Thursday 13th May 2021
	Incredible news today from Lincolnshire where an adult Egyptian Vulture was reported as having flown west over Willingham by Stow. There are currently only two accepted British records of this species: in Somerset in 1825 and Essex in 1868. Other rarities discovered today comprised a Squacco Heron in Ceredigion at Ynys-hir, a Thrush Nightingale in East Yorkshire at Spurn, Black Kite in Worcestershire at Bewdley, and Red-rumped Swallows in Devon at Dawlish and on South Uist, Western Isles. Lingering rarities confirmed as still present were Calandra Lark, Pallid Harrier, and Hooded Merganser all on the Shetland Isles, Gull-billed Tern in County Donegal, Whiskered Tern in Dorset, Black Kite in Aberdeenshire, Savi's Warbler in North Yorkshire, Kentish Plover in Northumberland, and Bonaparte's Gulls in both Highland and Nottinghamshire. Scarcities included Woodchat Shrike and Ring-necked Duck (both Cornwall), Serin and Grey-headed Wagtail (Norfolk), Golden Oriole and Hoopoe (East Yorkshire), Montagu's Harrier (County Dublin), Green-winged Teal (Western Isles), Shorelark (Orkney Isles), two each of Wryneck, Glossy Ibis, and migrant Dotterel, and a total of seven Temminck's Stints.
-  Chris Batty, RBA