3rd August

Not even a hint of a repeat of yesterday's events, with just the thinnest smattering of entirely routine migrants today. The 20 or so Willow Warblers at the Bill represented the only double figure migrant total on the ground at the Bill, where a few Sand Martins trickled through overhead and 20 Mediterranean Gulls, 3 Common Scoter and 2 Manx Shearwaters passed through on the sea. Wader totals - including 120 Dunlin, 90 Ringed Plover and 9 Sanderling - looked to be on the up at Ferrybridge, whilst the Red-necked Grebe remained in Portland Harbour.

Immigrant insect numbers have taken a real plunge in recent days, with the moth-traps in particular astonishingly quieter than they were just a few days ago; the night's only oddity was a lone Vagrant Piercer Cydia amplana at the Obs. A Black-tailed Skimmer found at Broadcroft Quarry was a presumed immigrant and the first island sighting that we've heard of since the demise of the colonies that existed more than a decade ago at the Obs and Yeolands Quarry.

Mediterranean Gull, Turnstone, Black-tailed Skimmer and Hornet Hoverfly Volucella zonaria - Ferrybridge, Broadcroft Quarry and Bottomcombe, 3rd August 2014 © Pete Saunders (Mediterranean Gull), Debby Saunders (Turnstone) and Ken Dolbear (Black-tailed Skimmer and Hornet Hoverfly)