Tuesday 29th May 2012
	Britain's sixth Orphean Warbler was trapped and ringed at Hartlepool Headland, Cleveland this morning, in the same net that produced last year's White-throated Robin. It was released at the bowling green on the headland and it remained on show throughout the day, making it the first twitchable Orphean in Britain since the famous Isles of Scilly bird in 1981. The bird is believed to be of the form hortensis, Western Orphean Warbler; only one of the five previous British records have been positively assigned to form - a bird trapped at Portland in 1955 was also identified as a Western. New discoveries came thick and fast, including Roller, Red-footed Falcon and Savi's Warbler in East Yorkshire, Black-headed Bunting on Shetland, Collared Flycatcher in Co Donegal, Black Kites in Kent and Norfolk, Black-winged Stilt in Co Durham and Bee-eaters in Isles of Scilly and Cumbria. Lingering rarities comprised Red-footed Falcons in Co Wexford and Suffolk, two Bonaparte's Gulls in London, Iberian Chiffchaff in Cornwall, Black-winged Stilts in Hampshire and Devon, King Eider in Aberdeenshire and Great Reed Warbler in Somerset.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA