Port and Wey: 11 Jun 24

Wakeham, Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadows and Wakeham Wildlife Site

Wow some fantastic news to start the day. Wakeham Meadow has been saved from a housing development which would have seen Betterment Properties Ltd. building 33 homes on this important calcareous grassland. This is the second time Dorset Council have turned down planning permission here and hopefully the last time.

The first time was in September 2022 here.

And on 10 Jun 24 here.

I'm not sure what's going on, but after a couple of days were both the Song Thrush and Chiffchaff were absent, they are both back singing away in the trees around the meadow.

Also singing here was a Reed Warbler in near enough the same spot I heard it back in May where I recorded singing here 3 times. Surely it hasn't bred here!!

Other highlights were two House Martins overhead.

With cooler winds and very little sunshine there was a distinct lack of invertebrates. The best I could do was 2 Meadow Browns, 2 bees, 2 moths and 6 Swollen-thighed Beetles, plus a few flies. In fact it was that cold I actually wore a jacket.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
2 House Martin
Dunnock
1 Blackbird
1 Song Thrush
1 Reed Warbler
1 Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch

The resident male Song Thrush was...............

.............back singing from its favourite Sycamore Tree in Wakeham Meadow.

You can just about make out a Reed Warbler singing from these Budleia Bushes. As you can tell the Song Thrush was just behind me drowning everything out.

Butterflies Recorded:
2 Meadow Brown

Moths Recorded:
Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

Common Slender (Gracillaria syringella)

A Common Slender (Gracillaria syringella)

Bees Recorded:
1 Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
1 Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)

Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

And a Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum)

Hoverflies Recorded:

None

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

Broad Centurian (Chloromyia formosa)

Semaphore Fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus)

A male Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

Broad Centurian (Chloromyia formosa)

And here we have a male and............

..............female Semaphore Flies (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus) in the "Bath" Pond in the back garden.

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

A male and............

................female Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

The Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) in the centre appears to have lost half of its wing case!!

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima)

Behind the Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) is the nymph of a Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima)

Spiders Recorded:
Crab Spider (Misumena vatia)