24th July

With the temperature topping 25° (higher than anything we recorded during last year's 'hot' summer) it goes without saying that fieldwork was largely confined to the two ends of the day. The strength of the north-easterly also restricted netting opportunities so the migrant tally of the Bill consisted of little more than a light passage of Swifts and hirundines overhead, 5 Turnstones, 4 Wheatears, a Yellow Wagtail and a Willow Warbler on the ground and 31 Common Scoter, 4 Sanderling, 3 Redshanks, 2 Dunlin, a Balearic Shearwater and a Ringed Plover through offshore. Overhead passage at Ferrybridge included 91 Swallows, 9 Sand Martins and 3 Little Ringed Plovers, whilst 40 Dunlin, a Sanderling and a Redshank were grounded there. The only additional report was of an unseasonable Red-necked Grebe in Portland Harbour.

Portland's first Beautiful Yellow Underwing caught at Sweethill was the overnight moth highlight; the varied catch of immigrants/strays at the Obs included 122 Diamond-back Moth, 3 Vagrant Piecer Cydia amplana, a Splendid Brocade and a Tree-lichen Beauty, whilst another 3 Vagrant Piecer were amongst the catch during a light-trapping excursion to Ferrybridge.



Beautiful Yellow Underwing and Redshank - Sweethill and Ferrybridge, 24th July 2014 © Debby Saunders (Beautiful Yellow Underwing) and Pete Saunders (Redshank)