20th June

http://www.at-infocus.co.uk/ 

A reminder that there's an In Focus field event at the Obs between 10am and 4pm this Saturday, 23rd June.

A day that had looked - like most of the other just lately - to be fizzling out uneventfully ended in spectacular fashion when the American Royal Tern that's been roaming northern France and the Channel Isles for the last 18 months and was in Sussex yesterday evening and early this morning showed up long after sunset in Portland Harbour. The day's other reports were of 12 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Common Scoter and a Storm Petrel through off the Bill and 19 Dunlin and 2 Sanderling at Ferrybridge.

For the second year in succession the island's most visible/accessible Little Owls in the Obs Quarry disappeared just as they were looking to be well settled in for the breeding season. Fortunately there are still quite a few other pairs dotted about the island although, to avoid unnecessary disturbance, for the time being we think it'll be prudent not to publicise the precise locations of any of these © Erin Taylor:


Lots of Rock Pipits now have recently fledged youngsters in tow © Erin Taylor: 


After a night when the moth-traps produced not a sniff of immigrant activity it was nice to see a Hummingbird Hawkmoth on the wing during the evening at the Grove - this was only the second one we've logged this year © Martin Cade: