A single Clouded Yellow was at the Bill, whilst Holly Blue and Wall Brown were both on the wing for the first time this year.
Singles of Diamond-back Moth and Dark Sword Grass at the Obs and Silver Y at the Grove made up the night's immigrant moth tally, with a Pine Beauty at the Obs a good local record.
As we've mentioned before, having seen all manner of intermediate birds we've never been great fans of splitting the redpolls but today's frosty adult male Mealy-type was as obvious as they come and as far removed as they come from the dowdy Lesser-types that make up the majority of birds trapped at Portland © Martin Cade (in-hand side) and Nick Hopper (in-hand front and in-field):
The ater Coal Tit was seen in particularly bizarre circumstances: whilst watching Wheatears in the Bill Quarry we became aware of the vaguely Yellow-browed Warbler-like calls of what we took to be a Continental Coal Tit high overhead. Assuming that it was an overflying migrant we looked up to try and locate it and discovered it was on the very top of the Bill lighthouse from where it parachuted down - by now in song - onto the chimneys of the lighthouse cottages; it continued to alternate between these two perches, sometimes also landing on the window ledges of the lighthouse tower and still calling and singing, for a couple of minutes before making off north © Martin Cade:
Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and Clouded Yellow from today © Mark Eggleton:
Lulls in the flow of visible migrants moving along West Cliffs can always be spent keeping your hand in at flight photography © Nick Hopper: