1st June

In contrast to a lot of foggy days at Portland today came up with a decent little arrival of migrants that was all the more noteworthy for occurring so late in the season. The lingering Rosy Starling again stole the show rarity-wise but there was the feeling that if just a few of the folk dropping in to twitch it had troubled to spend a bit of time exploring some underwatched parts of the island then there would surely have been some other rares uncovered. As it was, a Hawfinch at the Obs was the next best on offer whilst the commoner migrant tally at the Bill included 10 Dunlin, 8 Chiffchaffs, 7 Spotted Flycatchers, 5 Sanderling, 3 Reed Warblers and 3 Blackcaps. A brief clearance in the fog around midday allowed for an unexpectedly productive seawatch when 50 Common Scoter and 2 Pomarine Skuas passed the Bill in quick time.

Overnight, 43 Silver Y, 3 Diamond-back Moth and a Rusty-dot Pearl made up the immigrant moth catch at the Obs; however, by day both species looked to have become very numerous throughout the island.

It's got to that time of year when new young birds are appearing everywhere you look; this nestbox full of Great Tits were photographed yesterday morning in a garden at Grangecroft Road - apparently by the evening they'd all successfully fledged and left the box © Julie Howarth:  

Our botanical knowledge is woefully inadequate and we can remember many years ago stumbling across this rather distinctive plant in the Obs Quarry field and not having a clue what it was. The late Peter Mowday sorted it out for us and identified it as Tassel Hyacinth - evidently a garden escape that doesn't usually persist. It clearly can persist at times because a couple of weeks ago visiting botanist Nicky Nichol found three spikes of it right out in the middle of the Quarry field - most likely right where it was 15 or more years ago © Martin Cade: