27th May

Portland Bill
Manx Shearwater 10etc, Balearic Shearwater 1etc, Little Egret 5n, Common Scoter 6e 3w, Sparrowhawk 1, Sanderling 3w, Arctic Skua 1e, Yellow Wagtail 1n, Wheatear 2, Chiffchaff 1.

Ferrybridge
Sanderling 2e.

With immigrant interest having somewhat fizzled out the moth catches haven't been particularly interesting over the last few nights. However, this morning this tiny tortrix was spotted settled on the perspex top of one of the traps (it was so small that the Blackbirds must have overlooked it in their dawn raids); it was unfamiliar to us but did ring some bells because things rather like it have been featuring online in recent weeks: the use of pheromone lures has shown that the Ash-bark Piercer Pammene suspectana is not the great rarity it was believed to be but rather a relatively widespread inhabitant of the English countryside (including a few recent records from Dorset) - our moth certainly looked a lot like it so we sought the opinion of Phil Sterling who kindly confirmed that it was either this or the very similar Blotched Piercer P. albuginana. Both these species would be new for Portland so, whatever the eventual ID outcome is, it's a nice if rather serendipitous 'non-pheromone' find © Martin Cade: