A few days away from London in Early August and the chance to look for Butterflies and Dragonflies in Southern Dorset. I was based in Weymouth and spent the first morning exploring the Tout Quarry reserve on the Isle of Portland.
The extremely hot weather meant that all the insects were very active which, in some cases, posed problems with identification. Despite this I had a good range of butterfly species including Common Blue, Small Blue, Small Copper, Red Admiral, Gatekeeper and probable Silver-studded blue. The highlight though was a single Lulworth Skipper (a speciality of the Dorset coast), which gave me a prolonged view as it flew along beside the path. Sadly., like all the others it did not settle and so I was unable to photograph it, which had been one of my aims of the trip.
In the afternoon I went to the RSPB reserve at Radipole Lake, where I had good views of a Great White Egret and of Norfolk Hawker dragonfly with a brief view of a Bearded Reedling.
On the second day I returned to the Isle of Portland to explore another reserve based around an old stone quarry at Kings Barrow. The highlights here were the Chalk-hill Blue butterfly along with Common Blue, Small Blue, Marbled White as well as a number of commoner species.
My next stop was the Fleet at Chesil Beach, the thin strip of land that connects the Isle of Portland to the mainland. This is a breeding site for Little Tern and I had hoped that one or two might still be around, but no luck. There was a large group of Mediterranean Gulls (around 50) roosting on the waters edge. This is a good site for this species in the autumn and one year when I was here in September there was a roost count of nearly 1000 birds.
To end the day I visited the second RSPB reserve in Weymouth, Lodmoor. The highlights here were 3 Great White Egrets, some Common Terns and a Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly.
On my final morning I walked along the River Frome at Dorchester, to the Riverside nature reserve. The highlights were Banded Demoiselle damselflies and a Southern Hawker Dragonfly.
Although the extremely high temperatures each day had made it hard work and photography difficult, this was a very pleasant and successful couple of days away.
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