21st May

It's got to that time of the season when there'd be much more productive things to be getting on with than migrant-seeking but the lure of what could be there is keeping the stalwarts at it. Today's less than rewarding selection at the Bill included 3 Reed Warblers, 2 Wheatears and singles of Turtle Dove, Garden Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher on the ground, a trickle of Swifts and House Martins arriving overhead and an Arctic Skua through on the sea. A similarly lean return from elsewhere included a Cuckoo singing at Barleycrates Lane and a Hobby passing through there, a Spotted Flycatcher at Portland Castle, 6 Sanderlings and a Whimbrel at Ferrybridge and 31 Bar-tailed Godwits and a Ringed Plover through off Chesil.

Yesterday's hints at lepidoptera immigration getting going were confirmed, at least during the day, with a small arrival of Painted Ladys throughout the island; Red Admirals increased and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth was again in the Obs garden; overnight moth-trapping was spoilt by a conspicuous dip in the temperature, with 5 Diamond-back Moths at the Obs and a Maiden's Blush at Sweethill the best of the captures.



Painted Lady and Hummingbird Hawk-moth - Easton and Portland Bill, 21st May 2014 © Ken Dolbear (Painted Lady) and Duncan Walbridge (Hummingbird Hawk-moth)