Tuesday 15th May 2018
	Another exciting day on the Shetland Isles where on Fair Isle a Song Sparrow was trapped and ringed early in the morning and then showed throughout the day. Although only the eighth British record it was the fourth for Fair Isle, where the Crag Martin found yesterday remained. Elsewhere on Shetland a Terek Sandpiper arrived at the Pool of Virkie and a Bee-eater flew over Sandwick but on Unst neither the Marmora's Warbler nor Black-faced Bunting could not be found. Otherwise rarities comprised the Semipalmated Sandpiper still on the Western Isles, Iberian Chiffchaff on the Wirral, territorial Savi's Warbler in Norfolk, King Eider in Aberdeenshire and a Black-winged Stilt new in Essex at Old Hall Marshes. Scarcities included Red-breasted Flycatcher (Norfolk), Common Rosefinch (Anglesey), Red-backed Shrike (East Yorkshire), Kentish Plover (Essex), Temminck's Stint (Cleveland), American Wigeon (Northumberland) and Cattle Egret (Suffolk), two each of Red-spotted Bluethroat, Purple Heron and Surf Scoter, four Glossy Ibises and a total of eight migrant Dotterel.
-  Chris Batty, RBA