Saturday 11th November 2006
	Many British birders may have said a little prayer before they went to bed last night, wishing for the rediscovery of the Long-billed Murrelet present earlier in the week off Dawlish Warren. If they did, then it certainly worked, as at 9am their prayers were answered when the Mega Alert sounded and news that the bird was off Dawlish town hit the pager. Everyone who could then descended on Dawlish, to twitch what will surely go down in history as one of the greatest rarities ever to grace our shores. Considering the magnitude of what was happening in the southwest, all other news was largely irrelevant. However, those who chose not to visit Dawlish had Red-breasted Geese in Lincolnshire and Dorset, Spotted Sandpiper and Long-billed Dowitcher together at Upper Tamar Lake, Devon, Glossy Ibis in Lancashire and Dusky Warbler at Spurn 'to go at'. However, probably the best non-Murrelet related event was the rediscovery of the Black Kite at Holbeach Marsh in Lincolnshire.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA