10th August

The wind that had freshened throughout yesterday reached well into gale force overnight and barely abated all day; with passerine hunting a lost cause all the day's attention was given to the sea and Ferrybridge, with largely expected results from both. It was way too windy off the Bill, where 8 Balearic Shearwaters, 7 Manx Shearwaters, 7 Dunlin, 3 Great Skuas, a Sooty Shearwater and an Arctic Skua were the only rewards amongst the c700 Gannets and c100 Kittiwakes that made up the bulk of the commoner fare on the move; 3 Yellow-legged Gulls were also grounded at the Bill, with 2 more off Chesil Cove where a lone Arctic Skua also put in an appearance. Ferrybridge was busy with routine waders, amongst which 23 Sanderling, 10 Kittiwakes, 3 Whimbrel and singles of Knot, Redshank, Little Gull and Arctic Tern provided interest.

The second Scarce Striped Grass-veneer Ancylolomia tentaculella for the island was an unlikely highlight from the Obs moth-traps on a night when nothing in its right mind should have been flying!

The ever-reliable Ferrybridge chipped in with a nice selection of storm-driven birds that included Arctic Tern, Kittiwake and Knot © Pete Saunders:




They're such an interesting-looking moth that we can't imagine even their eventual likely colonisation will ever truly devalue tentaculella but, status-wise, they're never again going to be the massive rarity they once were © Martin Cade: