24th August

After a surprisingly cool and breezy start today quickly saw a resounding return of summer as the breeze quickly dropped out and the temperature shot up in the blazing sunshine that was the order of the rest of the day. Pleasant as they were, these weren't conditions for quantities of grounded migrants although variety wasn't too bad, with 70 Yellow Wagtails, 30 Tree Pipits, 15 Whinchats and 4 each of Spotted and Pied Flycatcher amongst the mix around the south of the island. Yesterday's offshore Balearic-fest wasn't repeated, with not a single one logged at the Bill, where a steady trickle of commic and Sandwich Terns, and a lone Great Skua were the best on offer. Singles of Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit featured amongst the waders at Ferrybridge.

The Obs moth-traps were extremely busy with resident fare, with 22 Rush Veneers - their highest total of the season to date - 3 Vagrant Piercers and singles of Brown China-mark, Olive-tree Pearl, Barred Hook-tip and Jersey Mocha constituting the best of the immigrants and dispersers; elsewhere, the first Scarce Bordered Straw of the year was trapped at Weston.

Variety's on the up as we head into the the last week of August with the likes of Pied Flycatchers finally showing up in numbers, Wheatears beginning to get conspicuous everywhere © Roy Norris:

...Ferrybridge always boosts the day-lists as well with a selection of waders not so easy to see elsewhere; Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit were good list-fillers there today © Roy Norris:

None of the hook-tips are resident at Portland and Barred - a beech-feeder - is a far less than annual visitor to the Obs moth-traps © Martin Cade: