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| Monday 22nd May 2006 | ||
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| A quiet day with the highlights being the continued presence of the Black-winged Stilt inland at Upton Warren, Worcestershire and the Woodchat Shrikes at Whitburn, Co Durham and Bryher, Isles of Scilly. Strong westerly winds defined the bird news with exceptional numbers of Storm Petrels continuing to be seen along the English south coast; county maximums including 140 Penzance Cornwall, 110 Portland Dorset, 46 Seaton Devon, 18 Dungeness Kent, nine St Catherine's Point Isle of Wight and eight Milford-on-Sea Hampshire. In northern Scotland similar weather conditions treated observers to a passage of Long-tailed Skuas with a peak of 163 past Mangersta, Isle of Lewis, Western Isles and 59 past Aird an Runair, Benbecula, Western Isles and 38 in Scapa Flow, Orkney. Inland, two flew over the Findhorn Valley, Highland. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||
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Daily news summaries
Catch up with RBA's daily birdnews summaries. Browse ten days at a time, or choose a date to read summaries from that day backwards.
Daily summaries are available from 13 April 2006. For earlier weekly reviews, visit our articles.
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| Sunday 21st May 2006 | ||
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| An unusually quiet day for a May weekend produced only two new rarities. A Black-winged Stilt at Upton Warren, Worcestershire was a popular draw for local birders, being only the second county record, following an individual at Larford in June 1986. In Kent, a Cattle Egret was reported flying over Ramsgate in the evening. Yesterday's Black Kite remained in the Wickhambreaux area, Kent but only until 10am. In Ireland, the Gull-billed Tern continued to show well in County Cork. The adult drake King Eider remained off the Aberdeenshire coast, today off Murcar Golf Course. A popular new scarcity was a cracking Woodchat Shrike at Whitburn Coastal Park, but a Serin over Spurn, East Yorkshire and a brief Hoopoe at Redmires Reservoir, South Yorkshire were much less obliging. A new Purple Heron was located at Slapton Ley, whilst the adult remained at College Reservoir and the Frampton Purple Heron put in another brief appearance. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Saturday 20th May 2006 | ||
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| With strong west and north winds and showers over much of the country,
today's birdnews was not dominated by new rarities but by yet more seabirds.
Storm Petrels again featured heavily with large numbers being seen in the
south-west. A classic passage of Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas occurred past
the Western Isles, with smaller numbers of Pomarines also seen
elsewhere in Scotland. Best of the new rarities was a Black Kite near Wickhambreaux, Kent; the bird was found mid morning, but the news failed to seep out of the Kent grapevine until early afternoon. Fortunately, yet somewhat unusually, it lingered until at least early evening. Elsewhere a Gull-billed Tern was found at Ballymacoda, County Cork and a Red-rumped Swallow was reported at Blencarn, Cumbria. A Bee-eater was again at Winterton, Norfolk, but only briefly early morning. The Woodchat Shrike remained at Portland, Dorset and the Short-toed Lark was again on St.Mary's, Scilly, along with a Dotterel and the long-staying Iceland Gull. Last weekend's adult Purple Heron was relocated at Frampton. Neither of yesterday's popular rarities, the Gull-billed Tern in Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire nor the Broad-billed Sandpiper in Cambridgeshire were present today but the long staying Black-winged Stilts remained at Martin Mere WWT and the Aberdeenshire King Eider was relocated at Blackdog. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Friday 19th May 2006 | ||
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| The best finds of the day were a popular Broad-billed Sandpiper at Over Fen in Cambridgeshire and a Gull-billed Tern which was first seen at Kingsbury Water Park in Warwickshire in the afternoon, before moving to Lound gravel pits in Nottinghamshire in the evening. A Bee-eater flew south over Winterton Dunes in Norfolk and a Spotted Sandpiper was reported at Menlough in County Galway. There were belated reports of a Red-footed Falcon in Cambridgeshire yesterday, and a Black Kite over Dartmoor in Devon on Sunday. Setting a trend, many unseasonably displaced seabirds were seen, chief among them being Storm Petrels off the south coast, with up to 500 off Portland Bill, and there were many Long-tailed and Pomarine Skuas seen in the North West. Also, a Sabine’s Gull was seen in Cumbria and a few Balearic Shearwaters were seen off Devon and Cornwall. |
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| - Pete Hayman, RBA | ||
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| Thursday 18th May 2006 | ||
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| Essentially it was another very quiet day, highlights being a brace of new Red-rumped Swallows, with single birds over Spurn (E.Yorks) and at Sandwich (Kent). However both birds were only brief stayers and this theme continued with a Great White Egret in Suffolk, Laughing Gull in Co. Down and Bonaparte’s Gull in Glamorgan only favouring the finders or the very fortunate. In Devon the adult Gull-billed Tern remained by the River Caen at Braunton while other remaining rarities included the drake Blue-winged Teal in Cumbria and the trio of Black-winged Stilts in Lancashire. Seawatching in the south-westerly winds produced a Long-tailed Skua past Bowness-on-Solway (Cumbria) and a few Storm Petrels off Glamorgan and Somerset. | ||
| - Richard Moores, RBA | ||
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| Wednesday 17th May 2006 | ||
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| The Black Stork was again located today, seen first in Co Durham flying over Frosterley before being relocated in Northumberland heading east over Plenmeller Common. A male Blue-winged Teal at Longtown, Cumbria was presumably the bird seen earlier in the spring in Northumberland. Like that bird this one bears a metal ring and is of unknown provenance. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||
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| Tuesday 16th May 2006 | ||
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| Another (or the same?) Scops Owl on Shetland today; trapped on Fair Isle in the afternoon but not seen after release. Supporting cast on Fair Isle included Red-throated Pipit, Short-toed Lark, Bluethroat and Red-backed Shrike. In Co Durham a Black Stork - perhaps the bird seen recently in Scotland - flew over South Shields and nearby Whitburn early in the afternoon but was not relocated. In Suffolk a male Great Reed Warbler was discovered at Gunton, Suffolk where, atypically, it sang from a hawthorn bush. At Seaforth, Merseyside a female Baikal Teal was present for its third day. As ever, it is difficult to know how to treat a record of this species, and in this instance the true identity of the bird caused some debate. |
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| - Richard Moores, RBA | ||
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| Monday 15th May 2006 | ||
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| Star find today was another Broad-billed Sandpiper, this time
with Dunlin on the Lune Estuary at Cockersand, Lancashire. Otherwise
little else of note was discovered, except for a Night Heron briefly on
St Agnes, Isles of Scilly in the evening. Many of the weekend attractions remained with - in Devon - the Gull-billed Tern at Braunton and the Iberian Chiffchaff at Postbridge, in Suffolk, the Lesser Scaup at Bramford and in Angus, the Great Reed Warbler at Forfar Loch. However, those who crossed to the Isle of May were to be disappointed as the Calandra Lark had moved on. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||
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| Sunday 14th May 2006 | ||
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| A cracking male Turkestan Shrike (form phoenicuroides) was found at
Whitburn Bird Observatory in Co. Durham in the morning but sadly was not seen
again after it flew north at about 9am. At the other end of the country a
Gull-billed Tern performed well on the River Caen at Braunton in Devon. A
Red-footed Falcon was found at Walland Marsh in Kent, with a Red-rumped
Swallow at Old Head on Kinsale Co Cork, a Great White Egret at
Rosslare Back Strand, Co Wexford and an Alpine Swift reported over
Southend in Essex in the afternoon. The Calandra Lark continued to show on and off on the Isle of May in Fife and the Lesser Scaup at Brampton in Suffolk also proved popular. Broad-billed Sandpipers were still on the Humber Estuary at Spurn and at Tacumshin in County Wexford. New Purple Herons were at Fingringhoe in Essex and in the Slimbridge/Frampton area of Gloucestershire but typically, they were mostly seen in flight. New Woodchat Shrikes were found at Portland, Dorset, on Bryher, Scilly and at Boyton Marshes in Suffolk and a Bee-eater flew past Grune Point in Cumbria. Other typical mid-May fare included Temminck's Stints in Lincolnshire, Cleveland, Norfolk and Essex, a trip of 12 Dotterel briefly in Norfolk with another 16 still in north Lincolnshire, a smattering of Spoonbills and several Garganey scattered throughout the country. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||
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| Saturday 13th May 2006 | ||
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| The Calandra Lark remained on Isle of May, Fife for it's second
day and was enjoyed by the lucky few who managed to charter boats to the island. Only one of
Britain's 12 previous Calandra Larks has stayed for more than two days, and this
was as long ago as 1985, when an individual graced St.Mary's, Scilly from
26th-29h April. Shetland once again produced the goods, this time with a White-throated Sparrow on South Mainland. This is the 8th White-throated Sparrow to occur in Britain in the last 6 years; two of these have been well twitched, so although an excellent record, it is no longer the Mega it once was. A Great Reed Warbler at Forfar Loch, Angus was an excellent discovery for the finder whilst he was walking his dogs, and also in Scotland, a Black Stork flew along the River Spey Valley, Moray. Broad-billed Sandpipers at Tacumshin, Co.Wexford and at Spurn, East Yorkshire created the other headlines and Red-throated Pipits on Calf of Man, Isle of Man and over Leasowe lighthouse, Wirral were fantastic west coast records. A Red-rumped Swallow over Portland Harbour was perhaps one of the birds that arrived earlier in the week and a Bee-eater was reported at Sandwich. Continuing the glut of Black Kites being reported this spring, two more were seen today; one over Pannel Valley NR, East Sussex and another over Hambledon, Hampshire. Elsewhere, long-stayers included the Lesser Scaup in Suffolk, Iberian Chiffchaffs in Devon and Lothian, Franklin's Gull in Devon, 3 Black-winged Stilts in Lancashire, Laughing Gull in Co.Galway and the King Eider was still in Aberdeenshire. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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