Wednesday 29th May 2013
	Shetland hosted a fine selection of rare and scarce birds today, including two Thrush Nightingales on Fair Isle, Rustic Bunting on Foula, Blyth's Reed Warblers on Fair Isle and Fetlar and Red-rumped Swallow on Mainland. The archipelago also held Red-spotted Bluethroat, two Short-toed Larks, three Common Rosefinches, three Icterine Warblers, five Marsh Warblers and at least 11 Red-backed Shrikes. Elsewhere headline birds included White-throated Sparrow and Greenish Warbler in Lincolnshire, Subalpine Warbler and Glossy Ibis in Pembrokeshire, Bee-eaters in Orkney and Kent, White-billed Diver on Western Isles, Savi's Warbler (2) and Red-footed Falcon in Suffolk and Snowy Owl in Co Donegal. The best of the rest included Purple Heron in Cornwall, Bluethroat in Fife, Icterine Warbler in Norfolk, Marsh Warbler in Hampshire, two Common Rosefinches, three Pectoral Sandpipers, three Wrynecks and at least 12 Red-backed Shrikes were logged away from Shetland. A white-rumped swift photographed in Suffolk this afternoon could possibly be a Pacific Swift.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA