The lepidoptera highlight was the first island record of Small Eggar caught overnight at the Obs; another arrival of immigrants included a Painted Lady watched coming in off the sea the Bill, 7 Diamond-back Moths, 3 Rush Veneer and a Red Sword-grass caught overnight at the Obs and 2 Dark Sword Grass and a Rush Veneer caught overnight at the Grove.
These days Canada Geese aren't quite the novelty island oddity that they once were and it looks like these two pairs are going to be following in the footsteps of a pair that bred on the harbour breakwaters once before (in 2011) © Nick Stantiford:
The last few wintering Black-necked Grebes are still about and getting into quite decent plumage before departing © Nick Stantiford:
Not surprisingly, a good many of the day's Chiffchaffs were 'pollened' around the face © Keith Pritchard (top - on the shore at the Bill tip) and Martin Cade (bottom - in the Obs garden):
In our junior mothing days Small Eggar was a rather sought-after local special in coastal west Dorset but it recent years it seems to have spread into the Weymouth area and we'd had it marked down as a pretty likely future addition to the Portland list; if the females are as seemingly lethargic as some of the other female eggars then Chesil Beach/Ferrybridge might prove to be an insurmountable barrier to future colonisation but clearly males like last night's specimen are capable of reaching the island © Martin Cade:
Diamond-back Moths and Rush Veneers are no big deal later in the season but they're quite high value species in early spring © Martin Cade: