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 8th January 2010  
  A female Black-throated Thrush was discovered on The Gower, Glamorgan this morning, but it could not be found later in the day.

Lingering rarities included Black Duck (Isles of Scilly), Little Bunting (Highland), Ferruginous Duck (Berkshire), Black Kite (Powys), Spotted Sandpiper (Devon), Baird's Sandpiper (Lothian) and Lesser Scaup (Glamorgan).

The best of the rest comprised Ring-necked Duck and Great White Egret (Lancashire), Serin (London), two Cattle Egrets (Somerset) and Surf Scoter (Fife).
-  Stuart Piner, RBA
Thursday 7th January 2010  
  Lingering rarities confirmed as still present today comprised the Black Kite in Powys, Baird's Sandpiper in Lothian, Spotted Sandpiper in Devon, Long-billed Dowitcher in Argyll, Little Bunting in Highland and Ferruginous Duck in Berkshire.

Scarcities included eight Caspian Gulls, four Great White Egrets, three each of Lapland Bunting and Glaucous Gull, two each of Ring-billed Gull and Iceland Gull and single Serin (London), Richard's Pipit (Cornwall), Surf Scoter (Conwy), Ring-necked Duck (Lancashire) and Green-winged Teal (County Antrim).
-  Chris Batty, RBA
Wednesday 6th January 2010  
  A grey morph Gyr reappeared on Mainland Orkney this afternoon, but only briefly. Elsewhere lingering rarities included Black Kite in Powys, Glossy Ibis in Co Wexford, Spotted Sandpiper in Devon, Little Bunting in Highland and Ferruginous Duck in West Yorkshire.

Three Great White Egrets, a Ring-necked Duck and a Richard's Pipit were also reported.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA
Tuesday 5th January 2010  
  Hot news today related to the arrival of a drake Baikal Teal at Tacumshin in Co Wexford. Elsewhere lingering rarities included Baird's Sandpiper (Lothian), Little Bunting (Highland), Black Kite (Powys), Ferruginous Duck (Norfolk), Spotted Sandpiper (Devon), Blue-winged Teal (Co Dublin) and a Snowy Owl reappeared on Lewis (Western Isles).

The best of the rest comprised Richard's Pipit in Cornwall, Great White Egrets in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, Surf Scoter in Devon, Ring-necked Ducks in Lancashire and Buckinghamshire and Serin in London.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA
Monday 4th January 2010  
  In Norfolk, the probable Pacific Diver was seen again at Titchwell, where it flew west on two occasions. Elsewhere, in Wales, the Black Kite remained at the Red Kite feeding station at Gigrin Farm, Powys.

Wintering rarities seen today included the Little Bunting in Highland, Baird's Sandpiper in Lothian, Long-billed Dowitcher in Cumbria, Glossy Ibis in Worcestershire, Spotted Sandpiper and Red-breasted Goose in Devon and single Ferruginous Ducks in Norfolk and Yorkshire.
-  Will Soar, RBA
Sunday 3rd January 2010  
  A juvenile Black Kite at Gigrin Farm, Powys is an excellent winter record, being the first ever January sighting of this species in Britain (excluding the wintering Black-eared Kite of 2006/2007). A diver species, thought to be possibly a Pacific Diver was seen off Titchwell, Norfolk late afternoon, whilst a dowitcher species, thought to be probably a Long-billed Dowitcher was seen briefly at Rattray Head, Aberdeenshire briefly early afternoon.

Lingering rarities included Forster's Tern in County Galway, Baird's Sandpiper in Lothian, Glossy Ibises in Worcestershire and Somerset, Spotted Sandpipers in Essex and Devon, Long-billed Dowitcher in Cumbria, Little Bunting in Highland, King Eider in Moray, Lesser Scaup in Glamorgan, Red-breasted Goose in Devon and Ferruginous Ducks in Norfolk, Yorkshire, County Armagh and Staffordshire.
-  Will Soar, RBA
Saturday 2nd January 2010  
  A drake American Eider, of the form dresseri, was discovered in Glasagh Bay, County Donegal this morning. This is possibly the first Western Palearctic record, at a site also well known for records of borealis Northern Eiders.

In Surrey, the Brown Shrike remained at Staines Moor, although it proved very elusive. The Forster's Tern remained at Nimmo's Pier, County Galway, as did the Blue-winged Teal at North Bull Island, County Dublin, single Spotted Sandpipers in Devon and Essex, Red-breasted Goose in Devon, Little Bunting in Highland, Lesser Scaup in Glamorgan, Glossy Ibises in Somerset (3) and Worcestershire and single Ferruginous Ducks in Yorkshire and Staffordshire.
-  Will Soar, RBA
Friday 1st January 2010  
  The highlight of the day was the reappearance of the wintering Brown Shrike at Staines Moor, Surrey. Present from 11th October until 17th December, it was widely presumed to have disappeared as a result of the onset of the harsh winter weather, but in fact it remained unseen on site, or at least nearby.

Elsewhere, rarities comprised the Forster's Tern still in County Galway, Black Duck on the Isles of Scilly, Red-breasted Goose in Devon, Baird's Sandpiper in Lothian, Spotted Sandpipers in both Devon and Essex, Lesser Scaup in Glamorgan, two Richardson's Canada Geese in County Sligo, Glossy Ibises in Somerset (3) and Worcestershire and single Ferruginous Ducks in each of County Armagh, Norfolk, Somerset, Staffordshire and West Yorkshire.

Scarcities included eight each of Shorelark and Lapland Bunting, seven each of Ring-necked Duck, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret and Iceland Gull, five Black Brants, three each of Ring-billed Gull and Green-winged Teal, two each of Rough-legged Buzzard, Great Grey Shrike and Caspian Gull and single Little Bunting (Highland), Serin (London), Surf Scoter (Devon), Richard's Pipit (Cornwall), Kumlien's Gull (Lincolnshire), Glaucous Gull (Derbyshire) and Greater Snow Goose and Waxwing (Norfolk).
-  Chris Batty, RBA
Thursday 31st December 2009  
  Lingering rarities remaining in situ until the end of 2009 included Spotted Sandpiper in Essex, Glossy Ibis in Worcestershire, Ferruginous Ducks in Staffordshire and West Yorkshire and Forster's Tern in Co Galway.

Elsewhere Cattle Egrets remained in Devon and Somerset, two Great White Egrets were still in Northamptonshire and Yellow-browed Warbler and Richard's Pipit (Cornwall), Little Bunting (Highland) and Serin (London) were all still present.

In Highland an unconfirmed report of an Eyebrowed Thrush visiting a garden in Dingwall brought 2009 to a close.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA
Wednesday 30th December 2009  
  Lingering rarities comprised the Black Duck still on the Isles of Scilly, Red-breasted Goose in Devon, Long-billed Dowitcher in Cumbria, single Ferruginous Ducks in both Staffordshire and West Yorkshire, Glossy Ibises in Somerset (3) and Worcestershire, single Cattle Egrets in both Devon and Somerset and Great White Egrets in Leicestershire and Warwickshire.

Scarcities included 20 Lapland Buntings together in Lincolnshire, eight Iceland Gulls, seven each of Ring-necked Duck and Tundra Bean Goose, six Caspian Gulls, five Glaucous Gulls, two Black Brants and single Little Bunting (Highland), Greater Snow Goose (Norfolk), Ring-billed Gull (Essex) and Great Grey Shrike (Hampshire) whilst in Cornwall Richard's Pipit, Shorelark and Yellow-browed Warbler were all seen.

Significant late news concerned a Nutcracker reported briefly in a garden at Hadley, Worcestershire on 28th December but not seen since. However, despite reports of this species on an almost annual basis, the last acceptable Nutcracker in Britain was in 1998.
-  Chris Batty, RBA