Another hot week on Landsort, with temperatures up in the high 20's for most of last week. Hot, dry and sunny - not ideal conditions for catching birds, but as you can see from the table below we did well, with 246 new birds caught, giving 432 of 36 species since we got here.

Best bird was a Wryneck, a small member of the woodpecker family, with fantastically cryptic plumage to help in camouflage. They nest in holes and, as a defence against predators, they extend their necks (hence the name) and point their beaks up, before gyrating their head and neck in a convincing mimic of a snake. Video of this to follow tomorrow.

Adding our totals to those caught earlier in the year has resulted in 2014 already being the best year since ringing began here (1987) for captures of; Swallow, Icterine Warbler and Goldfinch.

During the week we caught two recently fledged Red-breasted Flycatchers, so young they must have bred on the island.

Each evening we have been runnng the moth trap, with Jon and Kalle taking the lead in sorting out identification of the 97 species caught so far. No one here had seen trapping before and it looks like it may become a feature of the Observatory into the future.

The hot weather has resulted in a very busy tourist season for the island with lots of day visitors and most of the summer houses occupied.

A downside of the heat and calm seas has been the build up of algae on the surface of the Baltic, lying thick in the harbours and bays. Some has cleared from the west, but the east harbour and the bay next to us is full of it - very aromatic.

Heavy rain forecast for Wednesday might mean a lie-in. Equally it may mean a very busy day catching birds if the rain is over-night!