25th June

Another very pleasant day although beginning to feel a little fresher in a sometimes brisk easterly. The only reports of any consequence were of a Grey Heron over Easton and a Common Scoter through off the Bill.

Moth interest remained at the ticking-over level, with the immigrant/wanderer tally from the Obs traps consisting of 11 Rusty-dot Pearl, 7 Silver Y, 2 Diamond-back Moth and singles of Tawny-barred Angle, Figure of 80 and Delicate; a Dark Pine Knot-horn Dioryctria abietella at the Grove was the best of the bunch elsewhere.



Life, death and other happenings - Portland Bill, 24th/25th June 2014 © Martin Cade
 
This Figure of 80 was probably the best of the night's moths: although it's just about frequent enough that there's a chance it might be a low density resident (are there many poplars away from Culverwell?), we've always had the feel for it being no more than a stray to the island:
 
 
And a couple of Portland specials amongst the catch-ups from the last few days. The little cochylid, Bank Conch Gynnidomorpha luridana, is pretty frequently caught in at least the Obs and the Grove traps and presumably feeds on the Red Bartsia which is common close to both sites; in Dorset it seems to occur just at Portland and a few sites in the north-east of the county:
 
 
...Thyme Pug is even scarcer in the county, being recorded from just Portland and a couple of sites in east Purbeck (moth photos © Martin Cade):
 
 
And finally, amongst the backlog of bird photos we had two more of the Hooded Crow - on the rooftops of the Grove pig farm (© Chris Dresh) and flying over the Obs (© Martin Cade):