3rd March

Another steady little overnight passage of Redwings - 184 calls logged at the Obs of which all bar 3 were between 21:25 when it stopped raining and 01:30 - didn't prove to be the precursors to an uptick in daytime migrant numbers, with 3 Redwings, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Siskin the sum total of the numbers at the Bill; 4 Purple Sandpipers and 4 Turnstones were also still there and 4 Black-headed Gulls passed by on the sea.

Moth interest certainly hasn't been to the fore just lately although, even without any moth-traps being operated, there have been the occasional signs of the onset of spring. Three Dotted Borders were a seasonable find in the Obs porch this morning © Martin Cade...


...whilst a Garden Carpet that flew in through an open door at the Obs one day whilst we were away last week had got well ahead of itself - the new Dorset moth website doesn't show any previous county records for the month of February © John Lucas: