27th June

A morning of thick cloud, heavy rain and the return of the dreaded westerly hindering any field work until after mid-morning. This resulted in the only record of a migrant passerine being a new singing Reed Warbler just outside the Obs garden. The sea, however, made up for this sad lack of avian life with a steady trickle both before and after the rain. The morning saw the passage of Manx Shearwaters reach 44, being joined by 9 Balearic Shearwaters, double figures of Common and Sandwich Terns, and one apiece of Bonxie and Arctic Skua.

The highlight of the day was, once again, not ornithological but of the moth variety with a Silver Barred trapped in the Obs garden - the first record for both Portland and Dorset.

Although the majority of immigrant records are from the coastal counties of south-east England, Silver Barred has occurred in both Hampshire and the Isle of Wight so a Dorset record was certainly on the cards...

...Bright Wave seems to be a little more infrequent as an immigrant but yesterday's specimen was actually our third © Martin Cade:  

The first full size Great Green Bush-cricket of the year was just shedding into its final, vivid form today © Erin Taylor: