We're not sure how many Barn Owls are about around the south of the island at the moment but there continue to be regular performances by one and sometimes two at Southwell and at least one at the Bill; this one was at Southwell this evening © Pete Saunders:
Whilst we await the return of the last of the ever dwindling population of Portland Puffins - this is a bit of a 'fingers crossed' event here since there does seem to be a painful inevitability about the fact that one of these years they're not going to come back - we were surprised to receive a call from Trevor Owens this morning reporting that he'd picked up a Puffin that he'd watched getting washed ashore on the Preston Beach in Weymouth. Despite our experience of such events being that they almost inevitably end in tears since the hapless birds usually have something so profoundly wrong with them that they eventually succumb, we thought we ought to make the effort and collect it to see if anything could be done. Puffin records in this area anywhere away from the Bill or occasionally off Chesil are really unusual so, as unlikely as it seems, it would be nice if this bird does manage to pull through © Martin Cade:
