Wednesday 29th April 2009
	The highlight of the day was a Crested Lark at Dungeness, Kent. First head calling there on Sunday, the identification was not confirmed until this afternoon and, although present until late in the evening, it proved to be both mobile and elusive. The 21st British record and the first since 1996, it is the second to be found at Dungeness following one there on 28th September-1st October 1975. Rarities elsewhere were headlined by the Collared Flycatcher still in Dorset at Portland, Whiskered Tern in Cambridgeshire, Black Kite and Great White Egret on the Shetland Isles, White-billed Diver on the Western Isles, Red-rumped Swallows in County Durham, Fife and Suffolk, an Alpine Swift briefly in Cornwall and the Hooded Merganser in Dorset. Scarcities included Woodchat Shrikes in both Devon and Dorset, three Wrynecks and singles of Rough-legged Buzzard, Surf Scoter, Green-winged Teal, Grey Phalarope and Grey-headed Wagtail.
-  Chris Batty, RBA