5 Aug 25

Old Quarry Lane and Wakeham Meadows

An afternoon walk around my local patch was very rewarding especially with a Hummingbird Hawk-moth nectaring on the Buddleia flowers along Old Quarry Lane

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
2 House Martin
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Goldfinch


Escapees, Ferals, Possibles Etc.
Feral pigeon


Butterflies Recorded:
10 Large White Pieris brassicae
10 Small White Pieris rapae
2 Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria
5 Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina
4 Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus
8 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta
10 Common Blue Polyommatus icarus
4 Chalk Hill Blue Polyommatus coridon

Despite Obsidentify identifying this Small White as 100% a Southern Small White, it is a Small White. The main identification aid is the shape of the black spot, which is round in a Small White and square in a Southern Small White. Here is a good ID chart here showing the difference.

I think not. At least Google Lens got it right.

On this Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris is a very battered Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus

A Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta on Buddleia

A worn male Common Blue Polyommatus icarus

A male Chalk Hill Blue Polyommatus coridon and...................

............a female.

And a pair of Chalk Hill Blues

Moths Recorded:

3 Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella
1 Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata

1 Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana

1 Hummingbird Hawk-moth Macroglossum stellatarum

A Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella

And another Rush Veneer

A Double-striped Pug Gymnoscelis rufifasciata

A Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana with..........

...............a bit of damage to its wings.

A Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) feeding on Buddleia

And again but in Slow-motion. Not that it makes much of a difference, as those wings are beating around 70 - 85 beats per second.

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

..........photos of a...........

............. very busy Hummingbird Hawk-moth

Bees Recorded:
Honey Bee Apis mellifera

Buff-tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris
Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum
Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius
Patchwork Leafcutter Bee Megachile centuncularis - possibly

On this Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra is a male Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius

And on this Common Ragwort is another Red-tailed Bumblebee this time a worker.

This very black bee is possibly a Patchwork Leafcutter Bee Megachile centuncularis

Wasps, Ichneumon Wasps, Parasitic Wasps and Gall Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris
1 Broad-banded Hopper Wolf Gorytes laticinctus

Dilemma!! Is this a Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris or a German Wasp Vespula germanica. The main feature in this photo, which could help in identification, is the yellow band on the side of the thorax. On the Common Wasp it is parallel and on the German Wasp it is triangular shaped. Unfortunately my photo isn't good enough to tell.

However I did take another photo and the pattern on the abdomen shows that it is a Common Wasp. 

Here is an aid to identification courtesy of Discover The Wild on Facebook here. Another very useful wasp identification website I came across was Land Care Research here

In amongst the brambles was this Broad-banded Hopper Wolf Gorytes laticinctus

Hoverflies Recorded:
Common Dronefly Eristalis tenax
Dead Head Hoverfly Myathropa florea
Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus
1 Thick-legged hoverfly Syritta pipiens

1 Hornet Plumehorn Volucella zonaria

On this Wild Fennel Foeniculum vulgare is a Thick-legged hoverfly Syritta pipiens AKA Compost Hoverfly

A Hornet Plumehorn Volucella zonaria on.............

.................... Wild Fennel

Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Many unidentified flies
Greenbottle Lucilia sp.
Red-spotted Parasite Fly Eriothrix rufomaculata

A Red-spotted Parasite Fly Eriothrix rufomaculata on Common Ragwort

Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Many unidentified grasshoppers
2 Dark Bush-cricket Pholidoptera griseoaptera

Lacewings and Scorpionflies Recorded:
1 Lacewing sp.

A Lacewing sp.

Plants:
Bramble Rubus fruticosusa
Buddleia Buddleja davidii
Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra
Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris
Common Teasel Dipsacus fullonum
Hemp Agrimony Eupatorium cannabinum
Wild Fennel Foeniculum vulgare

And its that time of the year when the Blackberries are really beginning to ripen.