Common Dumble Dor Beetle, New Forest.
A large, heavily built beetle; it is one of the eight species of dor beetle found in the UK.
Dor Bettle.
European Hornets.
On our Monday walk looking for fungi in the New Forest, we came across a hornet’s nest and returned today with tripods to get better pictures of these interesting insects.
Despite their size and loud buzz, European hornets are placid and non-aggressive; they rarely sting unless the nest site is directly threatened. They feed on invertebrates, nectar, sap, and windfall fruit. They will bring back the invertebrates to their nests to feed their larvae.
Workers grow up to 25mm and queens can reach 35mm long, making them significantly larger than common wasps.
It is important not to confuse our native European hornet with the invasive non-native Asian Hornet, which is reportable; their nests are destroyed they are a threat to honey bees.
1st October 2026.
First of the month, and a walk in the New Forest: fungi are starting to show not sure how the season will be given the dry conditions through the summer only time will tell.
We had 6 Ravens flying over our heads as we were on our walk today. Ravens are our largest corvid; they’re often seen in pairs, but particularly in the winter, young birds can come together to roost in big groups. Ravens are mostly carrion eaters, but they will eat insects and hunt small live prey.
- Length: 60–68cm
- Wingspan: 120–150cm
- Weight: 800–1,500g
Another interesting spot was a Lesser Stag Beetle.
and some Caddisfly eggs.
Just one Raft Spider seen.
Closed!
Crossbills.
The Common Crossbill is both a resident species and a partial migrant to Britain & Ireland. They use their distinctive bills to prise open pine cones and extract the seeds. These birds were spotted in the New Forest this morning.
A Quiet Wednesday.
Wordless Wednesday.
A return visit!
The Church of St Denys was built in the late 1800s. Its site is close to the ancient Priory of St Denys. Today, all that remains of the Priory is an ivy-covered fragment of a stone arch in a back garden on Priory Road, and another arch has been rebuilt in the gardens of the Tudor House museum in Southampton. St Denys Church was designed by the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. He was a prolific 19th-century English Gothic Revival architect who designed or altered over 800 buildings. His most famous buildings include St Pancras Station, the Midland Grand Hotel, and the Albert Memorial in London.
The church was open today as part of the Heritage weekend with a guided tour.
I decided to visit today as this is where I was christened, and I had not returned to this church since then.
Medieval tiles from St Denys Priory.
Common Gull.
The Common Gull looks like a smaller version of the Herring Gull, with greenish/blue legs and a yellow bill. Despite its name, it is not common.
Conservation status: Red
More Marsh Frogs.
Some more Marsh Frogs spotted in the New Forest today.
Hurst Castle.
More from Thursday’s boat trip to Hurst Spit. From1544, Hurst Castle has guarded the entrance to the Solent; on Hurst Spit, its strategic location meant the castle was destined to be a powerful fortress.
From its beginnings as one of King Henry VIII’s chain of artillery fortresses in 1544, the Victorians extended the fort into a large artillery battery along with other forts across the Solent on the Isle of Wight.– It remained in military use until 1956, playing an active role through both World Wars.
Currently, the castle is undergoing extensive repairs to a 38-metre section of the Victorian east wing wall, and gun emplacements that collapsed on 26th February 2021 following severe storm damage and coastal erosion that undercut its foundations
Below is a stock photo of the storm damage before repairs began.
