26 Sep 26 - St Aldhelms Vestals

The clear highlight of the visit to the St Aldhelms patch was a finding my second Red-veined Darter for the patch. This was the subject of my last Blog Post. The sun produced some other nice Lepidoptera around during the day. The highlight was my first Vestal for St Aldhelms Head, although I had seen one on the full St Aldhelms/Winspit patch in Winspit back on 27 Aug 2000. This is a regular migrant at this time of year which is regularly seen in Moth traps, but as I haven't got the time to run my trap, I haven't seen once since catching one later that year in my Swanage garden.

Vestal: Amazing it's been twenty-six years since I last saw one. I went on to find a second more-worn individual later in the morning in Pier Bottom Valley

There were plenty of Insects enjoying the nearby sunny Ivy, including this Painted Lady and Red Admiral.

Painted Lady: There have been very large numbers of this species in Purbeck this Summer and Autumn

Red Admiral: This is a common regular species at St Aldhelms at this time of year