20th March

It felt rather like spring was going into reverse today with summer visitors still further depleted and Redwings coming to the fore: after a night when overflying migrants could be heard in some quantity the morning saw a total of 115 trickle through at the Bill, with the movement only subsiding once heavy cloud cover was replaced by sunshine after midday. Other odds and ends amongst the day's arrivals at the Bill included singles of Curlew, Grey Wagtail and Siskin, whilst 2 each of Black Redstart, Blackcap and Firecrest, and a single Bullfinch lingered on from recent days; another Black Redstart was also still at Reap Lane. The sea was a little busier than in recent days, with 8 Red-throated Divers, 7 Common Scoter, 2 Shelduck and a Red-breasted Merganser through off Chesil, 7 Wigeon, a Black-throated Diver and a Slavonian Grebe settled off the beach and 12 Common Scoter, 7 Red-throated Divers and a Red-breasted Merganser through off the Bill.

A Hummingbird Hawk-moth was at Easton and a single Dark Sword Grass was caught overnight in the Obs garden moth-traps.

Wall Lizards - St Andrew's Church, 20th March 2015 © Ken Dolbear

Finally, today's partial eclipse of the sun was the ultimate of damp squibs at the Obs where there wasn't even the briefest of glimpses of the sun for the whole duration of the event; up-island observers were more fortunate, with the cloud thinning just enough at times - thanks to Duncan Walbridge for this photograph taken from his house at Weston: