Friday 18th August 2006
	A spectacular day with the highlight being a juvenile Roller that was found at South Gare (Cleveland) during the morning. It showed well throughout the day but was seen flying strongly out to sea just before dark. This bird represents the 5th record for Cleveland (and 2nd for South Gare following a bird in 1993) and is the first twitchable individual since the long-stayer in Co. Durham in July 2000.  In Lancashire the near-adult White Pelican that had flown over Norfolk and Lincolnshire on Wednesday (and had previously been in The Netherlands and Germany earlier in the summer) was located on the River Ribble near Brockholes Quarry. Its' keenness to accept a fish from a local angler will not have done much for its' credentials and is presumably an escape.  Other headline birds include a brief Thrush Nightingale at Spurn (E.Yorks), new Aquatic Warblers at Slimbridge WWT, Pannel Valley NR (East Sussex) and on St. Agnes (Scilly), Red-footed Falcon, in Suffolk and Greenish Warblers at Hartlepool (Cleveland), Fair Isle (Shetland) and two on The Farne Islands (part of a remarkable fall during the afternoon). On top of these, there were plenty of scarce migrants to keep birders happy (at least from East Yorkshire northwards) with the best of the rest comprising of a Hoopoe in Northumberland, 11 Wrynecks, 8 Barred Warblers, Common Rosefinch, Melodious Warbler, Woodchat Shrike, 3 Red-backed Shrikes and 4 Icterine Warblers
-  Richard Moores, RBA