Monday 3rd July 2023
	Rarities today comprised the American Black Tern still in Northumberland, the Steppe Grey Shrike still in Highland, Caspian Tern, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Lesser Scaup in Norfolk, Wilson's Petrels in Cornwall and at sea off the Isles of Scilly (18), Bee-eaters in Norfolk (3) and Scilly (12), Black-winged Stilts in Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire (6), and South Yorkshire (7), and in Northumberland the Bonaparte's Gull returned to Bamburgh where it was first seen in summer 2013. Scarcities included White-spotted Bluethroat (Gloucestershire), White-winged Black Tern (Cambridgeshire), Marsh Warbler (Shetland Isles), Red-backed Shrike and Red-necked Phalarope (Orkney Isles), Purple Heron (Northumberland), Night Heron (South Yorkshire), Ring-necked Duck (Suffolk), two each of both Great Shearwater and Glossy Ibis, four Sabine's Gulls, and a total of nine Cory's Shearwaters. Significant late news concerned a Barolo Shearwater seen yesterday in Argyll in the Sound of Jura, and on 13th June a Spanish Sparrow reportedly photographed on the Carmarthenshire-Ceredigion border near Lampeter.
-  Chris Batty, RBA