| Tuesday 19th June 2018 | ||
| The highlight of the day was an American Royal Tern in West Sussex in the Sandwich Tern colony at Church Norton. First discovered mid afternoon and believed to be the returning Elegant Tern present there last June it was only correctly identified until early evening after which it showed for a further three hours. The bird was not in full breeding aspect and this when combined with the presence of a metal ring showed it to be the same individual that had frequented the Channel Islands from 5th February to 26th May 2017 and again from 24th July 2017 to 6th May 2018 and also having visited Brittany, France between 12th June and 16th July 2017. It is the first American Royal Tern to be confirmed in Britain since a USA ringed bird was at Kenfig Pool, Glamorgan on 24th November 1979 (although a further metal ringed Royal Tern at Mumbles, Glamorgan on 21st December 2017 will also have been an American Royal Tern). Rarities elsewhere comprised the Bonaparte's Gull still in Kent, King Eiders in both Aberdeenshire and Gwynedd (the latter at Broad Water), the Black-winged Stilt still in Cambridgeshire, a flyover Black Kite in Cambridgeshire and White-billed Diver off the Orkney Isles. Scarcities included Marsh Warbler (Shetland Isles), Cattle Egret (Merseyside), two migrant Red-necked Phalaropes (East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) and a total of six Rose-coloured Starlings. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||