24th July

Some pretty decent passage in nice benign conditions today, notably including an island record total of a minimum of 28 Yellow-legged Gulls at the Bill (all were juveniles and the majority arrived from the southeast and passed steadily west close inshore); there was plenty of other action at sea, including 169 Common Scoter, 26 Manx Shearwaters, 10 Mediterranean Gulls, 6 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Balearic Shearwaters and singles of Great Skua and Arctic Skua. For the first time this autumn grounded migrants were relatively conspicuous around the Bill, where Willow Warblers reached 50 and 4 Sedge Warblers and singles of Dunlin, Redshank and Cuckoo were additions to the mix. Visible passage was the poor relation, with little more than a handful of Swifts and Sand Martins overhead.

Moth immigrants were conspicuously few despite there being plenty of other insect arrivals: a variety of hoverfly species were hugely abundant, including very many caught overnight in the moth-traps, whilst Red Admiral butterflies were not only very numerous everywhere but included several watched arriving in off the sea at the Bill; a single Painted Lady butterfly was caught overnight in one of the moth-traps at the Grove.

It was a good day for butterflies with the buddleia bushes covered in Red Admirals and lots of the local specials about in quantity; Graylings were numerous along the west side...

...whilst Chalkhill Blues - in marked contrast to Silver-studded Blue earlier in the summer - are having an excellent year and are being reported in hundreds at many sites; this mating pair were at West Cliff...

...where another mating pair were interrupted by a frenzy of another half-dozen males trying to get their share of the action (...are females relatively less numerous this season?) all photos © Ken Dolbear: