26th July

With the Welsh islands enjoying small falls of Willow Warblers, it was only a matter of time before we got our share of the action, after a small amount of legwork and ringing the days total slowly crept over the 50 mark. They didn't come alone however with 20 Sedge Warbler and singles of Tree Pipit, Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Grasshopper Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Pied Flycatcher also logged at the bill. Temperatures were still hovering between 23 and 24 degrees so Sea watching was limited to early morning where 35 Common Scoter, 2 Yellow-legged Gull, 2 Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Black-headed Gull and one each of Whimbrel and Purple Sandpiper flew through off the Bill. At Ferrybridge 4 Redshank, one each of Curlew and Whimbrel were present early morning and an adult Curlew Sandpiper dropped in late afternoon with 10 Sanderling and a single Red Knot.

While the usual writer of these notes is enjoys a weeks well earned holiday our moth write-ups probably won't be quite as fulsome as they have been of late, though we'll do our best to keep up to date with reports and photos of the goodies. Last nights catch was no different to the previous days with plenty of variety, the best came in the form of a Dingy Mocha at the Obs and Birch Mocha at Southwell. Chocolate Tip, Dark Spinach, Tree Lichen Beauty and Maidens Blush were a nice supporting cast from the observatory garden, again 4 Spotted continued to be a feature in the Obs traps with another 18 caught overnight.




Pied Flycatcher and Chocolate Tip © Joe Stockwell and Dingy Mocha (bottom) © Martin Cade - Portland Bill