An extremely hairy gold & khaki-coloured Great Prominent moth rests vertically on a densely textured black and grey furniture cover.

A ruddy, brown, & cream-coloured Red Twin-spot Carpet moth rests vertically on a grey-green egg box.

A smoky grey Muslin Moth shows off it's amazingly pennate antennae as it rests on the pale wooden floor of a moth trap.

An unsurprising 8/6 in the Upton garden trap this morning, after a cold & clear night, did however include 3 NFY species: Red Twin-spot Carpet, Muslin Moth, & a brace of Great Prominent #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

A first-summer Ross’s Gull, a bird of the high and remote Arctic, spent the day following tractors around newly sown potato fields south of Thornham in North Norfolk after an initial brief sighting at RSPB Titchwell. For much of the day it was distant in heat haze but occasionally better views if you happened to be in the right place, but later on gave itself up close to a road feeding with summer plumaged Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls.

The unpredictability of UK birding is so much part of the fun. Who would have predicted a Ross’s Gull in mid April walking around behind a tractor in a potato field in North Norfolk? Great find by Trev Girling who got the news out immediately and superb relocate by Matt Lonsdale. #NorfolkBirding

*29 Wheatear

Sunrise at St Aldhelm's Head, with a shadowed haystack and ruined barn in the lefthand foreground and a misty ridge and fenced farm fields to the right.

The best morning of the spring so far at St Aldhelm's Head today, with single Gropper & Redstart, 3 Tree Pipit, Yellow Wag', 22 Wheatear, 19 Wi. Warbler, & 22 Whitethroat, plus a high-flying GS W'pecker (possibly a migrant) & one of the juv Isle of Wight-tailed Eagles @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

An incredibly hairy and multicoloured (buff, orange, black, blue-grey, and white) Oak Eggar caterpillar rests horizontally on a narrow pale brown stem, with bright green leaves and shadows visible in the background.

A funky Oak Eggar caterpillar at St Aldhelm's Head this morning #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Close up digi-image of a confiding male Red-spotted Bluethroat, facing right on a muddy path and showing of his namesake plumage.

I finally caught up with the confiding Swineham Bluethroat again at dawn, exactly a month after 1st seeing it at dusk the day it was found. Amazing to see how the plumage has progressed from the handful of red throat feathers noted in March - an amazingly early Red-spot & perhaps an overwinterer?

A buff, orange, and black Red Mason Bee (viewed from above) rests just off the horizontal on a weathered light brown fence panel.

Nice to see the Red Mason Bees back and busy around the Upton garden bee hotel in this morning's sunshine

Willow Warblers at St Aldhelm's Head on Monday included a ringed bird @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

A brown and cream Lesser Swallow Prominent moth rests vertically on a grey-green egg box.

A Chinese Character moth, patterned like a bird dropping, rests horizontally on a scratched perspex sheet.

Easily the best night of the yr so far in the Upton garden trap, with 48/19 this morning incl'g Lesser Swallow Prom't, & Chinese Character, as well as Brindled, Oak-tree, & Common Pugs, plus a single Diamondback moth on the migrant front #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure Portland had a few in the days before at least.

Painted Lady, Wall (3), Orange-tip, Green-veined White, Peacock, & Red Admiral all on the wing at St Aldheom's Head this morning @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

I shared a magical quarter of an hour with two male Adders at St Aldhelm's Head this morning, as they explored the clifftop vegetation and rocks around my feet - absolutely spellbinding

A Marpissa muscosa jumping spider rests on a lichen-covered drystone wall.

Marpissa muscosa (Fencepost Jumping Spider) was a welcome addition to the St Aldhelm's Head spider list this morning - fabulously chunky things with beautifully intricate markings

Sunrise at St Aldhelm's Head, looking east along the Old Barn Hedge towards Seacombe. A grass and cobble track runs into the distance, flanked by a dense hedge to the left and a grassy bank supporting a barbed wire and wooden post fence to the right, with a distant valley side lit by the yellow morning sun.

The switch to NE didn't deliver much change at St Aldhelm's Head this morning, altho' my first 6 Whitethroat of the yr were appreciated, alongside a smattering of Phyllosc's, 2 Wheatear, an unseasonable Redpoll, & a record count of 13 Red Kite (with flocks of 5 & 8 east) @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

A grey and brown marked Powdered Quaker moth rests on the pinkish palm of man's hand.

A disappointing 6/4 in the Upton garden trap this morning nevertheless incl'd this box fresh (& NFG) Powdered Quaker #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

A shiny male Black Oil Beetle perched on the end of a man's pinkish fingers, set against a blurred backdrop of green grass.

Three Black Oil Beetles laying in proximity to one another on an area of pale grass stems and emergent green leaves.

It's proving to be a fantastic spring for Black Oil Beetles at St Aldhelm's Head (after a few lean years) with at least 8 encountered during this morning's wanderings, including the amorous trio pictured below.

Close up of a flowering Early Spider Orchid, showing the enlarged, furry brown, lower lip bearing a distinctive blueish "H" shape, and the pale green petals and sepals surrounding it.

The Early Spider Orchids were finally flowering at St Aldhelm's Head this morning, a fair while after other sites along the Purbeck coast. One of my favourite #orchids, even if not quite the showiest.

St Aldhelm's Head - the view north across the western end of Pier Bottom, towards Emmet's Hill & Chapman's Pool. Incised steps run down a steep green slope, with wooden fencing alongside it. Scrub covered cliffs are visible in the mid distance, with an area of dark blue sea and more distant cliffs visible in the left of the image.

A lovely morning of migration at St Aldhelm's Head, with a flyover Yellow Wagtail, 14 Wheatear, 9 Wi.Warbler, 3 Chiffchaff, 30 Swallow, 10 S.Martin, & an excellent spring count of 18 Corn Bunting (incl'g an unexpected flock of 12 birds), plus 2+ Porpoise offshore @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

An Adela reaumurella (Green Lonhorn) moth rests horizontally on a bed of bright green moss and grass leaves, showcasing the insect's furry black body, extremely long antennae, and metallic green-gold wings.

Lots of Adela reaumurella were on the wing in the New Forest this afternoon, showing off their crazy white antennae and iridescent green-gold wings #TeamMoth

This Minotaur Beetle was living his best life amongst the pony dung of the New Forest earlier today #coleoptera

Close up of two bright yellow fruiting bodies of the Bog Beacon fungus, siting atop thinner white stems, growing amongst bright green Sphagnum leaves and brownish leaf litter.

Fruiting bodies of the wonderful Bog Beacon were abundant in the pathside mires of the New Forest this afternoon #fungi

View across a misty Pier Bttm at St Aldhelm's Head, looking west from the Paddocks. A bright green field in the foreground gives way to sloping valley sides, with an access track visible on the left of the image, amongst scattered scrub and trees.

Single Willow Warbler & Blackcap the only signs of migration at an unsurprisingly blown out St Aldhelm's Head, with an inquisitive Weasel along the main track the highlight of a truncated morning's wander.

Nice to get Osprey on the (from the) garden list for the year just now, with one hovering high over Lytchett Bay to the south of me.

Peribatodes correptaria, an East Mediterranean species whose larvae feed on Cupressus and Juniper

Hadena adriana, a pretty convincing bird poo mimic

Gladiolus triphyllus, the ever lovely endemic of the pine forests of western Cyprus

Ophrys fusca subsp cinereophila, Cyprus's very own Sombre Bee Orchid

all three Cypriot endemic birds singing within walking distance of our hotel today, along with 23 orchid taxa, ace #MothBreakfast, at least 20 B&W flycatchers (3+ Semicollared amongst them), another reeling Savi's Warbler, & 10+ Cretzschmar's Buntings

#WildlifeTravelling in #Cyprus
#CyprusBirds

A largely grey-coloured Early Tooth-striped moth rests vertically on the pale wooden inner wall of a moth trap.

A grey and white banded Lunar Marbled Brown moth rests vertically on the pale wooden inner wall of a moth trap.

A khaki and black striped/speckled Brindled Beauty moth sits, facing right, on the pale pink-coloured palm of a man's hand.

A respectable 14/9 in the Upton garden trap this morning, after another cool & (mostly) clear night, incl'd a subtly marked (NFG) Early Tooth-striped, plus my first Lunar Marbled Brown & Brindled Beauty of the year #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Spring has finally arrived, with my first Emperor Moth of the year a fleeting visitor to the briefly deployed Upton garden lure this afternoon #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

Yep, likewise across Dorset, I think. A few good days early on, then just dribs and drabs. It's going to be blowing a hoolie down here over the BH weekend, but at least it'll be in the south!

View over Quarry Ledge at St Aldhelm's Head, comprising green grassland and scrub in undulating terrain, with concrete structures visible in the mid-distance and a slice of sea distantly visible on the left of the image.

A large, shiny black, female Black Oil Beetle, with a greatly distended abdomen, rests amongst yellow grass stems and green leaves.

My 1st Willow Warbler & 4 Swallow of the yr were the highlights at an increasingly blown out St Aldhelm's Head this morning, plus 3 S.Martin, a few overhead Mipits, & an adult IoW-tailed Eagle. Not a sniff of a Wheatear, but a handful of Black Oil Beetles were nice to see @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

A brown and white marked, arrowhead-shaped, March Moth rests just off the vertical on a grey-brown wooden fence panel.

A somewhat measly 11/5 on a cool night in the Upton garden did aptly include this northwards pointing (NFY) March Moth #TeamMoth @dorsetmoths.bsky.social

A lovely comparison shot of white-wingers