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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Thursday 11th August 2016  
  A Lesser Yellowlegs was discovered on Broadmeadows Estuary at Swords, County Dublin this evening.

Lingering rarities included the American White-winged Scoter and White-rumped Sandpiper in Aberdeenshire, Hudsonian Whimbrel in Cornwall and Spotted Sandpiper in Devon.

Scarcity highlights included a Great Shearwater, a Long-tailed Skua, a Purple Heron, a Red-necked Phalarope, a Surf Scoter, two Pectoral Sandpipers, two Honey Buzzards, two Glossy Ibises and two Cattle Egrets.
Will Soar, RBA
Wednesday 10th August 2016  
  American waders today comprised the Hudsonian Whimbrel still in Cornwall, Semipalmated Sandpiper in Pembrokeshire, Spotted Sandpiper in Devon, White-rumped Sandpipers in both Aberdeenshire and County Antrim, and a Pectoral Sandpiper in Cambridgeshire.

Otherwise, scarcities included Purple Heron (Oxfordshire), Surf Scoter (Aberdeenshire), Montagu's Harrier (East Yorkshire), Cattle Egret (Merseyside), Long-tailed Skua (County Durham), two Great Shearwaters, and three each of both Red-necked Phalarope and Glossy Ibis.
Chris Batty, RBA
Tuesday 9th August 2016  
  Rarities today comprised the Dalmatian Pelican and Hudsonian Whimbrel in Cornwall, Squacco Heron in Licolnshire, Black Duck in Highland, Semipalmated Sandpipers in both County Kerry and Pembrokeshire, Spotted Sandpiper in Devon, White-rumped Sandpiper in Lincolnshire, Bonaparte's Gulls in both Kent and Northamptonshire.

Scarcities included Purple Heron (Oxfordshire), Red-necked Phalarope (Norfolk), Temminck's Stint (Derbyshire), White Stork (Dorset) and Cattle Egret (Merseyside), two Pectoral Sandpipers and four Glossy Ibises.

Seabirds today included Cory's Shearwater (Ceredigion), Great Shearwater (Cornwall and East Yorkshire), Long-tailed Skua and Grey Phalarope (both East Yorkshire).
Chris Batty, RBA
Monday 8th August 2016  
  New discoveries today included an adult Spotted Sandpiper at South Efford Marsh, Devon, and the Forster's Tern reappeared at Soldier's Point, County Louth.

Lingering rarities included the Hudsonian Whimbrel and Dalmatian Pelican in Cornwall, Semipalmated Sandpiper in Pembrokeshire, Spotted Sandpiper in Somerset, White-rumped Sandpiper in Lincolnshire and Bonaparte's Gull in Kent.

Scarcity highlights included a Purple Heron, a Cattle Egret, a Pectoral Sandpiper, a Honey Buzzard, a White Stork and six Glossy Ibises. Seawatching produced 19 Cory's Shearwaters, 19 Great Shearwaters and seven Pomarine Skuas.
Will Soar, RBA
Sunday 7th August 2016  
  Seabirds were the highlight of the day with 703 Cory's Shearwaters logged (all but one in Ireland), 56 Great Shearwaters (all but five in Ireland), a Long-tailed Skua passing County Clare, and two Wilson's Petrels off the Isles of Scilly.

Rarities comprised both the Dalmatian Pelican and Hudsonian Whimbrel still in Cornwall, Semipalmated Sandpipers in both County Kerry and Pembrokeshire, Spotted Sandpiper in Somerset, Bonaparte's Gull in Kent, and White-rumped Sandpipers in County Antrim and briefly on the Isles of Scilly.

Scarcities included Purple Heron (Oxfordshire), Temminck's Stint (East Yorkshire), White Stork (West Sussex), Cattle Egret (Merseyside), two each of both Pectoral Sandpiper and Surf Scoter, and a total of seven Glossy Ibises.
Chris Batty, RBA
Saturday 6th August 2016  
  American waders remained in focus today with two Semipalmated Sandpipers - new in County Kerry at Reenroe, and lingering in Pembrokeshire - Hudsonian Whimbrel still in Cornwall, Spotted Sandpiper in Somerset, White-rumped Sandpipers in each of County Antrim, Lincolnshire and Norfolk, and single Pectoral Sandpipers in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

Other rarities comprised the Dalmatian Pelican still in Cornwall, American White-winged Scoter in Aberdeenshire, and Squacco Heron in Lincolnshire, but unfortunately the Western Purple Swamphen could not be located in Suffolk. 

Scarcities included Melodious Warbler (Kent), Surf Scoter (Aberdeenshire), Ring-billed Gull (County Galway), White Stork (London and West Sussex), and three each of Pectoral Sandpiper, Glossy Ibis and Cattle Egret. Seabirds included Long-tailed Skua (Norfolk), 10 Great Shearwaters (Cornwall, Isles of Scilly and County Waterford) and 16 Cory's Shearwaters (County Cork and Cornwall).
Chris Batty, RBA
Friday 5th August 2016  
  Rarity highlights included the Western Purple Swamphen (Suffolk), Semipalmated Sandpiper (Pembrokeshire), Spotted Sandpiper (Somerset/Dorset), Squacco Heron (Lincolnshire), White-rumped Sandpipers (Co Antrim, Lincolnshire and Angus) and Hudsonian Whimbrel and Dalmatian Pelican (Cornwall).

The best of the rest included Melodious Warbler (Pembrokeshire), Cattle Egret (Merseyside), White-winged Black Tern (Aberdeenshire), two Pectoral Sandpipers and two Glossy Ibises.
Stuart Piner, RBA
Thursday 4th August 2016  
  The Least Sandpiper at Seaton, Devon, was briefly joined by a second individual this morning. Elsewhere new discoveries included Spotted Sandpiper at Sutton Bingham Reservoir (Somerset/Dorset), White-rumped Sandpiper at Cley (Norfolk) and a Bee-eater at sea north of Fraserburgh (Aberdeenshire). The Western Purple Swamphen (Suffolk), Dalmatian Pelican and Hudsonian Whimbrel (Cornwall), White-rumped Sandpipers (Angus, Lincolnshire and Co Antrim) and Bonaparte's Gull (Kent) all lingered.

Seabird highlights comprised  at least six Wilson's Petrels (at least five from a Scilly pelagic and one off the County Kerry coastline), 31 Cory's Shearwaters and five Great Shearwaters.

The best of the rest included two Pectoral Sandpipers (Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire).
Stuart Piner, RBA
Wednesday 3rd August 2016  
  The best seawatching day of the year so far saw the first Fea's/Zino's Petrel passing Ram Head, County Waterford, Wilson's Petrel between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, a Grey Phalarope in Pembrokeshire, Long-tailed Skua passing County Clare, and at least 747 Cory's Shearwaters between County Clare and Cornwall, and 47 Great Shearwaters between County Kerry and Cornwall.

Single White-rumped Sandpipers were discovered in both County Antrim and Norfolk, whilst lingering rarities confirmed as still present were the Western Purple Swamphen in Suffolk, Least Sandpiper in Devon, American White-winged Scoter in Aberdeenshire, both Dalmatian Pelican and Hudsonian Whimbrel in Cornwall, Little Bittern in Somerset, White-rumped Sandpiper in Lincolnshire, and single Bonaparte's Gulls in both Kent and Northumberland.

Scarcities included Purple Heron (Norfolk), Spotted Crake (Cheshire), Cattle Egret (Merseyside), White Stork (London), two Surf Scoters, three Glossy Ibises, and four Pectoral Sandpipers (Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Essex and Lincolnshire).
Chris Batty, RBA
Tuesday 2nd August 2016  
  The most significant discovery was a Least Sandpiper at Black Hole Marsh, Devon.

Lingering rarities included the Western Purple Swamphen in Suffolk, Dalmatian Pelican and Hudsonian Whimbrel in Cornwall, Black Duck Highland, Bonaparte's Gull in Kent and Little Bittern in Somerset.

The best of the rest included Pectoral Sandpipers (Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire), Spotted Crake (Cheshire), Cattle Egret (Suffolk) and Glossy Ibis (Merseyside).
Stuart Piner, RBA