rusty Dot Pearl (Udea ferrugalis)

And another slightly worn Rusty Dot Pearl

Bees Recorded:
Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae)

As the Ivy flowers start to go over, I'm finding fewer Ivy Bees on my travels

Wasps, Ichneumon Wasps, Parasitic Wasps and Gall Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)

There is certainly no let up in the Common Wasp nest in Wakeham Meadow. There seems to be more every time I visit.

Hoverflies Recorded:
10+ Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
3 Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)
3 Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria)
1 Long Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)
3 Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

A Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

And another.

And one more Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

There were several..........

.............Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea) about as well.

A Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) on a Hebe sp. With around 90 different species of Hebe, I'm not going to guess as to which one this is. More on Hebes Here.

Top right and centre far left are two Hornet Plumehorns (Volucella zonaria).

Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria) no. 1

Hornet Plumehorn (Volucella zonaria) no. 2. There was a third one close by

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Blue Blowfly (Calliphora vicina)

Cranefly (Tipula confusa)
Kelp Fly (Coelopa frigida)

House Fly (Phaonia rufiventris or P. subventa)

Cranefly (Tipula confusa)

Blue Blowfly (Calliphora vicina)

#1 - House Fly (Phaonia rufiventris/subventa). More on Phaonia rufiventris here. and P. subventa here.

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
7 Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

1 Dung Beetle (Aphodius contaminatus)

Below are Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis) - form succinea

Below is a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) - form spectabilis

A Dung Beetle (Aphodius contaminatus) on Ragwort. And a new beetle for my Portland List.

Spiders Recorded:
Nurseryweb Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

A Nurseryweb Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

Springtails Recorded.

Springtail (Orchesella villosa)

And an odd looking invertebrate I came across.........

...........at the west end of Wakeham Railway Cuttings. There was a large Portland Stone Boulder with a small pool of water sat in the middle of it. This little creature which was roughly 5mm in length was swimming about in it. It then came out of the water and walked across the boulder. It's a Springtail (Orchesella villosa) and a first for me on Portland. More on this Springtail here.

General Shots:

The south facing cliffs at Church Ope Cove where I had hoped there might be a Black Redstart. No luck today, but I'm sure there will be one or two this Autumn/Winter.

And looking south along the beach

Hmm. Silklake Quarry maintained by the Dorset branch of UK Butterflies is now a Camp site!!

And in Broadcroft Quarry Butterfly reserve............

............there is now a dwelling in the right-hand copse.

Ted:

Lots of Teds again

Ships Today:

This is the British Fishing Boat PO18 "Boy Lynham" fishing off Portland's east coast. More on this vessel Here.

This is the British Sailing Vessel "Donald Searle" on its way from Brixham to Weymouth Harbour. More on this vessel here.

This is the British Training Ship "TS Royalist" on its way from Portland Harbour to Weymouth Harbour. More on this vessel here.

This is the British fishing boat WH8 "Dream Catcher" fishing just off Church Ope Cove.