Sunday 9th September 2012
	Once again Nearctic waders stole the headlines with Short-billed Dowitchers on Tresco, Isles of Scilly, and still in Dorset at Lodmoor, a Greater Yellowlegs reported in Angus, Semipalmated Plover still on the Western Isles, single Semipalmated Sandpipers in both Highland and the Western Isles, Baird's Sandpipers in Cleveland and the Orkney Isles, Wilson's Phalarope in County Cork, Lesser Yellowlegs in Cornwall, Long-billed Dowitcher in Gloucestershire, three White-rumped Sandpipers, six American Golden Plovers, 10 Buff-breasted Sandpipers and 32 Pectoral Sandpipers. Elsewhere, the Baillon's Crake remained in London, as did the Spanish Sparrow in Suffolk, Snowy Owl in County Donegal, Bonaparte's Gull in County Durham, Citrine Wagtail on the Isles of Scilly, Lesser Scaup and Ferruginous Duck together in Somerset, Red-footed Falcon in West Sussex and Glossy Ibis still in Pembrokeshire, with further new rarities limited to a brief Ortolan Bunting in Norfolk and a fly-over Tawny Pipit in Kent. Scarcities included 27 Lapland Buntings, 11 Long-tailed Skuas, 7 Wrynecks, five each of both Barred Warbler and Spotted Crake, three Common Rosefnches, two each of Melodious Warbler, Red-backed Shrike and Great Shearwater, and single Marsh Warbler (Kent) and Purple Heron (Cheshire).
-  Chris Batty, RBA