Thursday 14th April 2011
	The highlight of the day was the discovery of a Black Scoter on the sea off Bamburgh, Northumberland. Only the second record for England - following one picked up at Leighton Moss, Lancashire on 16th May 2007 before being released at Jenny Brown's Point - it will hopefully prove to be the first twitchable Black Scoter in Britain since the returning individual at Llanfairfechan, Conwy, that was present intermittently between March 1999 and April 2007. Elsewhere, a Blue-winged Teal arrived at the Ouse Washes, Cambridgeshire, and a Whiskered Tern was present at Gosport, Hampshire in the evening. Lingering rarities comprised Bonaparte's Gulls in Aberdeenshire, Cornwall and Devon, Iberian Chiffchaff and Ferruginous Duck in Norfolk, Red-rumped Swallow in Kent and Long-billed Dowitcher in Dorset. Scarcities included Woodchat Shrikes in County Cork, Essex (although it was later killed), Glamorgan and Isles of Scilly (2), Night Heron in Essex, Purple Herons in Cornwall, East Sussex and East Yorkshire, Hoopoes in Cornwall, Dorset, the Isles of Scilly and Pembrokeshire, Wryneck in Cornwall, and the territorial White-spotted Bluethroat still in Norfolk.
-  Chris Batty, RBA