Monday 9th January 2012
	Having produced the final Mega-rarity of 2011 (Dark-eyed Junco), Hampshire again created the headlines this evening with 2012's first Mega Alert - a Spanish Sparrow in the small village of Calshot, which will hopefully prove to be the first twitchable individual since the long-staying bird in Cumbria in 1996. Elsewhere lingering rarities included Western Sandpiper, Coues's Arctic Redpoll and Lesser White-fronted Goose in Norfolk, Dark-eyed Junco in Hampshire, Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler in Dorset, Bufflehead in Cornwall, Dusky Warbler on Isles of Scilly, Greater Yellowlegs in Highland, Lesser Yellowlegs in Somerset, Spotted Sandpiper in Devon and Desert Wheatear in Northumberland. Two Blue-winged Teals, two Ferruginous Ducks, three Lesser Scaup and four Glossy Ibises were also logged.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA