11 May 22

Wakeham Railway Cuttings, Penns Wood, St Andrew's Church, Church Ope Cove, Church Ope Cove Wood, Penn's Weare, Penn's Copse, Rufus Castle and Bumpers Lane

With rain forecast for late morning and continuing throughout the day, I set the alarm for silly o'clock so that I could get a walk in before it arrived. Well I managed to get up and as I set off it was even sunny for awhile. I got back around 9:00am just as the rain began to fall. Perfect timing.

My last walk through Penns Wood to the Cove was back on the 21st April, and unsurprisingly everything looked a lot greener today.

No real highlights and no butterflies either, but then it was pretty early in the day.

Birds Recorded:
1 Buzzard
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
1 Stock Dove
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
4 Common Whitethroat
1 Lesser Whitethroat
3 Blackcap
1 Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch

One of the four Common Whitethroats I came across this morning.

And another view.

Looking across Wakeham Railway Cuttings from Perryfield Quarry Butterfly where......

..............this Lesser Whitethroat has taken up residence.

A short video of the Lesser Whitethroat singing

Reptiles Recorded:
2 Slow-worms


Butterflies Recorded:
None


Moths Recorded:

Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana)

Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana) on Penn's Weare

Bees Recorded:
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)
Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica)

If I have this right, this is a Chocolate Mining Bee which was in the grounds of St Andrew's Church

Hoverflies Recorded:
Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
Vagrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)

Marmalade Hoverfly

Vagrant Hoverfly (Eupeodes corollae)

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

Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Ischnomera cyanea)

Bloody-nosed Beetle

One of many Lesser Thick-legged Flower Beetles on the Ragwort flowers.

Plants:

Ivy Broomrape (Orobanche hederae)

Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

An Ivy Broomrape just emerging on Penn's Weare

Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

And me just trying to be clever with a bit of artistic licence.

General Shots:

Pennsylvania Castle Woods. Ted is somewhere down the track.

The very lush looking grounds of St Andrews Church

And the toilet block at the Cove has had a facelift.

Rufus Castle with The Portland Races in the distance

Ted:

He does like sitting on the cliff watching the world go by.

Whoops!! Ted's snagged a nasty bramble and can't look. I can't blame him. Fortunately it was easy enough to remove.

10 May 22

Lower Horse Paddock, Upper Horse Paddock, Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, Broadcroft Quarry Lane, and Bumpers Lane

Not much today on a pretty blustery south-westerly. Despite the wind there were quite a few butterflies about with 8 butterfly species recorded..

Nothing new on the bird front, though there was a small group of 11 House Martin's and 8 Swallows which passed over the reserve heading up the island.

Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
11 House Martin
8 Swallow
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
4 Common Whitethroat
1 Lesser Whitethroat
2 Blackcap
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch
Greenfinch


Butterflies Recorded:
Orange-tip
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
Wall Brown
Speckled Wood
Small Blue
Common Blue

A Wall Brown, which 99% of the time I have found sunning themselves on tracks and paths around the island.

A Speckled Wood which much prefers sitting higher up on a leaf.

This is a Small Blue and can be found in small patches of sheltered grassland, where its sole foodplant, Kidney Vetch, is found.

This is a Common Blue and..........

........................can be found in a variety of grassy habitats.

Bees Recorded:
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)

Red Mason Bee (Osmia bicornis)

I think I have found a bit of a hot spot for Red Mason Bees. This one and a few others are on and around the "Bump".

Hoverflies Recorded:
Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)

In the windy conditions just one Common Dronefly was seen


Ted:

Ted as always, waiting for me to catch him up.

9 May 22

Barleycrates Lane, West Cliff, Reap Lane Barn, The Hump (Avalanche Road) and Thumb Lane

Well today I opted for a walk on Portland's west side, in the hope of coming across a Spotted Flycatcher. Along my route there were several places I have seen them before, but today there were none.

However I did find 2 female Pied Flycatchers at The Hump, where there was also a Blackcap and a Chiffchaff.

Other birds of note were 2 Swifts over the West Cliffs, a Sedge Warbler at Thumb Lane and a Wheatear close to Barleycrates Lane

Mammals Recorded:

Grey Squirrel

This Grey Squirrel was absolutely flying through the trees, with two very annoyed Magpies in pursuit.

Birds Recorded:
1 Gannet
1 Cormorant
Buzzard
2 Oystercatcher
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
2 Swift
Skylark

2 Swallow
Pied Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
1 Wheatear
Blackbird
1 Sedge Warbler
4 Common Whitethroat
1 Blackcap
1 Chiffchaff
2 Pied Flycatcher
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch
Greenfinch

A lone Gannet off Portland's west coastline

A pair of Oystercatchers.

A pair of Skylarks. The bird at the back has picked up a "red pellet". A fertilizer maybe!!

And in Weston where I parked up were these........

............Swallows on the telephone wires.

Just the one Wheatear seen. And a very distant one at that.

This male Blackbird was in excellent voice at Reap Lane Barns

This female Pied Flycatcher and another close by were busy catching insects in the Sycamores. This one has spotted something above.

A tilt of the head and then.........

..............head back.

False alarm.

A Carrion Crow keeps a wary eye on me and Ted as we walk along the coastal path.

A few juvenile Starlings and adults searching for insects in one of the horse paddocks along my walk.

A male Linnet

And another with a little less red on his chest.

Butterflies Recorded:
Orange-tip
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
Wall Brown
Speckled Wood
Peacock
Small Blue
Holly Blue
Common Blue

A Speckled Wood

A female Holly Blue

A male Common Blue

Bees Recorded:
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)


Wasps Recorded:
German Wasp (Vespula germanica)

A German Wasp in flight.

Same shot as above, but enlarged slightly.

Hoverflies Recorded:
Dead Head Hoverfly (Myathropa florea)

A Dead Head Hoverfly

Spiders Recorded:
Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

A Nursery Web Spider

General Shots:

The "Hump" at Avalanche Road

Ted:

Ted way up Barleycrates Lane.

Here he is again leading me into wood at the "Hump"

Somewhere in amongst the Alexanders is Ted.

Aircraft Today:

This Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is coming into land at Weston.

An hour later and it was off.

I'm not sure what the call was for..........

............but hopefully it was a successful one.