31st July

A samey but nonetheless enjoyable end to a rewarding July. The grounded migrant tally benefitted from some good cloud cover overhead at dawn and the Willow Warbler tally likely again topped three figures at the Bill; the first 2 Redstarts of the autumn were a welcome addition to the variety there that otherwise consisted of a decent back-up spread of Sedge Warblers and singles of Yellow Wagtail and Reed Warbler. For the third morning in succession a distant feeding aggregation of c300 Gannets and lots of Common Dolphins off the Bill attracted some Storm Petrels - there appeared to be at least 4 but the action is so distant that it's difficult to be certain whether that included any duplication; overnight, another 5 Storm Petrels were also sound-lured and trapped at Bill tip. With shearwaters entirely absent it was left to a passage of 50 Kittiwakes and a lone Great Crested Grebe to provide the only other interest on the sea.

We've mentioned how good this July has been and the month's ringing total ended today on just shy of 900 birds - nearly 300 higher than any other July total during the last decade. Really good showings of several migrants - particularly Willow Warblers - have been notable, as has the success of a wide range of local breeding birds © Martin Cade:

A number of pairs of apparent breeding Shelducks were present on the Portland Harbour breakwaters this summer but it was uncertain whether today's youngsters at Ferrybridge originated from there © Pete Saunders:

A new species for the island rounded off what's also been a very rewarding month for moths. This Rufous Marble Celypha rufana was trapped in John Lucas' garden at Southwell the night before last; there's only one county record of this usually northern and western moth mentioned on Living Record although Phil Sterling tells us that there are at least two others, including one quite recently at Durlston © Martin Cade: