12th June

On what was easily the hottest day of the year to date the birding again took on a less than scorching quality. Two Chiffchaffs were the only new arrivals on the ground at the Bill, where 19 Common Scoter, 8 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Sandwich Terns and a Mallard passed by on the sea.

Overnight mothing was no more productive, with 15 Rusty-dot Pearls and 2 Diamond-back Moths the only immigrants caught at the Obs.

Bugloss Spear-wing Tinagma ocnerostomella - Broadcroft BC reserve, 11th June 2014 © Martin Cade

 

...amongst the moths, mid-June marks the beginning of the flight period of several of the Portland specials - for example, both Portland Ribbon Wave and Four Spotted have been on the wing for the first time this year in recent days - and last evening we came across plenty of ocnerostomella around the only patch of Viper's Bugloss we could find at Broadcroft. Although it's a pretty unobtrusive little species that you really need to get down on your hands and knees to see, we've pretty well never failed to find it whenever we've checked Viper's Bugloss anywhere on Portland; however, it seems from the Dorset distribution map that it's only been recorded from four tetrads elsewhere in the county.

11th June

The continuing fine weather may yet spring a surprise but just at the moment it doesn't look particularly likely to drop much by way of quality arrivals. Today's only newcomers on the land were 3 Reed Warblers - 2 at the Bill and another at East Weare. The sea came up with 34 more Common Scoter and a Balearic Shearwater through off the Bill.

Moth immigrants included 27 Rusty-dot Pearl, 4 Diamond-back Moth and a Silver Y caught overnight at the Obs.

As it seems as though pretty well of the routine summer migrants have now gone through it's maybe timely to have a quick look at how this spring fared. We keep telling visitors that we got the feel for it being an average season and that's more or less borne out by our ringing totals:

	2014      total	2009-2013 mean	2009-2013 highest	2009-2013 lowest
Goldcrest	6	39	67	1
Firecrest	6	11	14	7
Chiffchaff	401	493	955	341
Willow Warbler	1116	1135	1872	502
Blackcap	249	353	729	102
Garden Warbler	61	73	170	24
Whitethroat	161	131	250	69
Sedge Warbler	43	44	68	19
Reed Warbler	22	34	76	11
Pied Flycatcher	13	5	8	3
Redstart	31	43	64	22
Spotted Flycatcher	48	55	101	36

If you bear in mind that our record-breaking spring of 2012 somewhat slants the recent mean toward a higher value for most species than would have been the case if we'd totted up a longer run of comparison years, then 2014 really hasn't been too bad. Goldcrest is a stand-out loser - they seem very unpredictable these days, with annual totals far less related to the severity of the winter weather than was the case in the past - and Firecrest didn't do a lot better, whilst Whitethroat and Pied Flycatcher are the two obvious winners. It's fair to say that everything else managed pretty OK totals, which has to be heartening in this day and age.

Chiffchaff, Sandwich Terns and Bee Orchid - Southwell, Portland Harbour and Portland Bill - 11th June 2014 © Pete Saunders (Chiffchaff), Will Bown (Sandwich Terns) and Chris Dresh (Bee Orchid)

10th June

Just as a very pleasantly fair day was about to written off from the birding point of view so the latest fly-by oddity showed up; not altogether surprisingly it was another Bee-eater that was first heard over Top Fields and shortly afterwards headed south high over the Obs. The only other news worth a mention was of 2 Balearic Shearwaters through off the Bill.

By day, there looked to be a new arrival of Painted Ladys everywhere, whilst Hummingbird Hawk-moths included 2 at Southwell and 1 at the Obs. Two Delicates at the Grove and singles of Orange Footman at Southwell and the Obs were the pick of the overnight immigrant moth captures; commoner species at the Obs included 27 Rusty-dot Pearl, 8 Diamond-back Moth and a Pearly Underwing.

9th June

Not for want of trying, the June rarities are proving hard to come by at the moment, with precious little of note on the land today bar a Willow Warbler at Blacknor. Some interest was salvaged from the sea, with 115 Manx Shearwaters, 29 Common Scoter, 11 commic terns, 5 Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Great Skuas and a Red-throated Diver through off the Bill.

Moth immigration continued to tick over, with 22 Rusty-dot Pearl, 8 Diamond-back Moth and singles of Orange Footman, Clouded Buff, Pearly Underwing and Silver Y at the Obs; elsewhere, singles of Cream-bordered Green Pea and Orange Footman at Southwell and Dark Pine Knot-horn Dioryctria abietella at Weston were of note.

8th June

With the warmth and sunshine only spoilt by a couple of passing showers during the evening, today saw a good deal of coverage, even if the rewards were pretty limited. The sea continued to come up with most of the variety, with 51 Common Scoter, 4 Great Skuas, 3 Sandwich Terns and a Balearic Shearwater passing the Bill and a few Manx Shearwaters milling around offshore all day. New arrivals on the land were limited to 2 Chiffchaffs and a Reed Warbler at the Bill and another Reed Warbler at Southwell.

There was a conspicuous increase in Red Admiral numbers throughout the island, whilst only the second Clouded Yellow of the year was at the Bill. Moth immigrants included 7 Rusty-dot Pearls, 2 each of Diamond-back Moth and Silver Y, and singles of Hummingbird Hawk-moth and Delicate in the Obs garden moth-traps; 2 Tipula maxima craneflies were also caught in the traps.

 

 

Tipula maxima and Delicate - Portland Bill, 8th June 2014 © Martin Cade

 

...we know pretty well nothing about crane-flies except having gleaned that the strikingly-marked Tipula maxima is Britain's largest Daddy Long-legs; we're not even sure whether Tipula maxima is a permanent resident at Portland, although that perhaps seems unlikely as we're not sure we've ever encountered it 'at large' and its usual haunts are described as moist and often wooded locations. The only reason we've learnt anything about the species is that it turns up from time to time in the moth-traps and, maybe fancifully, we think of it a good indicator that there's interesting immigration in the offing - today's immigrant moth haul was hardly vintage, but perhaps it was just the vanguard of what's to come!

7th June

Portland has been blessed or blighted, depending on your outlook on such matters, with a series of almost subliminal rarity occurrences this spring; one or two at least left a digital trace by which we might remember them, but others scarcely impinged on the consciousness, let alone the pixels. Sadly, today's Pallid Swift that streaked over one fortunate observer at the Bill during the afternoon fell into the latter category, and was gone as quickly as it had been spotted. After a night of passing electric storms and occasional downpours it was no surprise that a handful of late migrants made landfall, with 2 each of Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher at the Bill and another Spotted Flycatcher at Southwell all new in; 2 each of Mallard and Black-headed Gull, and singles of Whimbrel and Sanderling also showed up at Ferrybridge. The sea has been well worth attention in recent days, and today chipped in with 72 Common Scoter, 12 Balearic Shearwaters, 3 Great Skuas, 2 Arctic Skuas, 2 Sandwich Terns and singles of Curlew and Pomarine Skua through off the Bill.

Despite promising-looking conditions, moth immigration remained very subdued, with 13 Diamond-back Moths and singles of Rush Veneer, Cream-bordered Green Pea and Silver Y the only migrants/wanderers caught overnight at the Obs.

 

 

Kittiwake and Song Thrush - June 2014, Portland Bill and East Weare © Brett Spencer Brett's Goosey Ganderings (Kittiwake) and Keith Pritchard Birding Portland UK (Song Thrush)

6th June

With a freshening easterly a feature all day the sea got most of the attention and came up with another strong movement of scoter: 235 Commons and a very late Velvet passed through off the Bill during the morning; at least 4 Balearic Shearwaters lingered offshore, whilst 4 Manx Shearwaters, 4 Sandwich Terns and 2 Arctic Skuas also passed by. The only reports from the land were of a lone Wheatear at the Bill and 4 Sanderling and 2 Whimbrel amongst the waders at Ferrybridge.

A Clay Triple-lines was found overnight on the outside of a lit window at the Obs, but a single Silver Y was the only immigrant caught in the Obs garden moth-traps.

Clay Triple-lines - Portland Bill, 5th June © Martin Cade

 

...being a Beech feeder, Clay Triple-lines is never a frequent wanderer to Portland.

5th June

On a lovely day to be out birding the chief rewards came from the sea, with 15 Common Scoter, 8 Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Great Skuas, singles of Great Northern Diver and Arctic Skua, and a light trickle of Manx Shearwaters through off the Bill. The land came up with few surprises: the wader haul at Ferrybridge included 24 Dunlin, 8 Sanderling and a Whimbrel, whilst 4 rather tardy Wheatears were at the Bill.

Large Skipper and more Bee Orchid variation - Portland Bill, 5th June 2014 © Ken Dolbear

 

...amongst the Bee Orchids there are several resembling or getting close to var. trollii, the so called Wasp Orchid.

4th June

Contrary to the forecast the day wasn't a wash-out and there was plenty of time to establish that it remained pretty quiet for birds. Two single Willow Warblers were the only apparent new arrivals on the land at the Bill, where 100 or more Manx Shearwaters were lingering offshore and 2 Whimbrel and singles of Balearic Shearwater and Arctic Skua passed through on the sea. Wader numbers increased through the day at Ferrybridge, with 17 Sanderling present by the evening, whilst the unseasonable Black-throated Diver remained in Portland Harbour.

Moth immigrant activity was restricted to just a single Dark Sword Grass caught overnight at the Obs.

 

 Mottled Marble, Narrow-winged Pug and Spruce Carpet - Portland Bill, 3rd June 2014 © Martin Cade 

 

...we didn't get round to photographing yesterday's minor haul of dispersing moths until this morning; sadly, today didn't come up with anything nearly as interesting.

3rd June

A little bit of overnight rain was likely instrumental in dropping a few migrants, including 3 Chiffchaffs and singles of Wheatear, Reed Warbler, Blackcap and Willow Warbler at the Bill, whilst there were also still a handful of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins arriving overhead. The only other reports were of seawatching at the Bill that came up with 88 Common Scoter, 70 Manx Shearwaters, 5 Little Egrets, 2 Great Skuas, a Mallard and an Arctic Skua.

A small arrival of dispersing moths saw singles of Mottled Marble Bactra furfurana, Narrow-winged Pug and Spruce Carpet caught overnight at the Obs; singles of Diamond-back Moth, Rusty-dot Pearl and Dark Sword Grass were the only conventional immigrants caught.

Bee Orchid variation - Perryfields, 3rd June 2014 © Ken Dolbear

 

And it's that time of year when it starts to get difficult knowing which way the migrants are going: the plumage of today's Blackcap was ragged enough to arouse suspicion that she was likely already leaving, and that fact was pretty well confirmed by the presence of such a well-formed brood-patch that she'd obviously made a breeding attempt somewhere (photo © Martin Cade):

 

 

2nd June

Despite promising-looking conditions there was very little to be found on the land, with 2 Whitethroats the only new arrivals trapped and ringed at the Obs; a Black Redstart at the Bill Quarry may or may not have been the same individual as that reported there off and on in the last few weeks. Miscellaneous other reports included a late Black-throated Diver in Portland Harbour, 57 Common Scoter, 2 late Common Gulls and a Great Skua through on the sea at the Bill and a single Sanderling amongst the handful of waders at Ferrybridge.

Although small numbers of Painted Ladys and Hummingbird Hawk-moths remain around the island during the day 3 Diamond-back Moths were the only immigrants caught overnight in the Obs garden moth-traps.

1st June

It was a sad reflection on the quality of the birding that on what was the nicest day for a while the highlight - if you can call it that - was a Barnacle Goose that arrived from the west over Verne Common and a few minutes later did a fly-round over the Bill before heading off to the north. There were a few 'proper' migrants about, of which the best at the Bill were another 10 Reed Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Spotted Flycatcher on the ground and 3 Common Buzzards and a Hobby passing through overhead. The only worthwhile reports from elsewhere were of 4 Bar-tailed Godwits and 2 Grey Plover at Ferrybridge.

With immigrants hardly featuring in the Obs garden moth-traps this morning - 4 Diamond-back Moths were the only conventional migrants making the list - it was a surprise to find only our fourth ever Clouded Buff amongst the catch.

Barnacle Goose - Portland Bill, 1st June 2014 © Martin Cade

 

In the absence of any sustained immigration there have been few moth highlights so far this year; local interest this weekend came in the form of today's Clouded Buff and yesterday's Green Silver-lines, the latter being a scarce but seemingly increasing wanderer to Portland:

 

 

Among the diurnal moths the often overlooked Mother Shipton is now on the wing (moth photos © Martin Cade):

 

 

Also just lately there's been a worrying development at the auk colony on the cliffs at the Bill where one of the local Ravens have discovered the knack of stealing Guillemot's eggs; we first heard of this a few weeks ago and had hoped it was just a one-off, but in recent days egg shells have been found on the cliff top, whilst today Matt Phipps photographed the culprit in action:

 

 

...the auks have had plenty to contend with already this year so this is really adding insult to injury.

31st May

This has been a week that keeps giving, and it carried on in fine style today with first a Bee-eater and then shortly afterwards a Goshawk both north over East Weare, these being followed in quick time by the appearance/reappearance for 15 minutes of 4 Bee-eaters at the Obs; the back-up cast was also a good deal more varied and numerous that might be expected at the end of May. Common migrant-wise, the Bill area came up with 15 Reed Warblers, 10 new Whitethroats, 5 each of Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler, and 3 each of Chiffchaff and Spotted Flycatcher, whilst Bee-eater seekers reported several more Reed Warblers and Spotted Flycatchers in particular elsewhere around the centre of the island; a Little Ringed Plover was also new overhead at Ferrybridge. Even the sea chipped in with more than it should have done on a calm day, with 150 Common Scoter, 23 commic terns, 10 Shelduck, 2 Great Northern Divers, 2 Great Skuas and an Arctic Skua through off the Bill.

This morning's immigrant/dispersing moths from the Obs traps: 13 Diamond-back Moth, 3 Silver Y, 2 Rusty-dot Pearl, 2 Rush Veneer and singles of Maiden's Blush and Green Silver-lines.

Goshawk and Bee-eaters - East Weare and Portland Bill © Keith Pritchard gullsandterns.blogspot (Goshawk) and Martin Cade (Bee-eaters)

...as something of a local quirk, Goshawk is a much, much higher value rarity at Portland than Bee-eater, with today's bird being only the second of the few records to be photo-documented; quite why the last three records should have all occurred in the month of May seems particularly baffling - what's all that about?

We didn't get time yesterday to mention that whilst wandering about the middle of the island looking for migrants we stumbled upon our 'mixed-singing' chiffchaff still seemingly holding territory in some trees behind the fire station at Easton that we hadn't visited since we last saw it there a fortnight ago. It appears now to have an even more arrestingly weird repertoire than it had before; have a listen to this compilation of song phrases that we recorded over the half-hour or so that we were with it:



In appearance it looks likes a bright but scruffy Chiffchaff, with certain aspects of its plumage and structure bearing some resemblance to Iberian Chiffchaff; at close range it even looks to have a moult limit in the primaries, although the seemingly older outer feathers vs newer inner ones is the opposite to what is now known to be a feature of some spring Iberians:

We again had a go at playing various recording to it and it still gives an at times very strong reaction to Iberian Chiffchaff song, whereupon it comes shooting out of the trees almost as soon as the recording's played:

 

30th May

While yesterday's showers did the trick with knocking down some migrants, today they did little more than get us wet early on and keep us wet throughout the morning. A few new arrivals did show up, with several Whitethroats, 5 Spotted Flycatchers, 3 each of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, and singles of Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler at the Bill; elsewhere there were 2 Turtle Doves at Southwell and several extra Reed Warblers, phylloscs and Spotted Flycatchers dotted around suitable spots through the middle of the island.

The immigrant list from the Obs garden moth-traps did include 2 Rush Veneer, but otherwise just 2 Silver Y and a single Rusty-dot Pearl.

Turtle Dove - Southwell, 30th May 2014 © Pete Saunders

29th May

The flow of rarities dried up - hopefully just for the time being - but it was still a decent enough day with, for late May, a good little scatter of late migrants that were being downed by a succession of showers and occasional heavier bursts of rain. The Bill area got most of the coverage and came up with totals that included 30 Whitethroats, 20 Spotted Flycatchers, 8 Willow Warblers, 6 Reed Warblers, 3 Sedge Warblers and 2 each of Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff; overhead there was steady arrival of small parties of Swifts, whilst elsewhere there were 2 single Turtle Doves in the Southwell/Reap Lane area. Singles of Great Skua and Arctic Skua, along with 23 Common Scoter, passed through off the Bill.

28th May

Any worries that the excitements of the past couple of days might be a flash in the pan were very quickly dispelled with an early morning reappearance of the 4 Bee-eaters in and over the Obs garden, where they performed admirably for a couple of hours before leaving high to the south. The hot streak at the Obs was further maintained early in the afternoon when the mist-nets struck with a previously unseen Red-breasted Flycatcher; sadly it proved less than cooperative and wasn't seen after release. The day's other happenings paled into insignificance, but did include new singles of Hobby, Golden Plover, Reed Warbler, Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher at the Bill and 124 Common Scoter and a Great Northern Diver through on the sea there.

Immigrant-wise, 2 Rusty-dot Pearls were a first record for the year in the Obs garden moth-traps, that also came up with 7 Diamond-back Moths and a Silver Y.

Bee-eaters, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Hobby - Portland Bill, 28th May 2014 © Martin Cade

 

...never frequent at the best of times, if we remember rightly the Red-breasted Flycatcher is only Portland's seventh spring record, as well as being the first to occur in May (the previous records were all in mid-June). If the date was a bit unexpected then the bird's age certainly wasn't: just like all the recent records it was a first-summer with well-worn plumage and tell-tale little buff tips to most of the greater coverts (which were actually surprisingly hard to see on the closed wing when the bird was held at any distance):

 

 

We've never quite been able to work out whether first-summer males can ever have traces of red on the throat, but either way none of our recent spring birds have had any so, like today's bird, they've all fallen into the un-sexed category (additional photos © Martin Cade).

27th May

Very pleasingly we seem to have found ourselves getting into something of a mini purple patch, with yesterday's two oddities being followed today by a party of 4 Bee-eaters that arrived in off the sea over the Obs early in the afternoon and settled briefly at Culverwell; they were quickly located again roaming widely over the middle of the island before seemingly departing northward over Verne Common. Earlier a Common Rosefinch (presumably most likely yesterday's bird, although a new arrival couldn't be ruled out) had been heard very briefly in song in the beach hut fields at the Bill, whilst later one observer on the hunt for the Bee-eaters also noted the coincidental appearance over Reap Lane of a Red-footed Falcon, but sadly that couldn't be found again. Before all the excitement in the sky there had been a small arrival of grounded migrants at the Bill, where 8 Whitethroats, 4 Chiffchaffs, 3 Reed Warblers, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and singles of Turtle Dove and Willow Warbler had shown up through the morning; elsewhere a Hobby was overhead at Avalanche Road. The sea was very quiet, with nothing more than 30 Common Scoter and a single Manx Shearwater through off the Bill.

Immigrant moths caught overnight at the Obs: 19 Diamond-back Moths and 1 Silver Y.

Bee-eaters - Portland Bill and Southwell, 27th May 2014 © Joe Stockwell Yet another birding blog  (settled birds and upper single in flight), Debby Saunders (lower single in flight) and Pete Saunders (two in flight)

 

...and a short video clip of three of the birds settled at Culverwell:

 

...and thanks to Joe for a short recording of the birds calling at Culverwell:
 

26th May

At the second attempt of trying, shortly after midnight the first Storm Petrel of the summer was tape-lured, trapped and ringed at the Bill. After a drop of rain in the late hours of the night the calm, heavily overcast dawn looked very promising indeed, so it was rather disappointing to find that the first hour revealed precious little on the ground; that soon changed when in quick succession first a Serin and then a singing Common Rosefinch showed up in the vicinity of the Obs/beach hut fields. Both lingered for a while before the Rosefinch relocated to Southwell later in the morning. A fly-over Brambling was another surprise newcomer at the Bill, where 4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Reed Warblers and singles of Wheatear, Spotted Flycatcher and Chaffinch also showed up; elsewhere, 2 Turtle Doves passed over at Blacknor. The sea was still worth a look, with 56 Common Scoter, 25 commic terns, 3 Arctic Skuas and a Great Skua through off the Bill.

Immigrant interest in the Obs garden moth-traps consisted of 2 Pearly Underwings and singles of Dark Spectacle and Silver Y.

 

Common Rosefinch and Serin - Southwell and Portland Bill © Nick Stantiford (Rosefinch stills) and Martin Cade (Rosefinch video and Serin)

 

...and, although it's only of rather esoteric interest, Nick's cracking photos of the Common Rosefinch on his garden bird-feeder show evidence of the partial moult of the flight-feathers exhibited by (some/all?) first-years that's alluded to in Svensson and illustrated in one or two blogs elsewhere on the web - here the three longest primaries are clearly newer/fresher than the older/worn inner primaries:

 

 

And a few sounds from the days oddities. The Rosefinch was initially singing quite well at the Obs:

 

...and later Nick Stantiford got a really very decent recording of it just with his mobile phone when it was singing in his garden at Southwell:



...maybe we've just been inattentive in the past, but today's bird seemed to be calling in flight a lot more frequently than is usually the case; most of our attempts at recording these quite subtle calls were spoilt by miscellaneous birders shouting that it was flying (...yes, we could see that for ourselves...) but you can just about make out some calls here as it flies over the Obs heading towards Culverwell:



...and, finally, a few calls from the Serin:
 



25th May

Signs of a settling down in the weather today although seemingly having come too late to have dropped anything in the way of tardy passerines, with a lingering Blackcap the only report of note from the land at the Bill. Fortunately there was still reward to be had from the sea, with watches at the Bill coming up with 63 Common Scoter, 28 Sanderlings, 5 Great Skuas, 5 Pomarine Skuas, 5 commic terns, 2 Ringed Plovers and singles of Red-throated Diver and Great Northern Diver, a single Arctic Skua also passed over Ferrybridge. Waders at Ferrybridge included 15 Sanderling, a Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit, with a lone Greenshank also passing over there.

Immigrant moths included the first Pearly Underwing of the year found indoors at the Obs and 2 Diamond-back Moths caught overnight in the Obs garden moth-traps.

Sanderling - Ferrybridge, 25th May 2014 © Pete Saunders

...and two of Ken Dolbear's always beautiful butterfly photos - Common Blues and Small Copper at the High Angle Battery today:

24th May

The sea stole the show again today with the continuing unsettled conditions coming up with some pretty good totals for so late in the spring. The Bill got the best of the coverage and although some of the commoner species were not moving in the quantities logged yesterday there was better variety today, including 50 commic terns, 38 Common Scoter, 8 Pomarine Skuas, 7 Arctic Skuas, 6 Great Northern Divers, 6 Great Skuas, 3 Balearic Shearwaters and a Storm Petrel; Chesil Cove was only watched in the evening but returned totals of 6 Pomarine Skuas and 3 each of Great Skua and Arctic Skua. A Curlew Sandpiper dropped in briefly at Ferrybridge, where 2 Bar-tailed Godwits and a Grey Plover were still present, but otherwise the land was the poor relation, with nothing more than singles of White Wagtail, Blue-headed Wagtail, Reed Warbler and Willow Warbler making the log at the Bill.

In the constantly dreary conditions the only migrant Lepidoptera making the list were those attracted to the various moth-traps, including at the Obs 5 each of Diamond-back Moth and Silver Y, and a single Hummingbird Hawk-moth.

Curlew Sandpiper - Ferrybridge, 24th May 2014 © Pete Saunders

23rd May

Another very unsettled day turned up a decent selection of new arrivals on the ground together with some of the heaviest sea passage we've seen all spring. The latter was particularly unanticipated: at the Bill the Manx Shearwater total got beyond 1000, whilst Gannets and Fulmars were passing at rates of up to 800 and 40 per hour respectively at times during the morning (these figures constitute peaks for each species so far this season); 15 Common Scoter, 3 Balearic Shearwaters, 3 Great Skuas, 2 Sanderling, 2 Arctic Skuas, a Great Northern Diver and a Storm Petrel also passed through off the Bill, whilst 3 Black Terns, 2 Arctic Skuas and a Pomarine Skua passed through off Chesil and an Arctic Skua flew over Ferrybridge. Coverage of the land was hard work in the stiff breeze but there were certainly new arrivals about, with 10 Reed Warblers, 4 Willow Warblers, 2 each of Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff and Spotted Flycatcher, and singles of Whimbrel, Wheatear, Redstart and Blackcap at the Bill and 15 Sanderling, a Grey Plover and a Bar-tailed Godwit at Ferrybridge.

Migrant Lepidoptera continued to feature, including single Hummingbird Hawk-moths at the Obs and Sweethill, 15 Silver Ys and 14 Diamond-back Moths caught overnight in the Obs garden moth-traps and small numbers of Painted Ladys at the Bill and Southwell.

Grey Seal - Portland Bill, 22nd May 2014 © Beatrice Dopita 

...and some of the migrant lepidoptera of the last few days:

22nd May

A reminder that the next In Focus field event at the Obs takes place between 10am and 4pm this Saturday, 24th May.

The unsettled conditions that set in earlier in the week continued, with a night of heavy rain followed by two more wet spells through the day; the only redeeming feature was that with the storms tracking straight out of western France it remained quite warm. Another minor flurry of new arrivals at the Bill included 5 Whitethroats, 2 each of Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler, and singles of Grey Heron, Ringed Plover, Turtle Dove, Yellow Wagtail, Grasshopper Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher. Elsewhere there were singles of Cuckoo and Spotted Flycatcher at Southwell and 24 Sanderling, 6 Bar-tailed Godwits and a Grey Plover at Ferrybridge.

Despite the promising-looking conditions moth immigration dwindled away, with just 2 Silver Y and a Diamond-back Moth caught overnight at the Obs. Painted Ladys cropped up in small numbers wherever there was coverage, whilst another single Hummingbird Hawk-moth was at the Windmills.

Grey Plover and Turtle Dove - Ferrybridge and Portland Bill, 22nd May 2014 © Debby Saunders (Grey Plover) and Martin Cade (Turtle Dove)

...and a bit more of the Turtle Dove: