Port and Wey: 8 Jul 24

Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadows and Wakeham Wildlife Site

With heavy rain forecast for the afternoon, Ted and I made sure we got out for an early walk before it arrived. However were on Portland with its own microclimate and sure enough, after 20 minutes of walking around the meadow, so the rain began to fall. Not heavy rain, but that fine drizzle that gets into every orifice.

Despite the drizzle there were actually a few butterflies about, though most were attempting to find shelter.

The main highlight was a male Blackcap singing in the wildlife site again, plus a lone Swallow heading south.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
1 Swallow
Dunnock
Blackbird
1 Blackcap
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch

A male Blackcap singing from within the Sycamore in the wildlife site.

Butterflies Recorded:
2 Meadow Brown
3 Gatekeeper
2 Marbled White

This Gatekeeper wasn't budging as the rain began to fall.

Here are two.........

.............Marbled Whites.

Moths Recorded:
Rush Veneer (Nomophila noctuella)

Here we have.........

........a Rush Veneer (Nomophila noctuella)

Bees Recorded:

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

Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Hoverflies Recorded:
Black-horned Smoothtail (Epistrophe grossulariae)
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

Thick-legged hoverfly (Syritta pipiens)

A Black-horned Smoothtail (Epistrophe grossulariae)

Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)

A Thick-legged hoverfly (Syritta pipiens)

This was the big disappointment on my walk this morning. This hoverfly flew up from the undergrowth and landed on this Sycamore leaf. In flight it was incredibly yellow in colour, unlike any hoverfly I have seen before. As I attempted to photograph it way above my head, the wind blew really hard and it was gone. The only family I could find which this was similar to, was Bacchini, which have species such as Chequered Hoverfly (Melanostoma scalare), Variable Duskyface (Melanostoma mellinum) and Marsh Boxer (Platycheirus clypeatus). Hopefully I will come across this individual again!!

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:

Red Spotted Parasite Fly (Eriothrix rufomaculata)

Yellow Bellied Fly (Sciara hemerobioides)

Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

Orange Muscid Fly (Phaonia pallida)

Long-legged fly (Dolichopodidae sp.)

House Flies (Neomyia sp.)

A Red Spotted Parasite Fly (Eriothrix rufomaculata)

A Yellow Bellied Fly (Sciara hemerobioides) and a pollen beetle sp.

A female Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)

And an Orange Muscid Fly (Phaonia pallida)

Sadly I'm not going to be able to go further.......

............than this being a Long-legged fly (Dolichopodidae sp.)

The following four flies are members of the house fly family Muscidae. There are two very similar looking species like the ones below and if you had a good magnifying glass, you might be able to tell them apart. As I don't they will remain as Neomyia sps. More on this species, here, here and here.