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| Saturday 14th April 2007 | ||
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| A report of a possible River Warbler heard singing in Cumbria was the
main source of excitement today, though unfortunately the bird was not reported
again beyond the initial observation. There are now three adult White-billed
Divers off the Isle of Lewis, where a Snowy Owl also remains. The Killdeer
was seen again today on West Burra, Shetland having not been reported since the
7th April, also on Shetland the White-billed Diver was again on Unst. The
King Eider was also seen today on Orkney.
A round-up of long-staying rarities includes Dusky Warbler and Spotted Sandpiper in Cornwall, Cattle Egret in Devon, Lesser Yellowlegs in Co.Cork, Lesser Scaup in Lothian and the Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth. The Marbled Duck was still present in Gloucestershire and the singing Pallas's Warbler was again seen in Kent. New scarce birds today included a singing male White-spotted Bluethroat in Essex, Hoopoe and Wryneck together in Cornwall and a further two new Wrynecks in Suffolk and Dorset. There also appears to have been a marked arrival today of lots of common migrants, notably Grasshopper Warblers with over twenty being reported. |
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| - Keith Langdon, RBA | ||
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Daily news summaries
Catch up with RBA's daily birdnews summaries. Browse ten days at a time, or choose a date to read summaries from that day backwards.
Daily summaries are available from 13 April 2006. For earlier weekly reviews, visit our articles.
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| Friday 13th April 2007 | ||
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| A White-billed Diver was found on Unst, Shetland Isles whilst an immature
White-tailed Eagle seen briefly over Denbighshire was presumably the same individual as that seen over Nottinghamshire on 31st March and Wirral on 6th April. A
Little Bunting in Dorset was seen only briefly as was a Hoopoe in Devon. The Marbled Duck remained in Gloucestershire and similarly the Laughing Gull in Devon, Long-billed Dowitcher in Essex, Lesser Scaup in Lothian and singing Pallas's Warbler in Kent. Wintering rarities still remaining included the Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth, Black-eared Kite in Norfolk, Spotted Sandpiper in Cornwall and on the Western Isles Snowy Owl and two each of both White-billed Diver and Lesser Scaup. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||
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| Thursday 12th April 2007 | ||
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| Only twenty four hours after one outrageous inland find comes another - a
male Western Black-eared Wheatear on the summit of Cruach nam
Fearna, Argyll for a short period at 2.10pm. Black-eared Wheatears are certainly
tantalising would be twitchers at the moment, this bird following a
possible on Lundy, Devon a few days ago.
Yesterday's major news, the Blue Rock Thrush in Powys had departed. In Gloucestershire the Marbled Duck remained on show and long-staying rarities included Spotted Sandpiper in Cornwall, Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth, Laughing Gull in Devon, Lesser Scaup in Lothian and Long-billed Dowitchers in Kent and on the Essex/Suffolk border. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Wednesday 11th April 2007 | ||
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| News of a male Blue Rock Thrush at the seemingly unlikely location of
Elan Village, Powys was released this evening. The bird was apparently present
from about 1.30pm until 6pm in Caban Quarry, when it disappeared, and failed to
put in another appearance before dusk. With only five previous British records,
no doubt many will be cursing the fact that it took so long to release the news
if the bird has gone by tomorrow.
Elsewhere a male Subalpine Warbler was found on Lundy, Devon, the first of the spring. In Gloucestershire the Marbled Duck was still at Saul Warth, whilst the Barrow's Goldeneye and Lesser Scaups remained in Scotland, Long-billed Dowitchers continued to show in Kent and on the Essex/Suffolk border, the Laughing Gull again passed through Topsham, Devon and a White-billed Diver reappeared off Lewis. The Pallas's Warbler continued to be elusive in Wouldham, Kent and and an arrival of Ring Ouzels, mainly in Norfolk, included an impressive total of forty through Titchwell RSPB in the early morning. In Co Down, the female Lesser Scaup reappeared at Clea Lakes. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Tuesday 10th April 2007 | ||
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| Two new discoveries in Ireland were both of Nearctic origin; a Laughing
Gull was at Blennerville, Co Kerry and a Lough-billed Dowitcher was
at Lough Beg, Co Derry.
In England the Marbled Duck remained on show in Gloucestershire, whilst other rarities on offer included Glossy Ibis in Lancashire, Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth, Black-eared Kite in Norfolk, Laughing Gull in Devon and Ferruginous Duck in London. The Pallas's Warbler continued its stay in Wouldham, Kent. A belated report from Thursday referred to a report of a Snowy Owl in the Caingorms NNR, Aberdeenshire. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Monday 9th April 2007 | ||
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| A Marbled Duck located this afternoon at Saul Warth, Gloucestershire
was 'unringed and fully winged', and wasn't from the wildfowl collection at
nearby Slimbridge WWT. The bird remained in the area into the evening, but two
of today's other new rarities were both brief - a Lesser Yellowlegs at
Freiston Shore RSPB, Lincolnshire and Franklin's Gull on the Camel
Estuary, Cornwall.
In Kent the singing male Pallas's Warbler continued to show on and off near Wouldham. In Ireland a 2nd-winter American Herring Gull was identified at Blennerville, Co Kerry. Several late items of the news were of note; a female Snowy Owl was on St Kilda, Western Isles, on 5th April and a King Eider was at the Ormsary Water mouth, Argyll on 1st April. Presumably 'the' white morph Gyr was reported over Gerrans Bay, Cornwall on 7th, quite a distance from where it was last seen. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Sunday 8th April 2007 | ||
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| A Black-throated Thrush was located at Walcot Mill in Shropshire this
morning with a flock of Fieldfares. The bird showed on a couple of occasions
until late morning, when it disappeared, and was not seen again despite
extensive searching. On the Western Isles a Bonaparte's Gull was
discovered on Lewis, but like the thrush, it remained in the area for only a
short period, before flying north at 1.20pm.
The theme of today was clearly frustrating brief sightings - a Pallas's Warbler was seen and heard singing in Wouldham, Kent for just over half an hour this morning, and a Little Bunting was at Hengistbury Head, but only early in the morning. A swift species over St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, was more than likely an Alpine, or even a Pallid Swift, but the bird was too high to identify. The two ducks found yesterday, the King Eider off Burghead, Moray, and the Ferruginous Duck in London were both still on offer, as were a number of long-staying rarities, which included Glossy Ibis, Black-eared Kite, Black Scoter, Laughing Gull, Spotted Sandpiper, two Lesser Scaups and Dusky Warbler. Migrants continue to trickle in, but numbers are noticeably low. Apparently the weather has been poor in Iberia, so as soon as that clears, hopefully the floodgates will open and spring will really kick-start. Late last night intriguing news of a possible male Black-eared Wheatear on Lundy, Devon was released, but there has been no news at all on the bird today. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Saturday 7th April 2007 | ||
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| The discovery of a drake Ferruginous Duck in London at Dagenham Chase
and later at Harrow Lodge Park caused some late afternoon excitement.
Drake King Eiders were also found today at Tresta Voe on Shetland
Mainland and off Burghead in Moray, the later showing particularly well most of
the day. The only other new discovery of the day was a Great White
Egret briefly at Woolston Eyes in Cheshire.
Many of the longer staying rarities were seen today including the Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth, Black-eared Kite in Norfolk, Spotted Sandpiper & Dusky Warbler in Cornwall, Black Scoter in Conwy, Glossy Ibis in Lancashire, Laughing Gull in Devon, Lesser Scaups in Somerset, Lothian & Benbecula and finally Long-billed Dowitchers in Kent, Essex/Suffolk & Co Louth. Migration is picking up but is still a little slow, though there were twelve Ring Ouzels together at Cleeve Hill, Gloscestershire and eighty Willow Warblers on Portland, hopefully things are starting to pick up. |
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| - Keith Langdon, RBA | ||
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| Friday 6th April 2007 | ||
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| A Killdeer was discovered on Shetland at West Burra this evening -
only the second record for the Shetland Isles, following one at Hillwell in
March 1993. The other highlight of an eventful Good Friday was the finding of an
immature White-tailed Eagle in Cheshire, before it flew into neighbouring
Wirral, then into Merseyside. It was last seen between the Wirral and Merseyside
viewed from Crosby Marine Park, so everyone in the northwest should have their
eyes to the skies over the next day or two. This could well be the the same bird
reported in Nottinghamshire last weekend. Elsewhere a Great White Egret was reported at Saltholme Pools and a Hoopoe made landfall on St Martin's, Isles of Scilly (where the Night Heron continues to put in dusk appearances on St Mary's). Most of the usual suspects were still on offer, including the Black-eared Kite in Norfolk, Glossy Ibis in Lancashire, Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth, Lesser Scaups in Lothian and Somerset and a White-billed Diver remained off Mainland Shetland. Yesterday's reported Scops Owl was reidentified late last night as a Little Owl. In Ireland, the adult Forster's Tern at Galway is now in full summer attire and the Barrow's Goldeneye remains at Quoile Pondage, Co Down. A reasonable spread of Ring Ouzels were located at many traditional hotspots, especially in the south of England. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Thursday 5th April 2007 | ||
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| At 10.50pm news broke of possible Scops Owl singing at Landguard NR,
Suffolk - even after the long staying bird in Oxfordshire last year, if this
firms up, it will surely draw some sizeable nightime crowds to Suffolk. The only
other new rarity was located in the far north, in the form of a drake King
Eider off Mainland Shetland.
In Surrey, a Hoopoe was present for its third day in Oxted and in Dorset the Serin made another appearance at Hengistbury Head. On the Western Isles, the male Snowy Owl was present on North Uist for its second day and long-stayers included the Glossy Ibis in Lancashire, three Long-billed Dowitchers (in Kent, Co Louth and Suffolk/Essex) and Black-eared Kite in Norfolk, whilst the southwest continued to host Spotted Sandpiper, Cattle Egret and Laughing Gull. A (very early) Honey Buzzard was reported over Pagham Harbour, West Sussex this afternoon and in Angus the Common Crane remained in fields just south of Montrose. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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