Plenty of insects over the Cemy.

Wednesday 28th June 2023.

The Council workers have most certainly groomed this Cemetery to its normal self (sadly) after 'No mow May'.

When I finished my second shift today down at Old Portsmouth (sightings of mating Swifts and Mediterranean Gull this afternoon), I got home and grabbed my camera and took a nice walk around Highland Road Cemetery. I came to the conclusion that the reason for the overgrown grass within the Cemetery the last time I was there was due to ‘No mow May’, of which I totally forget about (another Senior moment!!), but when I went there today, yes, most of the short grass had been mown, but it looks as though a lot of the graves had been sprayed with weedkiller. Fume!!!

Above, Meadow Grasshoppers could be heard in the grass as one walked past and below, there was not many birds I could photo this afternoon, but this Carrion Crow posed nicely with a scrap of food in its bill.

Above, Lady Bedstraw was now growing mostly in the southern half of the Cemetery.

I would like to point out that most of these graves are well over a hundred years old and very, very few people actually come to visit their dead relatives there; so why bother destroying all the plants that provide such an important food source for both insects and birds? I think I will be having words with someone soon! The weather was very pleasant today with the temperature up in the mid-seventies and with a nice breeze blowing, it was a pleasure to take a nice slow stroll around the Cemetery.

Above, several Meadow Brown butterflies were on the wing here today and below, a Buff-tailed Bumble Bee enjoying nectaring on the Bramble flowers.

Above, the leaves of this Horse Chestnut were infected by the caterpillars of the tiny micro moth, Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner. This does happen every year here, but the tree does recover. 

The bird-life was predictably quiet here this afternoon, but I did notch up 15 species of birds on my walk round. Pick of the bunch was probably an adult Mediterranean Gull flying over and several Swifts screaming high overhead, but I found that viewing the birds was somewhat not easy as they preferred to stay in the trees or bushes. The following birds were recorded here this afternoon:

• Herring Gull
• Black-headed Gull
• Mediterranean Gull
• Wood Pigeon
• Feral Pigeon
• Collared Dove
• Greenfinch
• Goldfinch
• House Sparrow
• Starling
• Robin
• Blue Tit
• Wren
• Swift
• Carrion Crow

So with birds a tad difficult to see, my attention turned to both the insects and plants on show. Both the Buddleia and Brambles were in flower and the latter attracted a variety of Bees that included my first Hornet-mimic Hoverfly of the year (Volucella zonaria) that simply would not sit still for a photo. A few Drone Flies were also seen along with my first Noon Fly of the year. Other Bees were also on the wing that included a few Buff-tailed Bumble Bees and Yellow-legged Mining Bees plus others of which I await to get ID’d. There were a few butterflies around today that included several Essex Skippers. This is a species I rarely see within the Cemetery, but it seems the Skipper family is doing quite well this year and seems to be quite abundant. Fellow ‘Lazee Birder Andy Friend had a Large, Little and Essex in his garden today! Other butterflies seen today included a couple of Holly Blue’s, good numbers of Meadow Brown, one Small White and a Red Admiral that was seen sunning itself near the Mausoleum.

Above, several Essex Skipper butterflies were noted this afternoon and below, along the edges of the footpath, the colourful Birds-foot Trefoil was in flower.

This Seven-spotted Ladybird was seen by the footpath.

There were plenty of plants on show again with both Yarrow and Mallow being probably the most dominant flower on show throughout the Cemetery. Other plants on show included Lady Bedstraw, Nipplewort, Cats-ear, Ox-eye Daisy, Field Poppy, Self-heal, Herb Bennet, Birds-foot Trefoil and Creeping Cinquefoil. All good news for the many insects appearing now due to this long period of high pressure over the UK. However, it seems to be changing soon as low pressure will be bringing in rain this week to parts of the UK.

Above, a Red Admiral sunning itself and below, my first Noon Fly of the year.

After making our dinner, I sat out in the back garden eating my dinner and enjoying the local House Sparrows coming down to the seed pellets I put out for them. A Small White butterfly came into the garden and settled at the back of the garden under a few leaves of one of our pot plants and then there was an almighty commotion as a Sparrowhawk flew into our neighbours Holly Bush! Several House Sparrows darted out of there and then the Sparrowhawk, a male, flew into the tree at the back of our garden. I could just make it out staring back at me through the leaves and then within seconds, it pounced on something back within the Holly Bush. It was a poor juvenile Starling that ended up on the birds supper menu as the Sparrowhawk flew off with its prey in its talons heading low south over the gardens.C’est la vie, as they say.

Above, both Matt and Emma Parke's took an evening trip over to Hook with Warsash yesterday evening and were rewarded with this (above) Little Owl. This bird can be very elusive at times.

They both came across two species of snake as well. Above, this Grass Snake and below, an Adder, showed well for them to get these superb photos.