12th August

Portland Bill
Grounded migrants Wheatear 30, Willow Warbler 20, Sedge Warbler 6, Pied Flycatcher 2, Spotted Flycatcher 1.
Visible passage Swallow 100, Sand Martin 40, Little Egret 2, Yellow Wagtail 1.
Sea passage Mediterranean Gull 500w, Black-headed Gull 55w, Balearic Shearwater 40w 11etc, Lesser Black-backed Gull 19s, Common Gull 3w ,Sandwich Tern 2w, Common Scoter 1w, Whimbrel 1e; also Bluefin Tuna 1etc.

Southwell 
Pied Flycatcher 1.

Moths
Selected immigrants Obs: Diamond-back 19, Dark Sword Grass 11, Rusty-dot Pearl 9, Rush Veneer 8, Spindle Knot-horn 3, Vagrant Piercer Cydia amplana 1, Saltmarsh Knot-horn 1, Small Marbled 1, Silver Y 1. Weston: Saltmarsh Knot-horn 1. Blacknor: Saltmarsh Knot-horn 1.

We renewed our acquaintance with an old friend today when this Sedge Warbler popped up in a mist-net in the Crown Estate Field; the ring number looked familiar and it turned out to be a bird ringed here as a youngster on outbound passage on 18th September last year. That date's getting pretty late in the season for a Sedge Warbler (last year only 11 of the autumn's all-time record total of c350 were ringed after this bird) but this bird clearly made it to its winter quarters and returned - presumably to Britain - again this year; it's also got tardiness out of its system since, if we had a check of the data, we wouldn't mind betting that this year's departure date of 12th August must be very close to our median date for autumn Sedge Warblers © Martin Cade:


Immigrant-wise, mothing in the recent blistering heat has been a little lame, but there has been a fair bit of local movement afoot. Cabbage Piercer Selania leplastriana is extremely range-restricted in Britain although easy enough to find amongst Wild Cabbage on West Cliffs at Portland - today's single at the Obs was one of very few to ever make it into the moth-traps there:


Eyed Bell Eucosma pupillana and Starry Pearl Cynaeda dentalis are also both very range-restricted specialities of Portland that are straightforward to find in the vicinity of their larval foodplants - Wormwood and Viper's Bugloss respectively - but rarely stray far away from them:



For us, the best capture in recent nights has been this Roseate Marble Celypha rosaceana; although reported to be 'occasionally common' in the Victorian era we have no evidence of it being anything other than a very infrequent stray/immigrant to the island in modern times © Martin Cade: