20th June

There wasn't a cloud in the sky for a good part of what was another glorious day. A Curlew Sandpiper at Ferrybridge stole the bird of the day honours, with 3 Sanderling and a Dunlin there and a Redshank at the Bill giving further indications of return wader passage beginning to get going. The Wheatear remained at the Bill, where at least 1 new Chiffchaff also showed up and 47 Manx Shearwaters, 40 Common Scoter and 2 Black-headed Gulls passed by on the sea. The only other reports were of 5 Mediterranean Gulls and 4 Shelduck at Ferrybridge.

The immigrant moth list has been rather samey in recent days, with the overnight tally of 16 Rusty-dot Pearl, 2 Diamond-back Moth and a Delicate at the Obs indicating that little had changed on that front; a Scorched Wing was the best of the non-local wanderers caught there.



Curlew Sandpiper - Ferrybridge, 20th June 2014 © Pete Saunders

...and continuing our recent theme of Portland's special summer lepidoptera, arguably the best of the lot since it's a UK endemic known only from Portland and one site near Swanage  - Richardson's Case-bearer Eudarcia richardsoni - is now on the wing: after a couple of abortive searches for it earlier in the week (maybe a few days too early?) at Penn's Weare, yesterday evening we eventually found one amongst the boulder screes at one of its other known locations on the island at West Weare (photos © Martin Cade):