Sunday 24th December 2006
	A fine selection of rarities were on display on Christmas Eve, with the rediscovery of the juvenile Ivory Gull in Ayrshire stealing the show. The bird was relocated just east of Troon, by the same observer who initially found the bird about ten miles to the south at Greenan, just over a week ago. Elsewhere in Scotland the first-winter Ross's Gull in Argyll, adult Bonaparte's Gull in Angus, Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler in Aberdeenshire and adult drake Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth all continued to perform. A Red-throated Pipit at Rogerstown Estuary, Co Dublin, was a fabulous find and in Co Down the drake Barrow's Goldeneye was still at Quoile Pondage and the female Lesser Scaup remained at Clea Lakes. On Isles of Scilly the first-winter Bonaparte's Gull made another brief appearance on St Mary's. Both the drake Falcated Ducks (in Kent and Devon) remained at their respective sites and in Merseyside the Pallas's Warbler continued its unseasonal stay in Hightown Dunes. Late news from yesterday concerned a White-rumped Sandpiper at Freiston Shore, Lincolnshire.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA