25th August

Rarity highlights have been at a bit of a premium this year so a White-winged Black Tern that flew through at Ferrybridge into the teeth of this morning's brisk easterly was a very welcome little event. With conditions again not at all conducive to a fall of migrants most of the day's numbers were overhead or on the sea and included 150 Yellow Wagtails over the Bill, 350 Swallows and 80 Sand Martins through over Ferrybridge and 55 Balearic Shearwaters through off the Bill; on the ground 5 Reed Warblers at the Bill was a good autumn total but little else posted a significant tally there or elsewhere. The Melodious Warbler from a couple of days ago made a reappearance at the Obs after escaping detection all day yesterday, whilst the miscellany of lesser frequent migrants included an Osprey south off West Cliffs, 2 Knot at Ferrybridge with singles of Hobby and Teal overhead there, and 2 Arctic Skuas and singles of Little Egret, Great Skua and Arctic Tern through off the Bill.

The White-winged Black Tern was the island's sixth record but the first since 1999 - Ferrybridge and the Bill are now neck and neck at three apiece. Since it literally flew straight through it was a sharp spot by Graham Bright and it was fortuitous that Pete and Debby were on station to capture what we think are the first photographs taken of any of the Portland White-winged Blacks © Pete Saunders (top two) and Debby Saunders (bottom):




This morning's Hobby and Knots at Ferrybridge © Pete Saunders:



This Porter's Rustic is an addition to yesterday's immigrant moth tally at the Obs. We'd already done the traps and passed the tub containing the contents of the eight traps we'd operated to Marcus Lawson to have a sift through; fortunately, Marcus was more attentive than we were and spotted the Porter's Rustic that we'd very ineptly managed to overlook - slotting in examining eight traps between net-rounds and everything else on the go here clearly isn't an ideal scenario for spotting something as anonymous-looking as a Porter's Rustic tucked away deep in an egg tray! © Marcus Lawson: