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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Tuesday 14th November 2017  
  An Olive-backed Pipit was on Lundy, Devon today, whilst lingering rarities included the Pacific Diver in Cornwall, Lesser Yellowlegs in Dorset, Long-billed Dowitcher in Kent, Ferruginous Duck in Leicestershire and King Eider in Highland.

Scarcity highlights included a Pallas's Warbler, a Rose-coloured Starling, a Little Bunting, a Dotterel, a Red-necked Phalarope, a Grey Phalarope, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Green-winged Teal, a Snow Goose, a Todd's Canada Goose, a Pomarine Skua, two Sabine's Gulls, two American Golden Plovers, two Surf Scoters, two American Wigeon, two Black Brants, three Glaucous Gulls, four Great Grey Shrikes, four Lapland Buntings, four Glossy Ibises, five Iceland Gulls, nine Waxwings, 14 Shorelarks and 22 Little Auks.
Will Soar, RBA
Monday 13th November 2017  
  Rarities today comprised the Pacific Diver still in Cornwall, Lesser Yellowlegs in Dorset, Richardson's Cackling Goose in Cumbria, Ferruginous Duck in Leicestershire and a White-billed Diver new on the Shetland Isles at Kirkabister, Mainland.

Scarcities included Rose-coloured Starling (Hampshire), Red-necked Phalarope (Lincolnshire), Rough-legged Buzzard (Norfolk), Dotterel (Cumbria), American Wigeon (Leicestershire), two Little Buntings (together in Cornwall), three Surf Scoters and four Ring-necked Ducks.
Chris Batty, RBA
Sunday 12th November 2017  
  Rarities today comprised the Pacific Diver still in Cornwall, Semipalmated Sandpiper still in Gloucestershire, Lesser Yellowlegs in both Dorset and County Wexford, Long-billed Dowitchers in Kent and County Wexford (2), Richardson's Cackling Goose in Cumbria and a Lesser Scaup new in Somerset at Chew Valley Lake.

Scarcities included Barred Warbler (East Yorkshire), Hoopoe (Wiltshire), Red-necked Phalarope (Lincolnshire), Dotterel (Cumbria), Ring-necked Duck (Cornwall), two each of both American Wigeon and Surf Scoter, and three Snow Geese.

Northerly winds prompted seawatching along the English east coast with Little Auk reports including 37 passing Whitburn, County Durham with scattered sighing of Pomarine Skuas, Grey Phalaropes and Glaucous Gulls, four Leach's Petrels, six Sabine's Gulls, a Long-tailed Skua (Essex) and a Great Shearwater (Pembrokeshire).
Chris Batty, RBA
Saturday 11th November 2017  
  Lingering rarities still present today included the Pacific Diver in Cornwall, Semipalmated Sandpiper in Gloucestershire, Lesser Yellowlegs and Long-billed Dowitcher in County Wexford, Lesser Yellowlegs in Dorset, White-rumped Sandpiper in County Derry, single King Eiders in Ceredigion and Shetland and Ferruginous Duck in Leicestershire.

The best of the rest were a Barred Warbler, three Great Grey Shrikes, a Dotterel, an American Golden Plover, a Red-necked Phalarope, five Grey Phalaropes, a Green-winged Teal, three American Wigeon, four Surf Scoters, four Ring-necked Ducks, two Black Brants, three Tundra Bean Geese, a Pomarine Skua, a Ring-billed Gull, five Iceland Gulls, eight Glaucous Gulls, 22 Lapland Buntings, 27 Shorelarks and 37 Little Auks.
Will Soar, RBA
Friday 10th November 2017  
  New discoveries today included a Richardson's Cackling Goose at Rockcliffe, Cumbria, a Ferruginous Duck at Eyebrook Reservoir, Leicestershire and a White-billed Diver off Eyemouth, Borders.

Lingering rarities included the Pied-billed Grebe in Shetland, Pacific Diver in Cornwall,, Semipalmated Sandpiper in Gloucestershire, Long-billed Dowitcher in Kent, Long-billed Dowitcher and Lesser Yellowlegs in County Wexford and single Ferruginous Ducks in Somerset and Hampshire.

Scarcity highlights included a Great Grey Shrike, a Dotterel, a Red-necked Phalarope, a Todd's Canada Goose, a Black Brant, two Little Buntings, two American Wigeon, two Surf Scoters, two Glossy Ibises, two Ring-billed Gulls, three Richard's Pipits, three American Golden Plovers, three Sabine's Gulls, three Pomarine Skuas, three Iceland Gulls, four Ring-necked Ducks, five Grey Phalaropes, five Glaucous Gulls, 23 Shorelarks, 26 Waxwings and 38 Little Auks.
Will Soar, RBA
Thursday 9th November 2017  
  New discoveries today included an American Coot at Lough Gill, County Kerry, the second for both county and site, following a wintering individual in 2014/2015, and a Hume's Warbler at Dungeness, Kent.

Lingering rarities included the Dusky Warbler in Devon, Pacific Diver in Cornwall, Semipalmated Sandpiper in Gloucestershire, Lesser Yellowlegs in Dorset, Long-billed Dowitcher in Kent, White-rumped Sandpiper in Angus, Forster's Tern in County Galway, King Eider in Ceredigion, Lesser Scaup in County Kerry and a Ferruginous Duck in Somerset, along with three more in Berkshire, at least two of which are from the German reintroduction project.

Scarcity highlights included a Barred Warbler, a Hoopoe, an American Golden Plover, a Green-winged Teal, a Black Brant, a Glossy Ibis, two Great Grey Shrikes, two Dotterel, two American Wigeon, two Surf Scoters, two Iceland Gulls, three Glaucous Gulls, three Lapland Buntings, three Ring-necked Ducks, four Tundra Bean Geese, six Grey Phalaropes, 13 Little Auks and 22 Shorelarks.
Will Soar, RBA
Wednesday 8th November 2017  
  Today's rarities comprised Red-flanked Bluetail (Suffolk), Dusky Warbler (Devon), White-billed Diver (East Yorkshire), Semipalmated Sandpiper (Gloucestershire), Lesser Yellowlegs (Co Wexford and Dorset), Pacific Golden Plover (Co Wexford) and Pacific Diver (Cornwall). Five Ferruginous Ducks were records today; a pair at Ham Wall RSPB (Somerset) and three at Dinton Pastures Country Park (Berkshire), which included a released juvenile drake from a German reintroduction project.

The best of the rest included a Bluethroat (East Yorkshire), Glossy Ibis (Isle of Wight), Waxwing (Cleveland), two American Wigeons and 17 Shorelarks.
Will Soar, RBA
Tuesday 7th November 2017  
  The highlight of the day was the discovery of a Red-flanked Bluetail in Suffolk at Lowestfoft although it later proved elusive. In Hampshire a Stilt Sandpiper reported as present at Farlington Marshes was presumably the individual earlier present in Dorset for much of the autumn.

Other rarities comprised both Pied-billed Grebe and White-billed Diver on the Shetland Isles, Pacific Diver still in Cornwall, single White-rumped Sandpipers in both Angus and County Kerry, Richardson's Cackling Goose in Argyll and two Ferruginous Ducks together in Berkshire at Dinton Pastures.

Scarcities included American Golden Plover (Dumfries and Galloway), Shorelark (inland in Cambridgeshire), Dotterel (Kent and Norfolk), American Wigeon (Highland and Leicestershire), Ring-necked Duck (Cornwall, Essex and County Kerry) and Surf Scoter (Cornwall (2), Lothian and the Shetland Isles).
Chris Batty, RBA
Monday 6th November 2017  
  The highlight of the day was the discovery of a Pied Wheatear in Cleveland at Skinningrove - albeit only realised after dark - whilst in Leicestershire a Ferruginous Duck was new at Rutland Water. In Cornwall a returning Pacific Diver was confirmed in Mount's Bay at Newlyn, having earlier been suspected at Marazion on Saturday, and is presumably the same individual present most winters in Kernow since February 2007.

Other rarities comprised a Wilson's Snipe on the Isles of Scilly, King Eider in the Shetland Isles, single White-billed Divers in Fife, Norfolk and the Orkney Isles, Lesser Yellowlegs in Dorset, White-rumped Sandpiper in County Kerry, and Long-billed Dowitchers in both Kent and Lincolnshire.

Scarcities included Barred Warbler (Suffolk), Serin (Cornwall), Richard's Pipit (East Yorkshire), Sabine's Gull (Norfolk), Shorelark (Cambridgeshire), American Wigeon (Worcestershire), Ring-necked Duck (Cornwall and Essex), Surf Scoter (two together in Cornwall) and Dotterel (Kent, Norfolk and Northamptonshire).
Chris Batty, RBA
Sunday 5th November 2017  
  Lingering rarities included Pied-billed Grebe and King Eider (Shetland), White-billed Diver (Norfolk), Long-billed Dowitcher (Merseyside [2], Kent, Co Wexford and Lincolnshire), Lesser Yellowlegs (Dorset and Co Wexford), Dusky Warbler (Kent), Ferruginous Duck (Hampshire) and Red-breasted Goose (Aberdeenshire), whilst a Bee-eater flew over Northumberland.

The best of the rest included Richard's Pipit (Devon and East Yorkshire), three Pallas's Warblers in Suffolk, American Golden Plover (Western Isles), Dotterel (Norfolk), three Glossy Ibises, three American Wigeons and seven Ring-necked Ducks.
Stuart Piner, RBA