Sheeesh.....

A sleepless night with the bedroom still at 29C at 06:15  and the usual cacophony of foxes but, despite forecasts into the mid 30s and beyond for later in the day,  it still seemed like getting out for an hour or two would be OK.

An attempt to get to TH for some coastal breeze was aborted after 35 minutes having got no further than the Park and Ride. So, back into town where the Eastern Road was slow and on to QECP..... until stationary traffic at J3 curtailed that plan! And then around to the road south where traffic lights were on red at the new housing development. But eventually arrived at SHP having been in the car for an hour and a quarter. Luckily the AC still works well enough to keep things bearable.

A reviving coffee was followed by the decision to avoid the conservation area footpath and just wander through the arboretum and Well Head. Silver-washed Fritillary and a couple of Painted Ladies were the best on offer although a Nowickia ferox sitting on the Yew hedge was new-for-year.

The new bench in the shaded corner by the lawns was a very pleasant place to be with  Firecrest in the tree just behind the wall, a couple of very high House Martins and a flyover Green Woodpecker.

No photos.

Tomorrow looks like a stay in day.

QECP briefly

In to Petersfield for chores and then a brief stop at QECP where, by now, it was pretty windy so what few butterflies and moths that were on the wing were instantly blown away. Burnet Companion was best of these.

The nicest sightings today were six Scarlet Tiger Moths all sat quietly on leaves in the shades of the high level return path.

Bombus vestalis, Amblyteles armatorius, several Broad-bodied Chasers and Emperors

Pretty thin at SC

The 'front garden' is but a shadow of itself this year but hopefully things might improve.

A nice long chat with a volunteer who pointed out a single Pyramidal Orchid; funny after yesterday's thousands!!

A bumblebee mimic hoverfly got away - too quick to see if it was V. bombylans or a Criorhina spp.

A single Fritillary spp barrelled through.

Portsdown Hill with FoPH

SHP

 

Above Cheilosia spp (proxima or thereabouts) Meligethes flower beetles a Siphona spp and Epistrophe grossulariae.

Marbled White, Pipiza austriaca, Nomada fabricius and my first Hummingbird Hawkmoth of the year in the Well Head garden which performed brilliantly until I reached for my camera whereupon it rocketed off.

Heard-only Firecrest, Goldcrest, Tree Creeper, Marsh Tit and both Woodpeckers.

Pagham moths

 

A brief walk to the Ferry Pool Hide produced 25 Avocet of which 6 or more were chicks. Also 30 or so Black-tailed Godwit.

A staff member is due to send out a moth list. EDIT And here it is!!

Treble Lines, Marbled Minor, Poplar Hawk Moth,Large Yellow Underwing, Poplar Grey, Garden Grass Veneer, Tawny Marbled Minor, Bright Line Brown Eye, Heart and Dart, Heart and Club, Smoky Wainscot, Snout, Dark Arches, Riband Wave, Cinnabar, Common Swift, Uncertain, Treble Brown Spot, Nutmeg, Small Mottled Willow, Large Straw, Diamond Back Moth, Rusty Dot Pearl, Garden Pebble, Bramble Shoot moth, Peach Blossom, Elephant Hawk Moth, Buff Tip, Langmaid's Yellow Underwing, Angle Shades, Privet Hawkmoth, Burnished Brass, Blood-vein, Dingy Shears, Scorched Wing, Buff Ermine, Mottled Rustic, Common Wainscot, Evergestis limbata, Flame, Dioryctria abietella, Scrobipalpa costella, Gypsonoma sociana, Agapeta hamana, Cochylis atricapitana, Cochylis moliculana, Homoeosoma sinuella, Acrobasis marmorea, Epiblema grandevana, Elachista abifrontella, Crambus lathoniellus, Crambus pascuella, Pandemis heparana.

Above, bycatch ichneumon spp (Netelia melanura via Jaswinder on FB) and Dioryctria spp, Blood-vein and Scorched Wing

Small Mottled Willow (now Beet Armyworm!!), Pandemis heparana, Gypsonoma sociana, the above Dioryctria abietella and Homoeosoma sinuella were species I've not caught before.

Five of the above micros would have been new moths - but with three traps, two 'moth experts', half a dozen RSPB staff and twenty visitors all packed into the building adjacent to reception it was hard to keep up with everything!  Hopefully an autumn rerun of this event and maybe the same at WWT might produced some different moths. 

WWT moths

Arrived in Arundel about 09:15 and was pleased to see and hear a few House Martins over Queens Street.

A little later at the pub carpark both adult Peregrines were on their usual perch and very noisy with the female plucking some prey.

Whilst queuing on the entrance bridge a number of  Four-spotted Chasers were ovipositing, a similar number of male Black-tailed Skimmers were sitting on warm patches of ground and a few Red-eyed Damselflies were on floating vegetation.

The moth event run by Suzy and Hannah was under the usual gazebo and attended by about fifteen people. A total of about seventy moths of twenty-five plus species.

Shears and Mottled Rustic were species I've never caught and Variegated Golden Tortix and Grey Pug were species I've only caught once, both in 2024, the former at No3 and latter at No8. Some wainscots seemed to be Smoky and Common. A few expected 'crowd pleasers' were missing, namely Elephant Hawkmoth and Buff-tip.

List below in part.

Other inverts were thin on the ground with an Osmia spp probably leiana just too quick for me.

Bird-wise a single Little Egret was feeding at least one young and both Marsh Harriers were active with the female continually being chased around a long way up by a very irate Oystercatcher. On leaving the male was sparring with a Buzzard.

No kites nor Cattle Egrets today.

GWH membership renewal

 

(Nephrotoma flavescens, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Pipizella spp, Pegomya spp, Ectophasia crassipennis, Stem borer spp, Clover Melitta, Painted Lady, Pyramidal Orchid, White Helleborine, Enoplognatha ovata/latimana)

Weather hardly ideal for a walk here but at least it was quiet - until the coach load of school kids turned up!!

A Raven was calling from the usual tree and visible distantly but  single Swift was the only other bird.

Hoverflies

Eristalis pertinax, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Meliscaeva auricollis,Cheilosia spp, Cheilosia pagana, Eupeodes spp male, Eupeodes luniger female, Syrphus spp, Myathropa florea, Volucella bombylans, Sphaerophoria spp, Episyrphus balteatus, Pipizella spp, Platycheirus albamanus (FB recorded)

Moths

Eucosma hohenwartiana, Crambus lathionellus, Chrysoteuchea culmella all kicked up from grass. Yellow-banded Longhorn near pond. The first above thanks to BS(FB Micros)

Butterflies

Pretty poor with just Common Blue, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, White spp, Large Skipper and Meadow Brown.

Other stuff

See above - The Clover Melitta (above) confirmed by CL and MM.

Dioctria atricapilla (Violet Black-legged Robberfly)

Andrena spp bicolor?

With it being fairly dim in the corner by the wishing well, and not putting on my reading glasses,  I didn't realise that the Enoplognatha spp was even a spider until I downloaded the photo!!

SHP x 2

 Thursday

Large Skipper x 2, Meliscaeva auricollis, Chrysotoxum bicinctum,Noon Fly and Eristalis spp, Crabronid wasp possibly Lindenius albilabris

Monday

Chrysotoxum  festivum, Phaonia spp, Dactylorhiza, Hawthorn Mining Bee (Andrena chrysosceles)

6

Briefest of QECP visits

 

A lot of faff yesterday included a visit to SC only to find it closed; I forgot they're not open Tuesdays!! Then on to QECP where a u-turn under the bridge was required due to flooding after heavy rain at night and again earlier in the morning. After reentering from the north I'm glad I did as the AA were dealing with someone who tried to drive through the flood - and failed!!

A gap in showers with thunder gave time for a quick walk after a slightly disappointing lunch. 

A few worker Bombus lapidarius were walking around in a confused state after what looked like a badger had dug out the nest.

A poor photo above of Gymnosoma rotundatum, now called Ladybird Balloon-belly.

The first few Bombus vestalis of the year were enjoying the thistle flowers in the 'hot corner' along with this Small Tortoiseshell, only my 2nd or 3rd this year; such a massive reduction in numbers over my lifetime.

Finally, a few Broad-bodied Chasers were on the wing but this one was perched low down by the staff vehicle park.

And today (03/06) saw the Swarovski 12×50s off back to Austria for a second bout of re-armouring via LCE Chichester. This really shouldn't happen at this price point!!

And Amazon delivered a CD which has the longest title of any I've ever bought - 

'The Worse Things Get The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You'!!!