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| Thursday 14th May 2015 | ||
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| The Isles of Scilly provided the highlights today with Squacco Heron,
Little Bittern and Woodchat Shrike all on St Mary's, along with Short-toed
Lark, Wryneck, Common Crane, two Night Herons and six Golden Orioles,
all around the islands. Elsewhere, rarities today comprided the Harlequin Duck still in Aberdeenshire, Bonaparte's Gull in Hampshire, Lesser Scaup in West Yorkshire, a Red-rumped Swallow new in Surrey at Holmethorpe, a subalpine warbler species on the Western Isles, and brief Red-throated Pipit (County Durham), Bee-eater (County Mayo), and Alpine Swift and Bee-eater (Dorset). Scarcities included Woodchat Shrike (Cornwall), Purple Heron (Dorset), Hoopoe (Borders), Pectoral Sandpiper (Northumberland), two White-winged Black Terns (together in Kent), two Grey-headed Wagtails, five Golden Orioles, seven Temminck's Stints and 27 migrant Dotterel. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||
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Daily news summaries
Catch up with RBA's daily birdnews summaries. Browse ten days at a time, or choose a date to read summaries from that day backwards.
Daily summaries are available from 13 April 2006. For earlier weekly reviews, visit our articles.
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| Wednesday 13th May 2015 | ||
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| New discoveries included a Balearic Woodchat Shrike in North Yorkshire,
Squacco Heron in Devon, Bee-eater in Norfolk and Black Kite in Suffolk, whilst the
Harlequin Duck in
Aberdeenshire, Bonaparte's Gull in Hampshire and Lesser Yellowlegs in
Northumberland all lingered.
The best of the rest included Wryneck (Western Isles), Surf Scoter (Shetland), Pectoral Sandpiper (Anglesey), Red-necked Phalarope (Western Isles), two Woodchat Shrikes, two Grey-headed Wagtails, three Purple Herons, six Golden Orioles, eight Temminck's Stints, 30 Dotterel and 1,249 Long-tailed Skuas. An Icterine Warbler was reported in Somerset. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Tuesday 12th May 2015 | ||
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| New discoveries included Red-rumped Swallow in Norfolk, Alpine Swift
in Co
Mayo, Bonaparte's Gull in Glamorgan and a report of a Subalpine
Warbler species in Ceredigion, whilst Black-winged Stilt (Kent), Lesser
Yellowlegs (Northumberland), Red-throated Pipit (Cleveland),
Harlequin Duck, White-billed Diver and King Eider (Aberdeenshire),
Bonaparte's Gull (Hampshire),
Squacco Heron (Devon) and Lesser Scaup (West Yorkshire) all lingered.
The best of the rest included Roseate Tern (Hertfordshire), Purple Heron (Dorset), Honey Buzzard (Kent), at least two Wrynecks, three Woodchat Shrikes and three Night Herons, up to four Hoopoes, four Temminck's Stints, 17 Golden Orioles, 35 Dotterel and 1,419+ Long-tailed Skuas (including 1,307 past Aird an Runair, North Uist). |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Monday 11th May 2015 | ||
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| The first Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler for Mainland Britain, and the
first widely twitchable individual anywhere, was discovered on Blakeney Point,
Norfolk mid morning. This singing and calling male joined a female subalpine
warbler species found earlier in the morning. The first accepted Moltoni's
Subalpine Warbler was shot on St Kilda in 1894, with two more recent records in
Shetland in 2009. Both these birds stayed for at least a week, but only one was
identified to (at the time) race whilst the bird was still present, late on in
its stay.
Nearby, the male Citril Finch remained at Burnham Overy Dunes until 6.20am, but not since. Further north, the fifth Slate-coloured Junco for Shetland was found at Toab, Mainland. All five records in the archipelago have occurred in the first 11 days of May. Other new discoveries included a Lesser Yellowlegs at Low Newton, Northumberland, a Black-winged Stilt at Grove Ferry, Kent and a Red-rumped Swallow over Spurn, Yorkshire. Lingering rarities included the Harlequin Duck and King Eider in Aberdeenshire, Squacco Heron in Devon, Red-throated Pipit in Cleveland, Red-rumped Swallow in Cambridgeshire, Bonaparte's Gull in Hampshire and Lesser Scaup in Yorkshire. |
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| - Will Soar, RBA | ||
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| Sunday 10th May 2015 | ||
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| Britain's second Citril Finch was discovered in Norfolk this morning,
and spent the rest of the day in and out of the dunes at Burnham Overy, where it
often showed well to the assembled crowd.
A Red-throated Pipit spent the afternoon on Seaton Common, Cleveland, single Red-rumped Swallows were at Ferry Meadows, Cambridgeshire and Catsford Common, Somerset and Bee-eaters were at Winterton, Norfolk, Corton, Suffolk and St Leonards on Sea, Sussex (two). Lingering rarities seen again today included the Harlequin Duck, King Eider and White-billed Diver in Aberdeenshire, single Squacco Herons in Devon and Cornwall, Tawny Pipit in Dorset, single Bonaparte's Gulls in Hampshire and Devon and Lesser Scaup in Yorkshire. |
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| - Will Soar, RBA | ||
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| Saturday 9th May 2015 | ||
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| New arrivals today included a Squacco Heron at Prawle Point and a
Bonaparte's Gull at Topsham, both Devon, a Tawny Pipit on Portland,
Dorset, an Alpine Swift at Pugneys Country Park, West Yorkshire, a
Red-rumped Swallow at Porthcurno, Cornwall and a Black Kite over
Grove Ferry NNR, Kent.
Lingering rarities present again today included the Greater Yellowlegs and Bonaparte's Gull in Hampshire, King Eider and seven White-billed Divers in Aberdeenshire (with another of the latter still in Orkney) and the Lesser Scaup in Yorkshire. |
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| - Will Soar, RBA | ||
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| Friday 8th May 2015 | ||
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| An Alpine Swift was seen over Ilkley town centre, Yorkshire this
evening.
Lingering rarities still present today included the Harlequin Duck and King Eider in Aberdeenshire, Squacco Heron in Cornwall, Bonaparte's Gull in Hampshire, White-billed Diver in Moray and Lesser Scaup in Yorkshire. Scarcity highlights included a Kentish Plover, a Short-toed Lark, a Wryneck, two Woodchat Shrikes, three Hoopoes, five Night Herons, six Golden Orioles (including a flock of five in the Isles of Scilly), seven Temminck's Stints and 33 Dotterels. |
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| - Will Soar, RBA | ||
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| Thursday 7th May 2015 | ||
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| New discoveries included Alpine Swift in East Yorkshire, Red-rumped Swallows
in Lincolnshire and West Sussex and Snowy Owl in Co Fermanagh, whilst Lesser
Scaup (West Yorkshire), Harlequin Duck, White-billed Diver and
King Eider
(Aberdeenshire), Red-rumped Swallow (East Yorkshire), Bonaparte's Gull
(Hampshire) and Squacco Heron (Cornwall) all lingered. The Great Blue Heron was
also reportedly still present on Isles of Scilly.
The best of the rest included White Stork (North Yorkshire), Woodchat Shrike (Co Cork), Glossy Ibis (Nottinghamshire), Kentish Plover (Highland), Red-backed Shrike (Highland), Hoopoe (Warwickshire), two Golden Orioles, three Serins, three Grey-headed Wagtails, five Temminck's Stints and 30 Dotterel. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Wednesday 6th May 2015 | ||
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| The highlight of the day was a Squacco Heron in Cornwall, at Polgigga, where it present for it's second day. In County Dublin a
Gull-billed Tern was present on Swords Estuary in the evening. Lingering rarities confirmed as still present comprised the Great Blue Heron on the Isles of Scilly, Harlequin Duck and King Eider in Aberdeenshire, Bonaparte's Gull in Hampshire, Red-rumped Swallow in East Yorkshire, and the Lesser Scaup in West Yorkshire. Scarcities included Surf Scoter (Lothian), Glossy Ibis (Nottinghamshire), Honey Buzzard (Dumfries and Galloway), two each of both Golden Oriole and Temminck's Stint, three Lapland Buntings, four Night Herons, and 16 migrant Dotterel. Pomarine Skuas were on the move with 181 recorded, including 42 off Gwynedd, 20 off Ayrshire, 18 passing Gloucestershire, 13 from Scillonian III, and one inland; at Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||
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| Tuesday 5th May 2015 | ||
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| New discoveries included a brief Western Bonelli's Warbler in Dorset
and a Black-winged Stilt at an undisclosed site in Lincolnshire, whilst
Great Blue Heron (Isles of Scilly), Lesser Scaup (West Yorkshire),
Tawny Pipit (Shetland), Harlequin Duck (Aberdeenshire),
Red-rumped Swallow (East Yorkshire), Bonaparte's Gull (Hampshire) and
King Eider (Aberdeenshire) all lingered.
The best of the rest included Spotted Crake (Lancashire), Pectoral Sandpiper (Norfolk), Long-tailed Skua (Dorset), Wryneck (Shetland), Golden Oriole (Isles of Scilly), Woodchat Shrike (Co Cork), Temminck's Stint (Cleveland), Glossy Ibis (Nottinghamshire), two Green-winged Teals and 15 Dotterels. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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