30th May

A few more new arrivals today, including singles of Cuckoo, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Spotted Flycatcher at the Bill, but not a sniff of the hoped-for late spring rarity. Seawatch reports included 150 Manx Shearwaters, 14 Common Scoter and an Arctic Skua through off the Bill.

On a breezier night immigrant moth activity was fairly subdued but a Ni Moth did provide some quality at the Obs; 10 Diamond-back Moth, 8 Rush Veneer, 5 each of Rusty-dot Pearl and Silver Y, and singles of Orange Footman and Small Mottled Willow made up the rest of the immigrant/wanderer tally there.

Despite at times very promising-looking conditions, Portland hasn't fared too well during the current spell of moth immigration, with routine fare not particularly numerous and rarities all but absent - we suspect that many insects were carried way over the island by the thunderstorms and didn't drop out until they were well past the coast; today's Ni Moth has been about as it's got so far, although there's plenty of time for things to improve © Martin Cade:


A peculiar event today was the occurrence of three species of tiger moth: Cream-spot Tigers are to be expected now and are quite numerous in everyone's traps; a Garden Tiger however was quite unseasonable at the Obs where the usual flight period is July and August - we don't have any previous May records; a Scarlet Tiger at Easton wasn't quite so outlandish, although even they're not usually on the wing much before mid-June © Martin Cade (Garden Tiger) and Ken Dolbear (Scarlet Tiger):