11th July

A lovely, calm and (at times) scorchingly hot day left much to desire on both the sea and the land. A disappointing down turn in the numbers of shearwaters off the Bill saw Balearics dip to below double figures in the feeding flock, whilst Manxies passed through in low double figures with no sign of the putative Yelkouan. Land-based migration is slowly warming up with a trickle of Sand Martins heading south overhead, along with small family parties of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers.

The Lepidopterans remain of interest with regular sightings of Large Tortoiseshells across the island, as well as a noticeable influx of Small Whites in over the cliffs on the mornings sea-watch. Its sad to see Chalkhill Blues having such an underwhelming start to their year, but with the recent spells of baking hot summers killing off the vetch much too early, it is highly unsurprising.

Apologies to everyone who's sent us through photos of various shearwaters off the Bill in recent days. We will get back to this subject but through spending so much time seawatching and blogging about it  - along with gearing up for welcoming guests back to some of our accommodation for the first time since March - we've ended up with a huge backlog of boring admin to catch up with!