I've never seen one as big as that before!

Today I spent about an hour sea-watching, hoping that one of the Balearic Shearwaters seen off shore at Dungeness. I didn't have any luck but there was a good movement of Gannets and Kittiwakes, along with Common/Arctic terns and just one Fulmar. The best bird was an Arctic Skua that flew up the channel.

While I was in the Bay this enormous platform moved down Channel. The Saipem 7000 is world's second largest crane vessel with a lifting capacity of 2 x 7,000 tonnes. Although only the second largest, because of a longer reach she holds the world lifting record. She is 198 metres long, has a free deck area of 9,000 sq. m. and a transit speed of 9.5 knots. She provides accommodation for a maximum of 800 persons in 405 fully AC single or double cabins. According to the WEB she was off the Norwegian coast on July 18th, but I couldn't find out where she's destined for.


Last night the moth traps were again quite productive, and although the majority were mainly Underwings of various sorts I did catch a new moth for the garden, a Wormwood. A Member of the same genus as the Shark it had me puzzled for a while because it adopted a much flatter pose for most of the time.

Above the Wormwood is in a "flat" pose, not one I associate with the genus Cucullia, as all the "Shark moths I've caught have rested with the wings pressed tightly against the body.

The figure of eight formed by the oval marks separate this for its other relatives.