only 12 species seen in an admittedly brief visit to bottomcombe, 3+ clouded yellow (probably double figures as the tend to pass through there) also 2nd gen small blue, snaps of a lulworth and a small skipper too.

lots of fairly fresh common blues around and chalkhill blues now on the wing but silver studded blues seemed over in a very short space of time in tout and even grayling were in surprisingly low numbers.

the long staying juv little ringed plover at ferrybridge looked slim and elegant compared to the ringed plovers (no sign of the other 2x lrp that had been present), redshank and common sand of note, not much else bar the little terns.

around 8-12 six belted clearwing to an old lure (5 years?) in tout quarry this morning.

pretty sure there were 3x LRP at ferrybridge this evening, these couple of oycs with youngster learning the ropes, a few RP, plenty of little terns and a couple of common tern over, everything very distant though.

intentionally blurred photo but soon after the dwt staff left a bait digger turned up and this couple with 2x alsations (by the looks) off the lead

useless photo but as far as i can see a bonaparte's gull at ferrybridge this evening

plenty of small red eyed damselfly about, common blue damselfly, ruddy darter, also had a beautiful demoiselle, probably had scarce blue tailed damselfly too.

four spotted chaser and more black tailed skimmer on the way, missed a snap of a lesser emperor, several emperors around at west knighton

@beardybirder.bsky.social is a much better counter than me and reckoned around 10x scarlet darter at west knighton, i thought a few more. last pic is a red veined darter, at least a couple around i would say

@portlandbirdobs.bsky.social couldnt get a proper snap of this at west knighton but seem to recall it is one of the well known flashy micro moths, can you ID from the naff pic?

had this indoors tother day, looked like an oversized snout to me, app suggests bee moth so not uncommon?

just had a hummingbird hawk moth in the back yard, dull as anything once they have landed.

bit samey today but nice weather to be out in. silver studded blue m & f, lulworth skipper and small copper. saw one late battered 1st gen common blue and more surprisingly a fresh 2nd gen (both males)

15 species in tout n kingbarrow, grayling in kingbarrow was a new spot for me albeit not unexpected. after struggling to get out all of grayling, gatekeeper, ringlet were nfy and small tort was first portland sighting of the year for me.

trying to run the survey of silver studded blues on portland again, if anyone has any records with location please let me know. around 20 seen today in windy conditions, only 1x kingbarrow, the rest in tout. only 2x females.

couldnt find any early gentian in kingbarrow which surprised me @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social has jodie or anyone else found any at the bill yet? birds dire as expected kingbarrow & tout, just a lesser whitethroat rattling. moffs seen cinnabar, burnet companion and scarlet tiger.

how few years do we go back before the thought this was the highlight of tout quarry today would seem absurd! once thought to be the victim of the parasitic fly sturmia bella, would now just seem to be another victim of global warming as uk population moves north searching for cooler climes.

most bee orchids and the majority of ivy broomrape burnt off during the hot 2 weeks i was either ill or back in kent. pleased to find a few bee still on the go at new grounds having blanked on the verge just S of penn castle yesterday

first mother of shipton of the year, also a few silver y and speckled yellow on the wing and a hummingbird hawk moth.

small skipper and silver studded blue nfy for me, nice variety of butterflies around. faded adonis still showing off their perfect colour.

blue monday again in tout, only 2x SSB found in admittedly sub par conditions (they are always late on portland).

hopefully the kingbarrow little owls will breed, or have done

naff photo but this asymmetrically marked lulworth skipper was of interest, couple of painted lady but only saw common stuff at church ope cove.

only around 10-12 red veined darter at yeolands quarry, also present common blue and blue tailed damselfly, emperors, broad bodied chasers, black tailed skimmers, martin thought he had a ruddy darter too.

wall lizard at the pirates graveyard

speckled yellow moth and some sort of bird dropping impersonator moth?

a bit of a blow up of the weird looking damselfly from yeolands, @luvaducksbutt.bsky.social any thoughts on this one?

you'll need to blow this up @marcheath.bsky.social but am i being daft i am struggling to ID this damselfy.

the 2x spoonbills were back at lodmoor and the bittern flew over at 3.30, single bearded tit, single great white egret and the shelduck x ruddy shelduck was present

nice looking damselfly, presumably a female blue tailed violacea? @marcheath.bsky.social

is this a variable damselfly @marcheath.bsky.social from strumpshaw fen last week.

had a fairly disastrous trip up to strumpshaw fen from kent last week, a few bittern and kingfisher were about the only reward for the trip!

male and female black tailed skimmer, broad bodied chaser, emperor, also saw a demoiselle that was flying away from me at the back, probably beautiful i guess. blanked on red veined darter after oli's single yesterday and martin's two the day before.

most butterflies wings shut today in the breeze like this adonis blue. a fair few lulworth skipper out on the E side where they always seem to show up first, probably been on the wing a while i would imagine. first yellow belle and mother of shipton for me on the moff front.

bee orchid (couldnt find any common twayblade), plenty of newts in crown estate pond, 12x common scoter about as good as it got for birds!

a few painted lady moving through and this hummingbird hawkmoth in the obs garden

@marcheath.bsky.social let me know if i have screwed any of these ID up please ;) large red damselfly, azure damselfly, scarce blue tailed damselfly, broad bodied chaser from crown estate fields

never got the views of those who arrived early but a good spot by dave from new grounds looking to the back of area 51 just as we were about to give up!

a very pale barwit on its own at radipole, swan with one on for a free ride radipole, GWE in between plumage & heron lodmoor. only saw 2 butterflies and a single norfolk hawker along the ditch west scrape side lodmoor.

always nice to see spoonbills

i miss the old days of tw1t when birders shared timely news. now all i see is yesterdays photos as news is retained within cliques. what will it mean to the future of our hobby? i already see many of those that concentrate on promoting photos of less common birds bemoaning the lack of patch birders!

three grey seals hauled out at blacknor. looked like a female in the middle, pretty certain there was a white young one next to the female behind her but had disappeared by the time i took photos.

the raven's continuing their predation of guillemot eggs by the looks

couple of spot fly in the obs garden another at reap lane, a couple of late male wheatear movi8ng through, nice to see so many kittiwakes and gull feeding frenzies, not sure what they were finding.

blacknor gully, adonis blue, common blue, holly blue, small blue, small copper, large white, small white, clouded yellow, painted lady, wall brown, small heath, dingy skipper, no lulworths yet, like large skipper always late in the gully.

in some ways this looked like a decent rubicola candidate, any thoughts? maybe someone can make more of the ring too.

struggling for enthusiasm currently, today services NIL for dorset, my old county kent a single white stork! seems to have been a very lean spring, was busy early spring but very quiet since on sightings.

a few species of butterfly at radipole including this orange tip. first beautiful demoiselle and 3x hairy dragonfly, grey mullet and lots of carp spawning added some interest on a quiet day.

presumably a cape shelduk type hybrid escape at radipole today, apart from that quiet a few beardies and 3x marsh harrier, no sign of a hobby.