Port and Wey: 18 May 24

Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadows and Wakeham Wildlife Site

Well they say the early bird catches the worm. And so it proved to be with an early morning walk to beat the rain forecast for around 10:00am.

And what a "worm" it was, when I came across a Glow-worm larvae in Wakeham Meadow. Obviously not a real worm, but a beetle where the female emits a light from her abdomen to attract a male.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
1 Common Whitethroat
1 Blackcap
1 Chiffchaff
1 Willow Warbler
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch
1 Greenfinch

The male Common Whitethroat in Wakeham Meadow.

Also in the meadow, the resident Chiffchaff is still........

.............singing away

Bees Recorded:
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)
Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica)

A Buff-tailed bumblebee on Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

And a Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica) sat on the leaf of a Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis).

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:

20+ Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Ischnomera cyanea)

50+ Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus)

1 Rustic Sailor Beetle (Cantharis rustica)
1 Glow-worm (Lampyris-noctiluca)

Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetles (Ischnomera cyanea) and.......

........another one. In fact there were dozens about.

The 50+ Dock Bugs are still on this plant in Wakeham Meadow. A plant which I believe.......

............is Curled Dock (Rumex crispus)

A Rustic Sailor Beetle (Cantharis rustica) along Old Quarry Lane

My first Glow-worm (Lampyris-noctiluca) on Portland, since I moved here 7 years ago. This is a larvae and was in Wakeham Meadow. More on Glow-worms here here and here.

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima)