Port and Wey: 26 Jul 24

Tout Quarry

A change of scenery today and a long overdue visit to Tout Quarry. My quarry today was to find a Grayling and I'm pleased to say that I came across 3 in a ravine. Unfortunately I couldn't get down into it, so alas no photos I'm afraid.

There were other good highlights as well, with two "juvenile" Stonechats, a female Common Whitethroat with food, a Chiffchaff, and a fritillary which despite it flying around my head would not land for a positive ID as to which species it was. I have seen both Silver-washed Fritillary and Dark Green Fritillary on Portland, so this will have to go down as a fritillary sp.

Another good highlight was coming across a Hummingbird Hawk-moth, a species I haven't seen on Portland since 21 April.

Birds Recorded:
1 Buzzard
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
2 Meadow Pipit
2 Stonechat
1 Common Whitethroat
1 Chiffchaff
Wren
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
House Sparrow
Linnet
Goldfinch
Greenfinch

This is a male Stonechat, but is it an immature.

There is no doubting that............

............this is an immature female Stonechat.

And here she is showing me the way to King Barrow Quarry. That will be another day.

A female Common Whitethroat with......

..........what looks like........

...........either a Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) or possibly a small Great Green Bush Cricket (Tettigonia viridissima)

Butterflies Recorded:
3 Small Skipper
4 Large White
3 Green-veined White
2 Wall Brown
10+ Meadow Brown
10+ Gatekeeper
5 Marbled White
3 Grayling
1 fritillary sp.
4 Red Admiral
6 Small Blue
10+ Common Blue
10+ Chalk Hill Blue

This is a Small Skipper and I'm............

............guessing that this very dark individual is one as well.

A Gatekeeper

A Marbled White on Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)

And these two..........

..............Small Blues.

A male Common Blue

And these two..............

..............are Chalkhill Blues.

Moths Recorded:

Six-Spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae)
Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum)
Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

And my first............

...............Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) since 21 April.

And a Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

Bees Recorded:

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Common Carder Bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius)

White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

A Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). There was also a Queen flying about.

And White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

Hoverflies Recorded:
1 Mimic Bee Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans)

A Mimic Bee Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans) - form bombylans

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Thick-headed Fly (Sicus ferrugineus)

Four-spot Wingwaver (Herina lugubris)

This is.............

.........a Thick-headed Fly (Sicus ferrugineus). It also goes by the name of Ferruginous Bee-Grabber

And this is a Four-spot Wingwaver (Herina lugubris)

Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
5 Bloody-nosed Beetles (Timarcha tenebricosa)

Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) - pupae

This is a Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa)

And this strange looking thing is the pupae of a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:

Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus)

These three...........

........are..........

..............Meadow Grasshoppers (Chorthippus parallelus)

This is a Common Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus) and......

............here is another.

Spiders Recorded:

Bordered Orb-weaver (Neoscona adianta)

This is.............

..........a Bordered Orb-weaver (Neoscona adianta).

Caterpillars Recorded:
The Cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) - caterpillars

These are........

............the caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth on.......

.................Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)

Plants:

Scotch Rose (Rosa spinosissima)

Burnet-saxifrage (Pimpinella saxfraga)
Carline Thistle (Carlina vulgaris)

Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis)

This is Scotch Rose (Rosa spinosissima). It also goes...........

..............by the name of Burnet Rose, and along with Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is the food plant of the Burnet Rose Tortrix (Acleris permutana). A moth which I have yet to record on Portland. More on this plant and moth here and here respectively.