Don't know whether it's for fear of a 'Chinese Burn' or 'Chicken Peck' at playtime
but we have recieved a couple of most interesting images from our outside Correspondents in the last couple of days. The first of these came as a trio from three of my Weymouth oppo's of a seriously rare creature and a seriously admirable find, the Pupae of a
LARGE TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY
the first ever to be found in Dorset and we congratulate you John.
Just to emphasis what a 'belter' this may become we have 'borrowed'
a couple of images from the Internet.
Otherwise, from a little further afield
The West Riding of Yorkshire
to be precise and while scarce not quite as 'rare' as that above!
SMOOTH NEWT
from my dear ol' shipmate
Jim the Medic.
On a night of decent conditions the Moth Traps did produce a couple of
new species for the year with
COMMON MARBLED CARPET
and the totally underwhelming and tiny
PINION-STREAKED SNOUT
After that, all that was on parade out in the field were
WOODPECKERS
not just one but all 3 of the resident species.
Not surprisingly as frequent right outside the door these days came both
adult and juvenile
juvenile
adult
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
juvenile.
this being the only video footage we have ever been able to capture
WORK
Still in Progress
However there was just the one day when c4 Woodpeckers were recorded here.
16th August 2017
was notable for the sighting of the only known
WRYNECK,
an uncommon migrant from mainland Europe, to grace our
Recording Area
as shown.
For a bit of a closer look one of our many visits to the
Portland Bird Observatory
coincided with one having just been plucked from a
Mist Net
and the Warden. Martin Cade kindly permitting me to
observe the 'ringing and measuring' process!
