Sunday 31st July 2016
	A Western Purple Swamphen was at Minsmere RSPB for its second day. Unlike most previous reports of purple swamphen in Britain (which have typically involved birds of an eastern form and considered - and sometimes proven - to be escapes from captivity), the Minsmere bird is a Western Purple Swamphen, and arriving hot on the heels of a bird currently in Morbihan, Brittany, France, coupled with a reported rapid range expansion by the species, it is potentially of wild origin. Minsmere RSPB also hosted a Citrine Wagtail and Caspian Tern, but neither lingered. Elsewhere new discoveries comprised Baird's Sandpiper in Norfolk, Bee-eaters in Lothian and Gloucestershire and Black Kite in Co Wexford. Lingering rarities included American White-winged Scoter (Aberdeenshire), King Eider (Co Donegal), Dalmatian Pelican (Cornwall), White-rumped Sandpipers (Co Wexford and Lincolnshire), Lesser Scaup (Perth & Kinross) and Bonaparte's Gulls (Kent and Northumberland). The best of the rest included Temminck's Stint (Co Derry), Pectoral Sandpiper (Cambridgeshire), Spotted Crake (Cheshire) and four Cattle Egrets.
-  Stuart Piner, RBA