Tuesday 6th May 2008
	The highlight of the day was a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (Pic1) (Pic2) trapped and ringed at Heysham, Lancashire although, disappointingly, it was not seen after release. Other discoveries included a Snowy Owl (Pic) on North Uist Western Isles, single Red-rumped Swallows in both County Cork and Dorset with brief encounters with a Black Stork at Scaling Dam Reservoir, Cleveland, Whiskered Tern at Hurst, Hampshire and Black Kite at Dungeness, Kent. Lingering rarities comprised the Upland Sandpiper still in Aberdeenshire, Ross's Gull in Lancashire, Black Duck in County Donegal, American Golden Plover in Devon, Whiskered Tern in Dorset, American Herring Gull in County Galway, Subalpine Warbler in Cornwall, Black-winged Stilts in both Cheshire (2) and Gwent, two Black Kites in Hampshire, Great White Egret on the Isle of Man and Cattle Egrets in Cornwall (9) and Nottinghamshire. Black Terns were again in evidence with 269 reported from 26 counties in England and Wales including highs of 59 in Hertfordshire, 29 in Warwickshire, 22 in Oxfordshire and twenty in Cambridgeshire.
-  Chris Batty, RBA