| Thursday 18th July 2013 | ||
| The highlight of the day was a female Rock Thrush in Aberdeenshire at St Fergus: discovered mid afternoon, it showed into the late evening. It is the first July record of the species in Britain, and the first in Scotland since 1970, and only the sixth there ever. Lingering rarities confirmed as still present were the Bridled Tern in Northumberland, Pacific Golden Plover in Leicestershire, White-rumped Sandpiper in Dorset, Bonaparte's Gulls in both Kent and Lancashire, and at least two Little Bitterns in Somerset. Scarcities included Red-backed Shrike (Aberdeenshire), Pectoral Sandpiper (Essex), Great White Egret (2) and Balearic Shearwater (21). In Norfolk, a male scoter on the sea off Titchwell was either a Black Scoter or an atypical Common Scoter, but, frustratingly, it remained distant. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||