After a cooler night I came in wondering what today may hold in store. Almost straight away I was accosted by the manic yaffling of a splendid Green Woodpecker who was I suspect busy gorging on Ants.
Following the path round to the Globe I noted Shags, Greater Black-backed Gulls and of course Pigeons and Jackdaws. The plumage of the latter looking magnificently glossy with a blue sheen to it in the sunlight. In the bushes alongside me a Red Admiral posed on the Buddleia for a quick snap.
Back to my preferred wildlife group, a mini bug hunt along a stretch of the coast path turned up Bloody-nosed Beetles, two species of Ground Beetle, several Woodlouse species and an unfortunate Banded Snail which had become snared in a Spider web. In the air around me I noted a Hoverfly, Honeybees, an as-yet id’ed Solitary Bee (hopefully another Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis which is nationally scarce), Common Carder, Red-tailed and Garden Bumblebees and a Bluebottle fly so large I’m sure it must have needed a catapult to get airborne!
Ann the Dolphin watcher had no marine life to report but did however not that a pair of Peregrines had been perched on the cliff for a while. Having a look myself I could see nothing but Herring Gulls and a single Swallow.
Making my way slowly up I enjoying the sight and sound of the gully fields as the ground buzzed and hummed with my little invertebrate friends. Several varieties of Cricket and Grasshopper were to be found springing around.
On the winding route back to the Lighthouse road I came across Small and Lulworth Skippers, Meadow Browns, Marbled Whites, a single Common Blue and a first for me a Grayling. A Silver Y moth was also noted hiding away in the Tor Grass, and finally a cute little Wood Mouse scuttled past as I watched.
Today's diary written by Mike