Dorset Holiday Day 4

I allowed myself something of a lie in this morning, getting out of bed at 7.00. It is perhaps because of this that there were fewer moths again, many having already moved on. However, a few nice specimens were still around. A Buff-Tip had reappeared, but was near the roof of the building, while photographable moths included a nice Dark Arches and a male Four Spot Footman.

 -Four Spot Footman

-Dark Arches

 My family were heading into Wareham for the morning, so I decided to hitch a lift and go to one of the heathlands over that way. I eventually decided to go for Morden Bog, site of the 2014 ST Eagle. The weather was reasonably nice and so I hoped I might get decent views of Woodlark.

As soon as I was there I could tell this was a quality site. Just in from the road and there was a largish pool adjacent to the path, so I headed over that way to have a look for some dragon and damselflies. It was not particularly sunny but was pleasantly warm, so there were a few of them about. The main species present were Common Emerald, Common Blue and Small Red. The latter species is one I do not encounter very often so I was pretty pleased to see more of them. On a scarcer note I was able to add a solitary Variable Damselfly to the list.

-Emerald Damselfly

-Variable Damselfly

 On the dragonfly front there was significantly fewer individuals present but still a good number of species, overall higher than the number of damselflies. Around the pond there was the main Emperor hunting, then a number of Common Darter and Black-Tailed Skimmer along the fringes. I also had a Black Darter but only the one. Then in the wood itself I had a very distant Common Hawker

-Black Darter

 The pond also had a number of other goodies. There were a few notable butterflies around, including my first Silver-Studded Blues of the holiday, and a Grayling on the path. The weather probably played a part in the overall lack of butterfly species but there were still a few around. On the path I had a smashing Green Tiger Beetle running around, and in the pond itself I was thrilled to spot a Grass Snakes head bobbing around. I spotted it the same moment it spotted me, and it then quickly dived. I had to wait about a minute before I spotted it again but I was able to grab a few photos.

-Silver Studded Blue

-Grass Snake

 Birds were sparse around the pool but there were a few more as I moved around the heathland. I headed up towards the main pool where I was surprised to see a few birders around. I asked one about woodlark and he said that he had not seen any, and that at this time of year they were very hard to find. He did mention hobby though, which I failed to see (Probably due to the weather) and Dartford Warbler, which I did see.

-Dartford Warbler

 I had stupidly left my binoculars at home, and so was pretty much birding blind. That being said, I got a very good haul for the day. I heard multiple Crossbill flocks before I actually spotted 2 individuals flying overhead. Sadly without bins I was unable to really appreciate them, but through what photos I have you can see the bill extension. I also had multiple Stonechats, some of which were very vocal, as well as a solitary Tree Pipit. Siskins and Yellowhammers were also in abundance and were often very vocal themselves.

-Crossbill

 My favourite record from the site was one that was completely unexpected for me and a real bonus species for the holiday. As I was heading along the track I could see a depression in the vegetation which indicated a pool, which could mean dragonflies. I meandered over to have a quick check and was stopped dead in my tracks by the sight that greeted me. There, at the back of the pool, right out in the open, was a Water Rail. I could not believe what I was seeing. It had not seen me yet but was definitely on the move, so I only had a little time for photos. It moved behind a clump of vegetation and as I moved round to see it again it spotted me and bolted. So sadly I only have a couple of very poor shots, but they say more than I ever could.

-Water Rail

By one in the afternoon I decided to call it quits, largely helped by the fact that my parents were passing on their way back from Wareham, but the key factor was that I could not work around not having my bins. It was doing my head in and had put a real downer on the morning.

For the afternoon I decided to stay local. I headed to the local heath, but this time to the slightly further Winfrith Heath as opposed to my usual site of Tadnoll Heath. Winfrith was quite disappointing in all honesty, with only a handful of insects around, and most of those seemed to have a taste for my flesh. A few none savage insects included a Common Hawker hunting along the path, and a Green Tiger Beetle doing the same.

-Green Tiger Beetle

 I decided to call in at Tadnoll on the way back just to have a quick check of the corrugated iron tins for reptiles. So far it had been a pretty poor deal for reptiles but that all changed when I had a look then. I lifted up the first tin and was thrilled to see both a superb Grass Snake and a female Smooth Snake. The Grass Snake scarpered all too quickly for my liking but the Smooth Snake just sat there settled, allowing me to take plenty of photos and have a fantastic view of it. I was buzzing, and it got even better when I flipped another tin to see a male Smooth Snake under there. Sadly it too cleared off pretty quick, but I did get a couple of shots of that.

-Female Smooth Snake

-Male Smooth Snake

 Because of the success I had there, I decided to stick around and keep birding on the site. There were ample dragonflies within in the heather and plenty of butterflies on the brambles; Comma, Peacock and Red Admiral. There were also plenty of dragonflies and I was chuffed when I found a Golden-Ringed Dragonfly on the floor. I managed a few shots before it decided to move off…

-Golden Ringed Dragonfly

 Walking along the central dirt track I was given another fantastic boost for the day when I happened to flush four birds from the track. I knew exactly what these were, but when I set eyes on them on the deck for the first time I was taken aback and began to doubt myself as I could not clearly make out the features that made them Woodlark. This was probably due to the distance away that they were but fortunately, all doubts were laid to rest when they flushed again, and for the first time I heard them call. Distinct Woodlark call! That was all the proof I needed. They loitered around the path for a bit but despite seeing where they landed I could not pick them up on the deck, and my views remained only flushed views.

-Woodlark

 Now knowing they were still present I decided to put down some seed to see if I could attract them in. In the evening my parents mentioned that they wanted to have a look at the site, so put down some seed along the side of the path. Along the evening walk we flushed the four Woodlark again, but they returned to the heather and not the path, so I could not really pursue them. Still, having seen them again, I do have hope that I might see them on the deck properly at some point.

We had a look at the tins again in the evening, and were rewarded with the Grass Snake again, but once again it cleared off pretty quick. However, we had a fantastic encounter with a Slow Worm along the path. It was very docile, probably as a result of the cooler evening, but it did allow me to grab plenty of photos of it. It was lovely and bronze, the best I have ever seen. It was a lovely end to the day.

-Slow Worm

Species List:

Crossways Caravan Site: Treecreeper, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Woodpigeon, Nuthatch,

Morden Bog: Yellowhammer, Jay, Green Woodpecker, Stonechat, Robin, Woodpigeon, Greenfinch, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Mistle Thrush, Siskin, Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Water Rail, Crossbill, Dartford Warbler, Tree Pipit, Bullfinch, Grass Snake, Common Toad, Black-Tailed Skimmer, Keeled Skimmer, Common Hawker, Emperor Dragonfly, Common Darter, Black Darter, Small Red Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Variable Damselfly, Common Emerald Damselfly, Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Grayling, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Marbled White, Silver Studded Blue,

Tadnoll and Winfrith Heath: Willow Warbler, Long-Tailed Tit, Magpie, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Grey Heron, Linnet, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Common Buzzard, Song Thrush, Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Bullfinch, Woodlark, Stonechat, Mute Swan, Green Woodpecker, Grass Snake, Smooth Snake, Slow Worm, Four-Spot Chaser, Black-Tailed Skimmer, Keeled Skimmer, Common Hawker, Golden-Ringed Dragonfly, Common Darter, Common Blue Damselfly, Common Emerald Damselfly, Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Grayling, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Marbled White, Silver Studded Blue, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Small White, Large White,

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, 

Dorset Holiday-Day 9: Hartland Moor

So today was our last full day in Dorset, and once more it was about 30 degrees, perfect weather for walking around the heathland. Since it was a Monday, there was a reasonable bus service and so made my way down to Hartland Moor. This is a large moor with hides and bogs, directly adjacent to Stoborough Heath that I went to on our first full day and had a really good day.

It involved a bit more walking to than Stoborough had done, and the hides were on the other side of the reserve, so when I made it there I devised a plan of action. The reserve was set around a small hill called The Great Knoll, so I decided to walk around this to get to the hide and then come back round the other side. I started in the boggy area, but quickly found a lack of path leaving me rather stranded. I found that I was surrounded by Four Spot Chasers and Keeled Skimmers as well as some Broad Bodied Chasers. 

As I made my way through the bog to the various patches of trees. As I made my way I flushed some large woodpecker sized brown birds, which when I eventually caught up with them turned out to be Mistle Thrushes, a new species for the holiday.

-Mistle Thrush

But maybe some of the woodpecker sized birds were woodpecker sized because they were woodpeckers, as I found when I flushed a lovely adult Green Woodpecker

-Green Woodpecker

As I made my way through the bog, I noticed a random section of fence with a life raft on it, and I rightly assumed that this must be a view point to the bog with a section of dry land. I therefore headed to that spot by the driest route that I could see, which involved following the tree line and resulted in me spooking a Sika Deer, which once more jumped out and surprised me!

-Sika Deer

When I made it to the fence I saw that it looked over a large shallow pool where there were many dragonflies and damselflies. There was one Emperor Dragonfly which was relegating most other dragonflies to the banks, this included Keeled Skimmers. 

-Keeled Skimmer

There were quite a few damselflies around too. Today was probably my last chance to record southern damselfly or it would elude me for another year. On this pool they were lacking. There were a few damselflies around, mainly Azure and Common Emerald Damselflies.

-Emerald Damselfly

From this 'fence' I could see another at the base of the Knoll, so I headed over in that direction for the most part on dry land. However going by dry land led me away from where I wanted to be. There was a ridge in front of me with a long thin pool between me and the ridge. On this pool there were Keeled Skimmers and Black Darters, which were a great addition to my dragonfly species for the holiday. They were more flighty that I would have expected from a darter and so my initial photo was not very good.

-Black Darter

I found a narrow part of the pool and jumped onto the ridge. From there I could see that over the ridge was a quite large pool with some areas of extensive aquatic vegetation. Here there were a lot more damselflies, including Large and Small Red Damselflies. It seems odd to think that until a week ago I had only ever seen one of this species and now I was taking it for granted.

-Small Red Damselflies

I wandered around the pool and there were some more flighty black darters but only Azure and Common Blue Damselflies, no southern. I therefore set off round the northern side of the Knoll on an actual footpath which was a relief. As I set off I noticed a Common Buzzard soaring overhead, presumably using the more than ample thermals.

-Common Buzzard

Around 300 meters round the knoll and I came to an area of open Birch woodland and Gorse and it was here that I spotted my daily allowance of that wonderful heathland bird the Dartford Warbler. There was a large group of them and I got some great views as they flew around me, and I even got some nice photos. However, it happened to be one of those times in life when it just goes wrong. I was watching the warblers when my phone went off. I had it on loud so that I could here it in my bag if it went off, since nobody texts me but if my family needed me they would be able to get me. It was my mum, reminding me to put on a hat. There are no words, especially when the hat was already on my head. Needless to say, once the photo went off I saw no more warblers.

-Dartford Warbler

I reached an area of more bog and here there was extensive cover of Round Leaved Sundews, some of which were even in flower, the first time I have seen this plant in flower. Please note though that the yellow flowers in the photo are not sundew flowers, they are the smaller white flowers.

-Round leaved sundews

I made my way round and found another pond, this time with more tree cover, though it was fairly quiet on the wildlife front. I made my way back to the path from this pond and there suddenly seemed to be birds everywhere; Stonechat, Dartford Warbler and Linnet, though they all flew off as soon as I noticed them.

-Linnet

I made my way round until I saw a path come off from the circular path round the Knoll. It seemed to be heading off towards where the hides were. Therefore I went along this path and found another pool, with deep wet sedge all around it. This pool had the usual dragonflies but once more one Azure Damselflies, though the most exciting thing at this point as a lovely bold male Stonechat singing from a gorse bush next to the pond, though it then moved on.

I then made my way down the path and onto the main path which the hides were on. It turned out to be a pretty pointless trip. I disturbed a handful of lizards but did not see what kind they were, and I also got reasonable views of Meadow Pipits but that was about it. I made it to the hide but it just looked over the heath and the footpath ran in front of it as well as behind. Needless to say, I did not see anything while I was in it.

The way back down the track provided a bit more, with good views of Linnets and a Golden Ringed Dragonfly hunting along the path. As with all these southern golden rings, if they landed they would not let you get close. As a result, my photo record with this species this holiday remained poor.

-Golden Ringed Dragonfly

I made my way cross country back to the pond where I had seen the stonechat. On my way there I found Small Red Damselfly at another small pond with the fence like structure and life ring. I took some more photos to increase my record library of this species. I had a look to see if there were any other Zygoptera ad found a Common Darter female. 

-Small Red Damselfly

I continued to make my back to the pond next to the path. Once there I once more started to look to see what was about. It seemed to have quietened down rather than got busier and no matter how many damselflies I checked they were all Azure. I followed a Four Spot Chaser into the wet sedge meadow. Once I got there I lost the chaser, but spotted another damselfly landed in the sedge. Before I even checked I knew that it would indeed be a southern, and when I checked the photos I had taken to be double sure it was confirmed that I had indeed settled my score with this species and finally been able to tick Southern Damselfly. Once I started looking, following the one I had found around I found a couple of others, including a pair in their mating position. I gathered loads of photos to try and record every angle of the species for my library, but really I would have been content to just savor the moment of finally ticking this species after the disaster on Angelsey last year. 

-Southern Damselfly

I was well choughed with finally finding one, and then finding more. I decided to leave them for now and explore the rest of the reserve and come back when I had finished, since I had noticed that I only had about an hour before I would need to leave for my bus. 

I continued round the knoll as had been my plan and found another pool with the fence like structure in front of me. However, as I drew nearer I noticed that it was actually the same pond I had started my circuit at, and that left me feeling really confused. My 180 degree walk round the knoll had turned into a 300 degree walk. I therefore decided to climb the knoll to see if I could see anything on top, namely dartford warblers.

On my way up I found some metal tins for reptiles, though there were none under any this late in the day. The top was a bit of a disappointment, as I did not really see anything. On the way down though I found a female Keeled Skimmer that had taken on a Small Heath Butterfly and was sat there munching this butterfly was quite a size. However, the dragonfly was not keen to share its dinner with my camera and so my only photo, below was not that good.

-Female Keeled Skimmer feeding on Small Heath

Having finished quicker than I thought up on the top, I made my way back round to the southern damselflies but stopping off at the pond before reaching it. I walked down the ridge to see if I could find any Black Darters and was successful, but the wind had picked up and the perch it was sat on did not stay still so my photo was not really as good as I wanted it.

-Black Darter

There were also more Small Red Damselflies, though this time it was a slightly menalistic version, as some of its body was black, adding a little variety to my photo library.

-Small Red Damselfly

Once finished there, convinced I had seen all I could, I made my way back to where the Southern Damselflies had been. Luckily it did not take me long to track down one and continue my appreciation of this species. I also took some some more photos...

-Southern Damselfly

You will notice that on the bottom two photos the damselfly is having its lunch, which I only noticed afterwards when I looked back at my photos.

I then had to leave the damselflies to make sure I caught my bus. On the way out I called off at the boggy section to see if there was anything going on there. There were the usual dragonflies but then I spotted that one of those I had assumed to be an emperor was not actually and was a hawker. I spent as long as I dared trying to photograph it in flight but only managed one excusable photo for identification purposes. Those purposes showed that it was a Common Hawker, my first of the holiday, which added to my dragonfly list.

-Common Hawker

I did not have to run for my bus, only wait about 5 mins. The journey back was none eventful, as I decided to go by train from Wareham to Moreton rather than try and get a lift. Besides, I had found that buses here were as expensive as trains, so why not use the train.

Back at the caravan site I went for a shower to wash away my weariness. However, even that did not finish my wildlife day as soon as I came out of the shower I spotted a very pretty moth on the radiator. I headed home for the camera and then returned to take some photos for i.d. Turns out that this is a Buff Arches Moth, which I have not seen before.

-Buff Arches Moth

As I sat up to leave once I had photographed the moth I spotted another moth on the light, but this one needed no introducing, Common Footman its odd that a day flying moth would be sat on the light of a shower block, especially since the light was off, so it had obviously been there since the light was on. I moved the footman since I could not really get a good photo from where I was and where it was. I was a worried that as a day flying moth it might just fly off but no, I was able to move it outside and get some reasonable photos.

I am familiar with common footman, and it is one of my favorite moths, though I have only ever seen it once before, at Pottric Carr .

-Common Footman

I left the shower block two moth species richer than I had arrived. But it seemed a fitting way to end the day and our time in Dorset, since tomorrow we were leaving for Fareham. I had still one reserve on my visit list, and that would wait for tomorrow, when my family were at the tank museum.