Saturday 24th October 2026
	The much-anticipated Nutcracker arrived with a typically fearless individual located yesterday in Norfolk at Mundesley still present late in the afternoon today, with perhaps the same having been seen on Wednesday in Paston. The last Nutcracker in Britain that was either seen by multiple observers or was photographed was in 1998. Elsewhere, discoveries today included in Orkney a Black-throated Thrush (or hybrid) in Finstown, Mainland and a Red-flanked Bluetail on North Ronaldsay, in Shetland a Hume's Warbler on Whalsay and at least one Olive-backed Pipit on Fair Isle, in Lincolnshire an Isabelline Wheatear at Sandilands, in Aberdeenshire a Hume's Warbler at Forvie, and in Norfolk a Radde's Warbler at Stiffkey. Continuing rarities confirmed as still present were Rufous-tailed Robin, Isabelline Shrike species, and Dusky Warbler in East Yorkshire, Chestnut Bunting, Western Bonelli's Warbler, and King Eider in Shetland, Sora in Scilly, Ross's Goose in Highland, Isabelline Wheatears in both Cleveland and Lincolnshire (at Donna Nook), Desert Wheatear and two Dusky Warblers in Norfolk, Pacific Diver in County Cork, Desert Wheatear in County Durham, Spotted Sandpiper in West Yorkshire, Hume's Warbler in Kent, Siberian Stonechat in Borders, Dusky Warbler in Northumberland, White-rumped Sandpiper in the Western Isles, and Ferruginous Duck in Cambridgeshire.
-  Chris Batty, RBA