Wednesday 27th August 2008
	It just kept getting better for County Cork! On Cape Clear, after seeing the Yellow Warbler birders found just a few yards away a Northern Waterthrush and Solitary Sandpiper together on the same puddle, just feet apart, in the same scope view! Nearby, the second Yellow Warbler remained at Mizen Head. A Baird's Sandpiper in Cambridgeshire was not quite on the same scale, but it is still only the second for the county, and the first since 1963. Single Marsh Sandpipers remained in Norfolk and Essex, and the Black Stork was still present and elusive in North Yorkshire. The Glossy Ibis reappeared nearby, again at Swillington Ings this morning and other rarities included Snowy Owl at Balranald, Western Isles, Pacific Golden Plover on North Ronaldsay, Orkney, Ferruginous Duck at Chew Valley Lake, Somerset and a new Great White Egret at Ellesmere, Shropshire, which represented the second for Shropshire. Scarcities included a Melodious Warbler trapped and ringed at Brew Pool, Cornwall, where a different bird was trapped on the 15th. Two Wrynecks remained, in Norfolk and County Durham, two Red-backed Shrikes were in Suffolk, Grey Phalaropes were in Hampshire and Cornwall, a Hoopoe was in Kent and a Rose-coloured Starling was still on Orkney, along with small numbers of the scarcer seabirds.
-  Will Soar, RBA