16 Aug 24

King Barrow Quarries Nature Reserve and Tout Quarry

This afternoon Ted and I had a walk from King Barrow Quarries Nature Reserve to Tout Quarry via the Wide Street underpass and back.

I was hoping for a few Adonis Blue butterflies, but had to settle for a good 50+ Common and Chalkhill Blues instead. Other highlights were several Wall Browns and a Grayling.

Birds Recorded:

1 Buzzard
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
1 Pied Wagtail
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Linnet
Goldfinch

This Common Buzzard was in............

............the King Barrow Quarries Nature Reserve

Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded: 

1 hawker sp.


Butterflies Recorded:
5 Large White
7+ Wall Brown
1 Speckled Wood
10+ Meadow Brown
1 Grayling
4 Red Admiral
20+ Common Blue
30+ Chalk Hill Blue

These two are............

.............Wall Browns.

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

............Meadow Browns.

And a Grayling. In the hope of coaxing it to open its wings, I did cast a shadow over it with my hand to imitate a cloud. I failed, it flew off.

These two are............

..........Chalkhill Blues, with this individual almost half its normal size!!

Moths Recorded:
2 Mint Moth (Pyrausta aurata)

1 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)

Around the Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) were a........

.........couple of Mint Moths (Pyrausta aurata). More on this moth here.

A Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) found by a family visiting Tout Quarry.

Bees Recorded:
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Common Carder bee (Bombus pascuorum)
Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Hoverflies Recorded:
Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)

This is a Plain-faced Dronefly (Eristalis arbustorum)

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Greenbottle (Lucilia sp.)

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

A Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

Plants:
Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)
Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)
Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare)

Carline Thistle (Carlina vulgaris)

A Carline Thistle (Carlina vulgaris)

General Shots:

This is the track from across the road from King Barrow Quarries Nature Reserve heading towards........

Ted:

.............the underpass, with Tout Quarry at the far entrance. I'm not surprised Ted is lying down, it was nice and cool in the tunnel, unlike the sun beating down outside.

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Wakeham

This morning over the house were 1 Swift, 3 House Martin, 2 Swallow and these 3 Buzzards.

In the garden was this Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) form - succinea

Ships Today:

This is the Chinese Container Ship "Xin Nan Tong" on its way from Antwerp (Belgium) to Lisbon (Portugal). More on this vessel here.