A cooler edge to the morning as the north-easterly wind continued, however, it was a short-lived and the afternoon was blazing hot (and ideal for a spot of painting!). A similar morning to yesterday on the sea with
Manx Shearwater once again the most numerous species although much reduced on just 201 for the morning. The variety continued with more than 70
Mediterranean Gulls, 4
Balearic Shearwaters, 3
Yellow-
legged Gulls and a
Greenshank; as well as low double figure totals of
Black-
headed Gull and
Dunlin. Passerine migrants were also present in similar levels to yesterday with 20+
Willow Warblers and 4
Wheatears throughout the Obs area, a
Grasshopper Warbler in the Crown Estate Field and a small handful of
Swifts and
Sand Martins overhead; there was also
a
Hobby through Southwell during the evening. Ferrybridge was graced by a fly-over
Great White Egret, a single
Redshank, 2
Black-
tailed Godwits, 7
Sanderling and over 100 each of
Mediterranean Gull and
Black-
headed Gull.
Despite records increasing in line with the current UK trend, a photograph of a Great White Egret in Portland airspace is a really rare event © Angela Thomas:
Ferrybridge came up with most of the other photo opportunities as well; Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Sanderling & Dunlin and Sandwich Tern © Debby Saunders (the waders) and Pete Saunders (Sandwich Tern):
With the continuing presence of Large Tortoiseshells twitchers about the island (the butterflies have become sufficiently routine that we've given up reporting them every day!) plenty of attention has been paid to butterflies in general; Silver-studded Blues - many still in really good condition - have been popular at Tout Quarry © Roy Norris:
