22nd June

With long-overdue warmth apparently here to stay for a few days it was pleasant enough to be out birding and those that took the trouble had a few rewards. A Serin briefly at both the Obs and Culverwell was the only oddity uncovered but a Reed Warbler and at least 1 Chiffchaff were also new in at the Bill and 10 commic terns, 2 each of Mediterranean Gull, Black-headed Gull and Sandwich Tern and a single Whimbrel passed through on the sea there. Elsewhere, 3 Arctic Skuas passed over at Ferrybridge.

There's been a good run of Arctic Skuas off the Bill this summer and most that have been seen well enough have looked to be immatures of some sort so it was good to see a nice series of photos from Ferrybridge this morning that offer up much more plumage detail on a couple of similar-looking individuals © Debby Saunders:




Conditions have become very conducive for butterfly-watching over the last couple of days and there's been plenty to see - Clouded Yellow © Geoff Orton...


...and Silver-studded Blues, Adonis Blue and Small Skipper © Ken Dolbear:




We also popped over to Lodmoor to have a look/listen at the Marsh Warbler that had pitched up there this morning; it was easy enough to see although more tricky to sound record what with the constant chatter of birders, rustling reeds and heavy-duty traffic noise - we've overlayed some of the slightly less adulterated audio onto this video so the two aren't actually in sync! © Martin Cade: