9 Jun 24

Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadows and Wakeham Wildlife Site

It is so nice to have some decent weather for a change, though that strong north westerly wind is still taking the edge off things.

No highlights but lowlights today (is there such a thing!). For the first time in weeks there was no Chiffchaff or Song Thrush singing. Have they both found mates, as late as it is, or have they given up and moved on. I will keep checking.

I fibbed, there were a couple of highlights and good ones as well, with a female Broad-bodied Chaser along Old Quarry Lane and what I think is a green form of a female Common Blue Damselfly in Wakeham Meadow.


Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Dunnock
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch


Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded:
1 Broad-bodied Chaser

1 Common Blue Damselfly - possibly

A female Broad-bodied Chaser and.........

.............two videos...........

of it before it flew off.

I think this is the female green form Common Blue Damselfly!!

Butterflies Recorded:
1 Dingy Skipper
1 Green-veined White
3 Speckled Wood
5 Meadow Brown
4 Common Blue

A Dingy Skipper

A Speckled Wood

And a few.........

...........photos of......

...........Meadow Browns. This individual has two white dots within the black spot. It does occur, but like the other two you would normally only see one white dot. Something else I also noted, and that is  there is a difference in the pattern on the underwing between these three. Where there is a "jagged" pattern on the lower underwing on individuals one and three, the middle one doesn't have this pattern! I have tried to find out why, but no luck yet!!

Moths Recorded:

Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

Garden Grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)

Bees Recorded:
Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica)

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica)

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Hoverflies Recorded:
Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Dagger Fly (Empis tessellata)

Dagger Fly (Empis tessellata)

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:

Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis)

Trivial Plant Bug (Closterotomus trivialis)
Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)
Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

A Trivial Plant Bug (Closterotomus trivialis)

Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)

Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) - form spectabilis

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
2 Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera)

A Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) - nymph

Spiders Recorded:
Crab Spider (Misumena vatia)

Crab Spider (Misumena vatia)

Froghoppers Recorded:
Froghopper (Philaenus sp)

"Cuckoo Spit". More on Froghoppers here.

Ted:

Go Ted go.

Aircraft Today:

This is a privately owned Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP Registration D-ECMV. More on this aircraft here, here, here, here plus photos here and here. And here on Aviation Safety