Wednesday 31st May 2017
	The highlight of the day was a Black Scoter identified in Aberdeenshire at Murcar; the third to be located with the gathering Common Scoters there since 2011. Discoveries elsewhere included an Iberian Chiffchaff in Cheshire at Kelsall, Greenish Warblers in Essex at Colne Point and the Western Isles on Eriskay, Red-footed Falcon in Suffolk at Minsmere, Red-rumped Swallow in Dorset at Portland and single Black Kites in both Kent and Norfolk. Lingering rarities confirmed as still present were the Western Subalpine Warbler on the Shetland Isles, Spotted Sandpiper in Cumbria, Little Bittern and Red-footed Falcon together in Somerset, Savi's Warbler and Red-footed Falcon in Suffolk, and Savi's Warbler in Norfolk where at Welney a pair of Black-winged Stilts saw at least two chicks hatch before they were predated. Scarcities included American Golden Plover (Pembrokeshire), Icterine Warbler (Shetland Isles), Marsh Warbler (Suffolk), Golden Oriole (Dorset), Hoopoe (Gloucestershire), Ring-billed Gull (Ceredigion), Temminck's Stint (Lincolnshire), Glossy Ibis (Somerset), Night Heron (Shropshire), three migrant Red-necked Phalaropes, and seven Cattle Egrets.
-  Chris Batty, RBA