Moth immigrants included 27 Rusty-dot Pearl, 4 Diamond-back Moth and a Silver Y caught overnight at the Obs.
As it seems as though pretty well of the routine summer migrants have now gone through it's maybe timely to have a quick look at how this spring fared. We keep telling visitors that we got the feel for it being an average season and that's more or less borne out by our ringing totals:
2014 total |
2009-2013 mean |
2009-2013 highest |
2009-2013 lowest |
|
Goldcrest | 6 | 39 | 67 | 1 |
Firecrest | 6 | 11 | 14 | 7 |
Chiffchaff | 401 | 493 | 955 | 341 |
Willow Warbler | 1116 | 1135 | 1872 | 502 |
Blackcap | 249 | 353 | 729 | 102 |
Garden Warbler | 61 | 73 | 170 | 24 |
Whitethroat | 161 | 131 | 250 | 69 |
Sedge Warbler | 43 | 44 | 68 | 19 |
Reed Warbler | 22 | 34 | 76 | 11 |
Pied Flycatcher | 13 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
Redstart | 31 | 43 | 64 | 22 |
Spotted Flycatcher | 48 | 55 | 101 | 36 |
If you bear in mind that our record-breaking spring of 2012 somewhat slants the recent mean toward a higher value for most species than would have been the case if we'd totted up a longer run of comparison years, then 2014 really hasn't been too bad. Goldcrest is a stand-out loser - they seem very unpredictable these days, with annual totals far less related to the severity of the winter weather than was the case in the past - and Firecrest didn't do a lot better, whilst Whitethroat and Pied Flycatcher are the two obvious winners. It's fair to say that everything else managed pretty OK totals, which has to be heartening in this day and age.
Chiffchaff, Sandwich Terns and Bee Orchid - Southwell, Portland Harbour and Portland Bill - 11th June 2014 © Pete Saunders (Chiffchaff), Will Bown (Sandwich Terns) and Chris Dresh (Bee Orchid)