Monday 17th July 2023
	Sensational news this evening of a Black-winged Kite in Norfolk at Hickling Broad; this follows the first for Britain present at Glanmule, Powys on 18th April. Other discoveries today included a Pacific Golden Plover confirmed in County Cork at Ballycotton, Caspian Tern in Nottinghamshire at Misson, two Bee-eaters in Cornwall at Land's End, and a Wilson's Petrel at sea off Slea Head, County Kerry. Rarities elsewhere comprised the Black-winged Pratincole still in County Donegal, Least Tern and Caspian Tern in County Dublin, Long-billed Dowitchers in Lancashire and Norfolk, King Eider in Lothian, Bonaparte's Gull in Kent, Lesser Scaup in Norfolk, and Black-winged Stilts in Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire (11), and South Yorkshire (6). Scarcities included Short-toed Lark and Red-backed Shrike (Orkney Isles), American Golden Plover (Pembrokeshire), Purple Heron (Northumberland), Rose-coloured Starling (Argyll), American Wigeon (Lincolnshire), Ring-necked Duck (Glamorgan), Glossy Ibis (Norfolk), two each of both Night Heron and Cory's Shearwater, and four Pectoral Sandpipers.
-  Chris Batty, RBA