A lovely sunny day with light winds made a visit to St Aldhelms a good option. It was similar weather two days earlier, when I saw a reasonable selection of migrants including a couple of Wheatears, a handful of Whitethroats and Blackcaps, along with twenty or so Chiffchaffs at the site. The other highlights on that visit was the first Merlin of the Autumn and a migrant Dartford Warbler. This visit was similar totals, except for not seeing the Dartford Warbler. However, there is plenty of vegetation for it to skulk in and this less than annual species is probably still present somewhere.
The clear highlight of this visit was a Darter that was buzzing on the Hump, the rough grassy patch next to the top of Pier Bottom Valley. It was very pale and clearly not a Common Darter. Based upon the pale abdomen, my initial thought was it was a late Keeled Skimmer. This would be a patch tick for me. They occasionally occur as my patch buddy Phil Saunders had seen one a couple of weeks earlier near the Chapel. However, when I saw the blue lower eyes, it was clear it was only my second Red-veined Darter for the patch. My previous Red-veined Darter was a Male on the main track between the Quarry and the Chapel on 16 May 23.
Thanks to Steve Morrison for confirming it was a Female, after I had a previous suggestion it was a Teneral Male. Steve said it looks like an Adult Female to him, based upon the two row of black lines along the side of the abdomen. A Teneral Male would still show the distinct orange/red veins and has only has one row of black lines along the side of the abdomen. The dark red-brown upper eye suggests an Adult Female, rather than a younger Female, which has lighter eyes. The assumption is it is a freshly arrived migrant, but it's possible it has emerged from the pools at the seaward end of Pier Bottom valley. I checked them a few weeks ago for this species without any success, when there were Red-veined Darters on the wing at Portland. Maybe I need to have another look at the pools. However, they aren't the safest of places to check, given the risk of a landslide on the soft clay undercliff.
While I was following the Red-veined Darter to get better photos, I disturbed this Noctuella. I grabbed a quick photo before switching back to the Dragonfly. When I started Mothing back in the mid-80s, many of the Micro Moths only had Latin names and I learnt this species as Noctuella. These days many species have English Names and most people call it Rush Veneer.