25th July

A warm, humid and overcast night with very little wind saw the first real influx of migrant moths of the summer. Along too came a steady trickle of migrant birds. The Crown Field once again proved invaluable with Grasshopper, Reed and Sedge Warblers all emerging from the crops, while the most noteworthy bird from the garden was a juvenile Cuckoo. The afternoon saw witness to a passage of hirundines and Swifts including 345 Swallows in 40 minutes. The sea appeared relatively quiet from the land with 26 Balearic Shearwaters, an Arctic Skua and a single Curlew of note, however, a Sooty Shearwater was sighted in Portland waters from an afternoon boat trip. 

The juvenile Cuckoo spent the day in the Obs garden before eventually stumbling into a net © Erin Taylor:


Last night's moth catch was full of exciting immigrants of which the best was Portland's first - and Dorset's second - Rose Plume Cnaemidophorus rhododactyla - more on this and the rest of the catch tomorrow © Martin Cade: