Tuesday 24th December 2024
	Remarkable news today of a Yellow Warbler discovered in Kent at New Hythe where it showed until dusk. It is the first winter record of this species in Britain but it is the fifteenth individual North American wood warbler (of ten species) to be located here between the months of December and March and - remarkably - the only Golden-winged Warbler in Britain was present less than a mile from the location of the current Yellow Warbler (between 24th January and 10th April 1989). Rarities elsewhere comprised the Double-crested Cormorant still in County Leitrim, Canvasback still in Essex, Northern Harrier again in County Wexford, Pallid Harrier still in Norfolk, Kentish Plover in Somerset, White-rumped Sandpiper in Suffolk, Long-billed Dowitchers in both Devon and County Wexford, Lesser Scaups in County Cork, Fife, Somerset, and Staffordshire, and Ferruginous Ducks in Hertfordshire and Warwickshire (2).
-  Chris Batty, RBA