| Sunday 29th July 2018 | ||
| Astonishing news today from seawatchers at Porthgwarra, Cornwall where a Trindade Petrel passed west in the early afternoon. A new British bird when accepted it will represent the fourteenth record for the Western Palearctic but the first away from mid Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Cape Verde that may in actuality be part of the routine range of this species. Trindade Petrel has previously been suspected in England at Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire on 13th June 1982, Pendeen Watch, Cornwall on 28th September 1988 and passing Dungeness, Kent on 4th January 1998. Other seabirds included 57 (!) Wilson's Petrels at sea off Cape Clear, County Cork with two more passing The Lizard, Cornwall along with a Long-tailed Skua there and totals between County Cork and Kent of 68 Cory's and 213 Great Shearwaters. Otherwise, terrestrial rarities comprised the Semipalmated Sandpiper from East Yorkshire on Friday relocated today in Norfolk at Snettisham, the Marsh Sandpiper in London at Rainham Marshes still present early this morning before (presumably) relocating to Cliffe Pools, Kent this afternoon, the lingering Lesser Yellowlegs still in Norfolk and Bonaparte's Gull in Kent. Scarcities included Purple Heron (Leicestershire),Surf Scoter (County Durham), migrant Red-necked Phalarope (Kent), Green-winged Teal (Cleveland), two each of both Rose-coloured Starling and Glossy Ibis, three Cattle Egrets, and a total of four Pectoral Sandpipers. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||