Mermaid Track, Rufus Castle and Perryfield Butterfly Reserve
A change of route this evening as it was a bit late, plus had I'd walked my normal route then I would have been in shade for most of it. It was another lovely warm day and though I was late, there were a surprisingly lot of Chiffchaffs about, especially around Perryfields Butterfly Reserve where the sun was still shining. There must have been at least 8 in the Buddleia Bushes and Sycamores.
Elsewhere there were 3 Blackcaps calling from around Rufus Castle, and there was a small flock of 7 Magpies coming into roost in the Sycamores by Church Ope Cove Car Park.
I was a bit late for butterflies, so I thought but I did manage at least 12 Red Admirals and 1 Large White.
Also about were Ivy Bees, wasps and a few Common Drone Flies on the Ivy at the Observation Area by Rufus Castle, whilst at Perryfields I came across a wasp nest and dozens of Common Drones on the Ivy there as well.
Here are few images from this evening:
A Red Admiral soaks up the last of the days sun
A Common Wasp.........
.....and its nest.......
........well hidden in amongst the Portland Stone blocks.
A Common Drone Fly
I thought this was a Marmalade Hoverfly. Its certainly the same size, but those markings are not quite right!
A juvenile Wall Lizard......
......and two more. It looks like one of the youngsters has had a lucky escape.
I'm standing on the old bridge which use to span the Weymouth to Portland railway track. The track is well overgrown, since the last passenger train came this way in the mid 60's
And the same railway track which took through Bottom Combe and into Easton Railway Station.
This tree has a strange looking bark to it.
This is a close-up. First appearance is that its diseased but in fact this is Ulmusalata, Winged Elm.
Shops today
This is the Maltese Vehicles Carrier "Neptune Aegli" on its way from Southampton to an unknown destination. More on this Cargo vessel Here.
Mermaid Track, Penns Weare, The Cuttings and Bumpers Lane
Phew what a change in the weather and I was well caught out when I wore my jacket for my walk this morning. The chilly night progressed into a glorious warm sunny afternoon and after walking a couple hundred meters it was jacket off time.
Some really good highlights with my alternative walk today. First off there were hundreds of Swallows, House Martins and a few Sand Martins feeding along the whole length of Penns Weare. Then I came across a Clouded Yellow and then at long last I found not one but 3 colonies of Ivy Bees.
Also recorded was a strange alarm call of a raptor/owl in Penn's Weare just below The Cuttings. Try as I could, using Xeno-canto, I couldn't find anything remotely similar to the calls. Odd. And another oddity here was what I presumed was a Goshawk. Certainly by its size it could have been, but having spoken to Martin Cade (the Warden at Portland Bird Observatory), it is most likely a large Sparrowhawk. The main feature being the outer-corners of the tail feathers. Goshawk's would have more rounded corner whereas like this individual the corners are "squared-off". There's a great Blog which shows the characteristics of both birds Here.
Other than the masses of hirundine there were several Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps about, whilst overhead lots of Meadow Pipits were passing through.
Here are a few images from today.
An Ivy Bee
And another.
And one more.
My first colony of Ivy Bees, this one along Penns Weare.
Close to The Cuttings I found two more colonies.
Here's a close up of the 2nd colony.
It has taken me awhile, but today I found my first colony of Ivy Bees. In fact I found 3 colonies, this one along Penn's Weare and the other two close to The Cuttings
As a comparison this is a Honey Bee. A lot larger than an Ivy Bee.
One of the bumblebee family a Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Not a bee but a Pied Hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri)
I cant figure out whether this is a fly or a hoverfly.
It certainly has an odd look about it!
A Speckled Wood
Red Admiral
A very distant view of Painted Lady.
A Common Field Grasshopper
These corvids are not happy about this Sparrowhawk being on their patch.
In fact more reinforcements arrived to see it off.
Here it can be seen soaring.
Now I was confused about this Sparrowhawk, which is why I asked for a second opinion. It just didn't look like the individual above and was a lot larger, almost the size of a Buzzard. However the corners of the tail are not rounded enough for a Goshawk. Like this individual the corners are very straight.
No confusion with this raptor...........
........a Kestrel at The Cuttings.
And a little later one by Bumpers Lane.
A Cormorant strikes a nice pose.
Whilst this Robin is about to fly off as it realises I'm pointing the camera at it.
A Wall Lizard basking in the warm sunshine.
A nice close up.
Church Ope Cove
Looking north across Weymouth Bay
A couple of new plants for me today this one is........
..........Goldenrod, Solidago virgaurea
......and Common Hawkweed, Hieraciumvulgatum.
..........which I first came across on 11 Oct 17 Here.
Birds Recorded: 3 Cormorant, 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Sand Martin, House Martin, Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 7 Raven, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch.
Butterflies Recorded: Clouded Yellow, Red Admiral, Peacock, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood, Comma, Large White, Small White and Green-veined White.
Also recorded: Ivy Bees, Honey Bee, Buff-tailed Bumblebee, wasps, Pied Hoverfly, Common Drone Fly and Tapered Drone Fly
Mermaid Track, Rufus Castle, St Andrews Church, Church Ope Cove and Pennsylvania Castle Wood
This afternoon I did my daily walk and took in Church Ope Cove for a change. No real highlights, though there does seem to be an increase in the number of Red Admirals with at least 10 seen along my walk.
There were at least 3 Chiffchaffs along the Mermaid Track and another by Rufus Castle, where there was also a Blackcap calling. Overhead a few Meadow Pipits passed by and there was a small trickle of Swallows on passage.
Here are a few images from this afternoon:
Ivy Bees
And take off.
A Common Carder Bee
Hornet Mimic Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria)
A tatty Red Admiral
And another not so tatty one.
Dark Bush-cricket (Pholidoptera griseoaptera).
A very vocal Common Buzzard.....
.....and a bit of a tatty one at that with quite a few feathers missing.
A few photos of Church Ope Cove
And another.
Rufus Castle from Church Ope Cove
The grounds of St Andrew's Church
Penn's Wood
Portland Bird Observatory and Quarry
News was out this morning that the Monarch butterfly had reappeared in the Obs garden, which was great, as at least it confirmed that it was indeed a Monarch that was seen yesterday evening. Unfortunately by the time I got down there to see it (2 hours later), it had long gone. A bit like the Large Tortoiseshell, it took me 3 days to nail that one, so maybe I'll get lucky.
There was certainly a lot of interest, with the car park almost full with butterfly twitchers all hoping to see it. No Monarch but plenty of other butterflies with Large, Small, Green-veined Whites, Red Admirals and Speckled Woods all on show,
Bird-wise fairly quiet with a Spotted Flycatcher on the wires, Blackcaps and Chiff/Will calling and a Blackbird singing at the bottom of the Obs garden.
Overhead a few Swallows passed over, with the main bulk most likely passing over early this morning at around 8:45am, when there must have been 400+ over Fortuneswell all feeding up before heading down to the Bill and then out to sea.
Hmm a camera shy Spotted Flycatcher
Ships Today
This is a traditional rig sailing vessel "Noah".............
........... Built in Vienna in 1949, it is on its way to Rota, Spain from Cowes. More on this Austrian vessel Here and Here.
