Dorset Holiday Day 10

The last full day in Dorset started well. Sadly moths were a little thin on the ground but as I came out of toilets I spotted a Silver-Washed Fritillary land on the vegetation adjacent to the path right next to me. I had my compact in my pocket so grabbed a few photos with that before racing back to get the DSLR. When I returned the butterfly decided to leave, buts its still the first profile shots I have of this species

-Silver Washed Fritillary

 My plan for the day was Durlston Head Country Park near Swanage, for some seabirds and butterflies. Sadly there was a dire shortage of seabirds, with only a couple of Shags to note. Land birds were not much better but I gained a novelty holiday tick when I flushed 2 Red-Legged Partridges.

As soon as we arrived I was treated to a Silver Washed Fritillary and a couple of blue butterflies which looked very much like Holly Blues, though they did not land. A Hummingbird Hawkmoth was the best of them though, as it fed on the buddleia adjacent to the café where we were.

-Hummingbird Hawkmoth

 Despite the wind there were a good number of butterflies out on the wing. I had hoped for an Adonis blue but instead managed a few Common Blue and a Small Blue. Small Blue was not the only small butterfly for the day, as I also managed Small Copper as a holiday tick.

-Small Copper

-Little Blue

 There were still a few Lulworth Skippers around, this being the last time I will see any of those for a while. I was also able to add another butterfly species to the holiday list in Dark Green Fritillary. They were not abundant round the cliff top but there were about four in a small dell. Sadly, like their silver washed cousins, they did not choose to land conveniently for me.

-Lulworth Skipper

-Dark-Green Fritillary

I was pretty pleased with the days haul. In the afternoon we headed down into Swanage before heading back to the caravan. In the evening we went to Lulworth cove which was a pleasant end to the Dorset experience

Species List:

Durlston Country Park: Kestrel, Shag, Stonechat, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Whitethroat, Carrion Crow, Gannet, Rock Pipit, Red-Legged Partridge, Rook, Raven, Black-Headed Gull, Great Black-Headed Gull, Common Buzzard, Emperor Dragonfly, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Lulworth Skipper, Large White, Green Veined White, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Common Blue, Small Blue, Holly Blue, Small Copper, Silver Washed Fritillary, Dark Green Fritillary, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, 

Dorset Holiday Day 8

Day 8! Seems not so long since it started and yet here we are. Quick check round the moths this morning did not provide anything different from the previous mornings, though there remained some nice moths, such as Dark Arches and a few Footman species.

I decided to go to the Bill today and do the Seawatching that I did not do yesterday. Trains were a bit more suitable and the bus was all plain sailing, though it as a tourist service so did take a while to reach the bill. That being said it was very interesting to hear about the history of Portland. Apparently to say ‘rabbit’ or ‘bunnies’ to a Portlander on a Friday is a big insult, after rabbits once buried into a quarry, causing a landslide which killed a number of quarrymen.

Once at the bill I immediately set up Seawatching, and did not have to wait long before I had my first Balearic Shearwater of the day, 3, which descended onto the sea only for me to lose them in the waves. However, I was pleased to have got the watch off to a good start.

Birds were thin on the ground again, but there were a few Gannets and Guillemots moving about, some quite close in. There were also the usual Shags and Cormorants blogging about. Three flocks of Common Scoter also flew past, maybe about 25 birds in total. Sadly they were distant but good views could be had through the scope.

-Shag

After an hour I decided to have a walk round the field looking for butterflies. There were no new species, but there were a few Lulworth Skippers present. I had intended to head home after this but my parents called and said they were coming down. As a result I stuck around and headed back Seawatching.

Good thing I did too. After it had slowed down initially, the birds started to pick up again. In the next two hours I was treated to at least 2 Balearic Shearwaters going past. Initially middle distance but occasionally less than 20 meters away from shore, to give you an idea of the fantastic views I was getting. After a bit, two settled down on the sea mid distance, and I was able to watch them blog about. There was even one following a fishing vessel with the gulls. They were awesome. I tried to get some photos but it’s hard to keep the camera in focus when the target is always moving, so they did not come out as well as I had hoped.

-Balearic Shearwater

Besides the Balearics there were a few other goodies. I had just 2 waders; a Ringed Plover, which came from the left, then banked and returned back that way, and a Turnstone which did the same. And a final treat just as I was wrapping up, was a flock of 11 Manx Shearwater which were more distant, giving an ideal contrast to the Balearics. Manx Shearwater was also a yeartick, number 207 for the year. 

-Manx Shearwater

After an outstanding Seawatching session I headed to the butterfly reserve again, but numbers were down on yesterday. Highlights were a solitary Small Blue, a few Chalkhill Blue on the coast and a few more Lulworth Skippers in between. Also a Common Lizard on one of the walls was a nice addition to the day list.

-Lulworth Skipper

-Common Lizard

I think its fair to say I made the right call in going back to Portland to do some Seawatching. It was good fun, and meant I was able to add Balearic Shearwater to the list of species that I have photographed.

Species List:

Portland: Gannet, Guillemot, Shag, Herring Gull, Balearic Shearwater, Black-Headed Gull, Common Scoter, Starling, Kestrel, Skylark, Great Black-Backed Gull, Ringed Plover, House Sparrow, Cormorant, Turnstone, Manx Shearwater, Raven, Linnet, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Common Lizard, Emperor Dragonfly, Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Ringlet, Marbled White, Small Blue, Common Blue, Chalkhill Blue, Large White, Small Tortoiseshell ,Painted Lady, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Lulworth Skipper,

Dorset Holiday Day 7

Today was supposed to be a really nice day, with the wind dropping with the cloud cover. This was, for the most part, true, but the level of both increased as the afternoon wore on. I decided to make some kind of effort to get up early to have a look round the moths. There was a reasonable catch, the highlights being another new species of footman, this time Buff, and a Pebble Hook Tip. Other species were around, but these were species I had already encountered during the week, such as Dark Arches.

-Four-Spot Footman

-Buff Footman

-Pebble Hook-Tip

 I decided to go to Broadcroft Quarry butterfly reserve on Portland since the weather was meant to be Ok. However, due to train times I did not set off until quite late, and then had to wait around an hour for a bus, leaving a large part of the day wasted.

Once on site it took me a while to get my bearings, but was soon examining. For the actual nature reserve there was very little, mainly common brown butterfly species with a few Marbled Whites thrown in. However, on the other side of the road to the reserve there were a few more species to be had, as more small butterflies were out on the wing.

I logged 3 species of Skipper; Small, Large and Lulworth. I was pleased to have found the Lulworth again as goodness knows when I will next see another due to their range being so restricted. Sadly the wind was picking up at this point and photos were getting harder to take in the swaying grass.

-Lulworth Skipper

 The real highlight of the day was the Small Blues. I had only ever seen one before, a rather scratty individual, but today there were a good few on the wing, some of which were in pristine condition. I was able to get a few photos, but the wind proved a problem again and the butterflies were very mobile and hard to pin down. Besides a few Common Blues, they were the only blue butterflies on the wing.

-Little Blue

Sadly there were not many birds around; such is the nature of the site. Other insects on site were a little more plentiful, with none butterfly highlights being a nice Emperor Dragonfly and a real bonus being a Great Green Bush Cricket, my first not on the Isle of Wight, and my first that I found that wasn’t singing. It was lumbering through the vegetation whilst I was watching the small blues, so would have been hard to miss.

-Great Bush Cricket

I had initially planned to go to the bill and do some Seawatching but given the state of public transport and that buses to the point are very infrequent, I decided to give it a miss and head back to the caravan.

Species List:

Broadfield Quarry Butterfly Reserve: Linnet, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Swallow, Swift, House Martin, Emperor Dragonfly, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Lulworth Skipper, Large White, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Small Heath, Speckled Wood, Small Blue, Common Blue, Small Tortoiseshell,

Dorset Holiday Day 3

I aimed to keep up with my early starts for the duration of the holiday, so set my alarm for 5.30 in the morning with the aim of doing the moths on the toilet block followed by a visit to nearby Winfrith Heath, which has become something of a local patch for the holiday.

I did the quick moth round, but there was nothing really any different. Most of yesterday’s moths were still in the same location as they had been, and the number of new moths was low. The only real addition to the moth fauna of the holiday was a Dark Arches that was on the toilet block where the hawkmoth had been the day before.

Next I cycled on to the heath. It was a muggy morning but as the morning drew on the sun decided to make its first appearance of the holiday, and by the time I was heading back for breakfast it was a very pleasant and warm day.

This was reflected in the fact that a number of insect species were on the wing, despite the early time of day. I finally got my Odonata list out of the hangar with a good number of Banded Demoiselles that were associating with the bracken alongside the river. I was able to add to that a nice female Keeled Skimmer and brief views of a Golden-Ringed Dragonfly. 

-Banded Demoiselle

-Keeled Skimmer

-Painted Lady

 Despite the weather picking up, there were no reptiles on any of the open areas of ground, nor were there any on the corrugated iron sheets that had been put down. Fortunately the birds more than made up for this, as I got a bumper haul of species from the morning.

I got a few Siskins in flight from the nearby pine trees, and a Tree Pipit chilling on a small conifer in the middle of the heathland. The real stars of the day were the Dartford Warblers. I am accustom to seeing these birds flit in and around the gorse, so I felt my luck was in when I encountered 2 juveniles flitting along the fence line adjacent to the railway. I was pretty thrilled about that, but it got even better when I wandered round the main hillock on the heath, as round the far side there was a superb adult which was sitting out in the open only around 6 feet away. I got a few nice photos of the exceptional view I got of it. It was calling similar to a Whitethroat when in distress, so I decided that it was probably best to leave it, just in case it was upset. And then, on the bird front, if it could not get any better, I had a flock of around 7 flyover Crossbills, which was an unexpected bonus.

-Dartford Warbler

I arrived back at the caravan site for around 8.30 ready for breakfast and a full day out in what appeared to be the first nice day of the holiday. The consensus was that my family were heading to Portland Bill for a walk, so I decided to go down with them and have a look round the site which I had not looked at before.

We arrived at the Bill for around 10.30, upon which my family decided to go for a morning drink at the café. As a committed birdwatcher I decided to do my first independent Seawatching from the Bill, in the hope of getting a Balearic Shearwater and a few other coastal species.

I probably spent an hour watching the birds off the Bill. There were not masses of birds moving but there was decent quality. I felt I was tested but managed to do it reasonably well, and it was my first outing with the new scope in Seawatching.

There were a few Guillemots moving, blogging to and fro as well as plenty of Gannets of a number of different ages. The first real nice birds for the watch were 2 Pale phase and a Dark phase Arctic Skua that flew through relatively close in, and I got really nice views through the scope. They were a yeartick and my second yeartick was Shag, with a few of them in the area flying to and fro. At 11.10 I was treated to my target bird, when a mid-distance Balearic Shearwater flew past. It was banking in and out of the waves at it moved past but I was able to pick up the key features as it whizzed on by. Unknown to me at this point but there had been one ‘lingering’ all morning before, but to see it for myself was pretty special and I was chuffed to bits with that. I also had a Mediterranean Gull and 4 Common Scoter fly past. So overall it was an exceptional session. Also of note were 3 Rock Pipits that were blogging around the shore below me, a nice holiday tick. 

-Rock Pipit

At this point my family returned, explaining that they intended to go for a walk along the cliff up to a nearby cove for lunch. Since movement was slow and I had most of what I wanted I decided to go with them. The wind was still quite strong so there were not many insects on the wing along the coast. However there were a few more birds that were not seabirds around. The highlight of these was a pair of Raven feeding in a field, but there was also a very confiding Kestrel, perched on a fencepost just over 9 feet away.

-Kestrel

-Raven

As we walked along the coast we began to dip in and out of old limestone quarries where it was more sheltered. Here there were a few more butterflies on the wing, which finally meant my holiday butterfly list was getting somewhere. My dad pointed out a Marbled White, but soon these were everywhere, while there remained good numbers of Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper.

It started to get exciting when I spotted a Skipper roosting on the path. Sadly I had the wrong lens on and my attempts to get a photo were poor, but I head a sneaking suspicion that it might be a Lulworth Skipper, a Dorset specialty. Before I managed any decent record shots it took flight and I lost it, but I remained optimistic that the photos might show it was, when compared to a guide book back at the caravan.

I need not have worried, as further along the coast I found another skipper which was far more obliging, allowing me good views of all the features I needed, leaving me in little doubt that I had found a Lulworth Skipper. All doubts were finally laid to rest when I compared this individual to the book back home, showing beyond all doubt that I had my first butterfly lifer of the year. I had a strong feeling when I initially saw it that this was a Lulworth and so had taken plenty of photos for the record, but the initial shots also showed that the first skipper had been a Lulworth too. Both were females. What a super little thing.

-Lulworth Skipper

Buzzing from that I continued along my way. By now my parents had long gone due to my constantly being distracted. My brother came back though, saying he had found a lizard, so we headed up that way to see a stunning Common Lizard sunning itself under the wall alongside the road. I grabbed a few photos of this one, but it was the first of many along the coast route, though many were only fleeting glimpses. 

-Common Lizard

Butterfly numbers had picked up through the walk, and I was beginning to build up a decent species list. There were a few Lulworth Skippers around, as well as Small and Large Skippers to offer comparisons. A few blue butterflies also appeared, initially only Common but soon a few Chalk-Hill too, which are always a delight to see. The real bonus butterfly was a Grayling which I accidentally flushed, but was able to follow back to its landing point on the path to grab some photos. It’s an England tick for me, having only seen them previously in Scotland, and then a long time ago. Overall I was thrilled and it could not get much better.

-Grayling

-Chalk-hill Blue

Or that’s what I thought until after lunch when me and my brother began looking again. We had a while to wait while my dad fetched the car, so we had a look at the grassland on the Northern side of the cove in which we had eaten lunch in the hope of maybe finding an Adonis blue, the only other potential butterfly lifer. Sadly not, but I did get a superb alternative. 

I was just strolling through the grassland, my brother along the cliff-top when I spotted a large Yellow Butterfly flying over the shrubs. I had seen this only one time before but I knew immediately what it was; Clouded Yellow. I immediately began shouting and calling as I could not believe what I was seeing. We were able to follow its movement along the cliff as it rested on a number of flowers. Sadly it never rested wings open, which was disappointing, but I managed some nice shots of it perched up wings closed. If there was anything that could have been added to the day I had already had, this would have been. What a superb insect.

-Clouded Yellow

It had been thrilling to see that, and that’s an understatement. What an insect filled day. And it was not just the butterflies, as I was able to finally, finally see a live Cockchaffer beetle. My brother found it crawling on the floor, but it did not stick around long before flying off. There were not only Cockchaffer but also their green cousins in the form of Rose Chaffers, which were sitting in their usual position atop a large white flower.

-Cockchafer

-Rose Chafer

After that we had a quick look at Chesil Beach, but the weather had started to set in and there was nothing of any real note there. We ended the day back at the Caravan, where we stumbled across a Common Shrew that had come into the Awning. I managed to get it out when it ran into a food crate, but it was full of energy, as Shrews are. A final note is that out evening meal was interrupted rudely by a massive House Spider. What a superb day.

Species List:

Winfrith Heath: Linnet, Blackbird, Robin, Rook, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Tree Pipit, Chaffinch, Stonechat, Magpie, Cormorant, Siskin, Swift, Dartford Warbler, Great Tit, Willow Warbler, Crossbill, Skylark, Keeled Skimmer, Golden-Ringed Dragonfly, Banded Demoiselle, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Painted Lady, Large Skipper,

Portland Bill: Guillemot, Gannet, Arctic Skua, Shag, Herring Gull, Rock Pipit, Balearic Shearwater, Great Black-Backed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Cormorant, Common Scoter, Linnet, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Starling, Kestrel, Oystercatcher, Woodpigeon, Black-Headed Gull, Skylark, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Swallow, Common Buzzard, Common Lizard, Common Blue, Chalk-Hill Blue, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Lulworth Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Ringlet, Speckled Wood, Small Heath, Grayling, Large White, Clouded Yellow,