Wednesday 4th April 2012
	The highlight of the day was the confirmation of the identification a juvenile Thayer's Gull in Lincolnshire, present again briefly in a field at Elsham. It follows strong candidates discovered in England, in Oxfordshire on 6th December 2007-6th January 2008, relocating to Derbyshire on 16th February-17th February 2008, and in Essex on 6th November 2010. In Ireland records of Thayer's Gulls have been accepted from County Cork (1990), County Antrim (1997), County Donegal (1998 and 2003) and County Mayo (1998-1999 and 2005), and more recently, further birds have been located in County Galway (2010 and 2011), County Fermanagh (2012) and County Mayo (2012). Lingering rarities confirmed as still present were the Northern Waterthrush on the Isles of Scilly, Greater Yellowlegs, King Eider, Ross's Goose in Aberdeenshire, Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler in Dorset, Bonaparte's Gull in Gloucestershire, Spotted Sandpiper in Somerset, Black-winged Stilt in County Wexford, Long-billed Dowitchers in both Carmarthenshire and Somerset (2), Lesser Scaups in Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, Falcated Duck in County Mayo, Little Bunting in Devon, and Glossy Ibises in Essex and the Western Isles. Spring scarcities included a Purple Heron in Devon, four Hoopoes - in County Cork, Cornwall (2) and Devon - and four Green-winged Teals.
-  Chris Batty, RBA