Five Go Butterflying in Dorset - Part One

Saturday 15th July and it was off to Wareham in Dorset for a few days away in a rented cottage with Mum, sister Vik and nephew Jack. It was cloudy and breezy when we stopped off at Maiden Castle near Dorchester along the way but it felt warm and humid as we walked around the ramparts and I managed to see marbled whites, a few small heath and a few red admirals flitting about. I easily found my main target as I got out of the car with at least 4 male corn buntings seen and heard around the car park, all with very pale looking tail feathers and rumps, either from wear and tear or maybe a genetic abnormality from what is presumably a very isolated population.

 Small Heath, Maiden Castle

 Harebell, Maiden Castle

 Marbled White, Maiden Castle

 Corn Bunting, Maiden Castle

 Corn Bunting with pale tail and rump

 Corn Bunting

 Corn Bunting

Corn Bunting

Onwards to nearby Ferrybridges at Weymouth where we met up with Mum, Vik and Jack for some lunch in the visitors centre there. A walk out onto the shingle beach was very blowy and the views were very hazy and misty but on The Fleet I had some nice views of little terns flying around and hovering for fish along with 8 dunlin, 4 ringed plovers and a variety of Mediterranean gulls including a few juveniles. Even better though were 2 roseate terns resting on the mudflats with 3 Sandwich terns, distant views even with a telescope, but very nice to see.

 Mediterranean Gulls, Ferrybridges

 Roseate and Sandwich Terns with Mediterranean Gulls

Roseate Tern (Centre)

Roseate Tern (Courtesy of Portland Bird Observatory and Field Centre Website)

The sun was beginning to break through the clouds and so we drove out to Portland to see the Olympic rings overlooking the harbour and then on to Broadcroft Quarry, a Butterfly Conservation wildlife reserve. A quick walk around in skies beginning to cloud over again revealed quite a few butterflies flitting about despite the breeze - common blue, large skipper, red admiral, gatekeeper, meadow brown and marbled white - but the highlight was a stunning male chalkhill blue, a new butterfly for me.

 Chalkhill Blue, Broadcroft Quarry

 Chalkhill Blue

 Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

A few pyramidal orchids were in flower and 3 great green bush crickets were found on the brambles.

 Pyramidal Orchid

 Great Green Bush Cricket

Great Green Bush Cricket

We drove down to Portland Bill for a quick look at the lighthouse and I saw a juvenile and adult gannet flying past before we headed to the holiday cottage at Wareham, having had an excellent start to my wildlife trip away.