Saturday 13th June

A quiet mid June day but a few surprises including a migrant Hobby that panicked local swallows as it flew south over the Main Pond, a Coal Tit on the Golf Course and at least 240 Manx Shearwater rafting offshore.

In the estuary 23 Curlew and a Whimbrel were present over high tide, with 20 Swift overhead and offshore four Sandwich Tern and the female Eider. 

Other Wildlife: A day of warm sunshine with a wide variety of insects on the wing. The highlight being the national scarce Red-tipped Clearwing basking by the Entrance Bushes. 

Red-tipped Clearwing - Alan Keatley

Solitary wasps were active on well lit Sycamore leaves with Solsky's Wasp Stigmus solskyi, Two-banded Hopper Wolf Lestiphorus bicinctus and Shield-bug Stalker Astata boops and Armed Crabro Digger Wasp C. peltarius all searching for prey. Elsewhere Leaden Spider Wasp Pompilus cinereus on bare sand and Spot-headed Spider Wasp Agenioideus cinctellus on a wooden bank. 

Solsky's Wasp Stigmus solskyi - Alan Keatley

Two-banded Hopper Wolf Lestiphorus bicinctus - Alan Keatley

The change in weather brought out a wide range of new species for the year, including Scarlet Tiger on Warren Point, Coastal Leafcutter Megachile maritima near Langstone Rock, the tachnid fly Ectophasia crassipennis in the Back Meadow, at least one Marbled White around the Entrance Bushes and a Twin-spot Boxer Platycheirus rosarum in Dead Dolphin Wood.

Ectophasia crassipennis - Alan Keatley

Scarlet Tiger - Alan Keatley

A feature of the day was large numbers of migrant Meligethes aeneus pollen beetles on virtually on every flower. Many thousands must have arrived alongside a few Marmalade Hoverfly and a couple of Diamond-back Moth.

Meligethes aeneus - Alan Keatley

Deraeocoris flavilinea - Kevin Rylands

Bumblebee Plumehorn Volucella bombylans - Kevin Rylands

Twin-barred Knot-horn Homoeosoma sinuella - Kevin Rylands