4th August

With the weekend's brisk breeze having subsided overnight common migrants were a little more conspicuous at the Bill, where 50 Willow Warblers, 25 Sedge Warblers and 10 Wheatears accounted for the bulk of the numbers on the ground. Hirundines trickled through overhead, where 13 Cormorants also left to the south, whilst 59 Common Scoter passed through on the sea. The day's only other reports came from Ferrybridge, where waders included 125 Ringed Plovers, 115 Dunlin, 11 Sanderling and a Black-tailed Godwit.

There was some evidence of moth immigration getting going again - or maybe it was just that the improved weather conditions afforded better catching opportunities? - with the Obs traps coming up with totals of 47 Rusty-dot Pearl, 36 Marbled Piercer Cydia splendana, 6 Diamond-back Moth, 5 Vagrant Piercer Cydia amplana, 3 Silver Y, 2 Dark Sword Grass and singles of Marbled Yellow Pearl Evergestis extimalis, Tawny-barred Angle, Hummingbird Hawk-moth and Dark Spectacle; oddities elsewhere included additional Vagrant Piercers at West Weare (2) and Sweethill (2).

Clouded Yellows included at least 3 at the Bill.

Meadow Pipit - Portland Bill, 4th August 2014 © Joe Stockwell