Sunday 18th May 2014
	The arrival of European rarities was again notable today with a Great Reed Warbler in Cambridgeshire at Nene Washes, Tawny Pipit in Devon at Northam Burrows, Red-rumped Swallows in Cambridgeshire, County Down and the Shetland Isles, Black-winged Stilts in Cambridgeshire (2), Kent (3), Northamptonshire (2) and West Sussex (2), Black Kites in Cornwall, Hampshire, Kent and Surrey, and Bee-eaters in Hampshire, Norfolk (2), Isles of Scilly and West Sussex (2). Other rarities today included a Spotted Sandpiper new in South Yorkshire at Potteric Carr, Two-barred Crossbill still in Norfolk, and King Eider in Aberdeenshire. Scarcities were headlined by Red-necked Phalarope (East Yorkshire), Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Orkney Isles), Short-toed Lark and Golden Oriole (together in Devon), Woodchat Shrike and Golden Oriole (together on the Isles of Scilly), Hoopoe (East Sussex), Wryneck (Shetland Isles), two Pectoral Sandpipers, three Temminck's Stints and five migrant Dotterel.
-  Chris Batty, RBA