Tuesday 3rd December 2013
	The highlight of the day was a Brunnich's Guillemot in North Yorkshire; photographed late in the afternoon at Filey. Previously, there is only one accepted record of a live Brunnich's Guillemot seen in England - on the Farne Islands, Northumberland on 13th July 1977. Furthermore, of the 42 accepted British records only 16 have been seen alive, and only five of these have ever been successfully twitched from afar: all on the Shetland Isles. Rarities elsewhere comprised the Baikal Teal still in Merseyside, American Robin and Lesser Scaup on the Western Isles, Caspian Stonechat on the Isles of Scilly, Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler in Lincolnshire, Lesser Yellowlegs in Hampshire, American Golden Plover in Cornwall, Glossy Ibis in both Essex and the Western Isles, and 15 Two-barred Crossbills; three in Gloucestershire, singles in Kent and Norfolk, three in Shropshire and seven in South Yorkshire. Scarcities included Rose-coloured Starling (Norfolk), Richard's Pipit (Cornwall), Surf Scoter (Dorset), Cattle Egret (Buckinghamshire), Ring-billed Gull (Hampshire), two American Wigeons, four each of both Yellow-browed Warbler and Great Grey Shrike, nine Shorelarks (together in Lincolnshire), and 22 Parrot Crossbills (including 21 together in Norfolk).
-  Chris Batty, RBA