| Thursday 6th July 2017 | ||
| Exceptional news this evening of a female Amur Falcon discovered in Cornwall at Porthgwarra. Only the second British record following the male present in East Yorkshire at Tophill Low from 14th September-15th October 2008 but misidentified as a Red-footed Falcon throughout its stay. Since the first for the Western Palearctic was identified in Italy at Straits of Messina, Sicily on 29th April 1995 there have been a further records in Italy (1997 and 1998), Greece (2003), Sweden (2005), Hungary (2006), Azores (2011), Faeroes (2015), Kuwait (2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016), Cyprus (2016) and Romania (2016 and 2017), with three of these between late June
and early July. Rarities elsewhere comprised a Red-footed Falcon briefly in Suffolk at Reydon, both the American White-winged Scoter and King Eider together in Aberdeenshire, Semipalmated Sandpiper in the Western Isles, King Eider in Ceredigion, Greenish Warbler on the Shetland Isles, and at least four Bee-eaters in Nottinghamshire. Scarcities included Rose-coloured Starling (Highland), Marsh Warbler (County Wexford), Sabine's Gull (inland in North Yorkshire), Surf Scoter (Aberdeenshire), Glossy Ibis (Somerset), two Purple Herons, and a total of eight Cattle Egrets. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||