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| Tuesday 17th April 2007 | ||
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| With cooler northerly air over much of the country it was not surprising that
arrivals of migrants slowed down a little, with the obvious exception of the
south west coasts where one or two notable falls occurred. Biggest of these was
at Portland Bill in Dorset, where grounded migrants included 100+Redstarts,
2000+Willow Warblers, 500 Wheatears, 20 Grasshopper Warblers,
100 Chiffchaffs, 5 Ring Ouzels, 6 Pied Flycatchers and 15.Tree
Pipits. Among these along the south coast were Hoopoes at Portland
Bill and on the Isle of Wight, and Wrynecks at Portland Bill, the Isle of
Wight and Dungeness in Kent.
No new rarities were found, but the Killdeer was still on Shetland and the Eastern Subalpine Warbler was reported again at Rame in Cornwall. However, the Lesser Scaup in Edinburgh could not be found. The Laughing Gull put in another appearance in Devon and the Marbled Duck remained in Gloucestershire, with the Spotted Sandpiper again being reported in Cornwall. The Pallas's Warbler was still in Kent and Spoonbills were popular in Gloucestershire and Gwent. |
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| - Pete Hayman, 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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| Monday 16th April 2007 | ||
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| Today continued the theme of arriving common migrants with notable falls at
Portland Bill and Hengistbury Head in Dorset. With these arrivals came a singing
Subalpine Warbler (probably Eastern) near Rame, in Cornwall and a new Red-rumped
Swallow in Aberdeenshire. A Great White Egret was reported briefly
just south of Norwich in Norfolk, whilst a Serin and a Wryneck
were among the migrants at Portland Bill, and an Icterine Warbler was
reported singing briefly at Reculver in Kent in the morning.
Remaining rarities included the Killdeer on Shetland, the American Golden Plover at Tacumshin in County Wexford, three Lesser Scaup in Scotland, the Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth and the Marbled Duck in Gloucestershire. The Pallas's Warbler continued to sing in east Kent, although still elusive and in Devon a Kentish Plover was found at Dawlish Warren. Ring Ouzels continued to feature highly among the common migrants, especially around the East Anglian coast. Three early Honey Buzzards were seen in southern counties and five Pomarine Skuas passed the Western Isles. |
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| - Pete Hayman, RBA | ||
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| Sunday 15th April 2007 | ||
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| A couple of Cattle Egrets at Radipole Lake RSPB were the only new
rarities to be located in Britain today, but an American Golden Plover
was new over the Irish Sea at Tacumshin, Co Wexford. On Shetland the Killdeer
remained on West Burra and popular rarities included the Marbled Duck in
Gloucestershire, Lesser Scaup in Lothian and Barrow's Goldeneye in
Forth. The Red-breasted Goose present earlier in the year at Haugh of
Blackgrange, Forth, returned to the same fields with Pink-footed Geese.
Other notable sightings included a Richard's Pipit over Brean Down, Somerset, Wrynecks on Scilly, Portland (Dorset), and Porthgwarra (Cornwall) and Hoopoe on Dartmoor. Common migrants continued to flood into Britain, with Ring Ouzels remaining particularly abundant and widespread. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Saturday 14th April 2007 | ||
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| A report of a possible River Warbler heard singing in Cumbria was the
main source of excitement today, though unfortunately the bird was not reported
again beyond the initial observation. There are now three adult White-billed
Divers off the Isle of Lewis, where a Snowy Owl also remains. The Killdeer
was seen again today on West Burra, Shetland having not been reported since the
7th April, also on Shetland the White-billed Diver was again on Unst. The
King Eider was also seen today on Orkney.
A round-up of long-staying rarities includes Dusky Warbler and Spotted Sandpiper in Cornwall, Cattle Egret in Devon, Lesser Yellowlegs in Co.Cork, Lesser Scaup in Lothian and the Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth. The Marbled Duck was still present in Gloucestershire and the singing Pallas's Warbler was again seen in Kent. New scarce birds today included a singing male White-spotted Bluethroat in Essex, Hoopoe and Wryneck together in Cornwall and a further two new Wrynecks in Suffolk and Dorset. There also appears to have been a marked arrival today of lots of common migrants, notably Grasshopper Warblers with over twenty being reported. |
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| - Keith Langdon, RBA | ||
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| Friday 13th April 2007 | ||
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| A White-billed Diver was found on Unst, Shetland Isles whilst an immature
White-tailed Eagle seen briefly over Denbighshire was presumably the same individual as that seen over Nottinghamshire on 31st March and Wirral on 6th April. A
Little Bunting in Dorset was seen only briefly as was a Hoopoe in Devon. The Marbled Duck remained in Gloucestershire and similarly the Laughing Gull in Devon, Long-billed Dowitcher in Essex, Lesser Scaup in Lothian and singing Pallas's Warbler in Kent. Wintering rarities still remaining included the Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth, Black-eared Kite in Norfolk, Spotted Sandpiper in Cornwall and on the Western Isles Snowy Owl and two each of both White-billed Diver and Lesser Scaup. |
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| - Chris Batty, RBA | ||
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| Thursday 12th April 2007 | ||
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| Only twenty four hours after one outrageous inland find comes another - a
male Western Black-eared Wheatear on the summit of Cruach nam
Fearna, Argyll for a short period at 2.10pm. Black-eared Wheatears are certainly
tantalising would be twitchers at the moment, this bird following a
possible on Lundy, Devon a few days ago.
Yesterday's major news, the Blue Rock Thrush in Powys had departed. In Gloucestershire the Marbled Duck remained on show and long-staying rarities included Spotted Sandpiper in Cornwall, Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth, Laughing Gull in Devon, Lesser Scaup in Lothian and Long-billed Dowitchers in Kent and on the Essex/Suffolk border. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Wednesday 11th April 2007 | ||
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| News of a male Blue Rock Thrush at the seemingly unlikely location of
Elan Village, Powys was released this evening. The bird was apparently present
from about 1.30pm until 6pm in Caban Quarry, when it disappeared, and failed to
put in another appearance before dusk. With only five previous British records,
no doubt many will be cursing the fact that it took so long to release the news
if the bird has gone by tomorrow.
Elsewhere a male Subalpine Warbler was found on Lundy, Devon, the first of the spring. In Gloucestershire the Marbled Duck was still at Saul Warth, whilst the Barrow's Goldeneye and Lesser Scaups remained in Scotland, Long-billed Dowitchers continued to show in Kent and on the Essex/Suffolk border, the Laughing Gull again passed through Topsham, Devon and a White-billed Diver reappeared off Lewis. The Pallas's Warbler continued to be elusive in Wouldham, Kent and and an arrival of Ring Ouzels, mainly in Norfolk, included an impressive total of forty through Titchwell RSPB in the early morning. In Co Down, the female Lesser Scaup reappeared at Clea Lakes. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Tuesday 10th April 2007 | ||
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| Two new discoveries in Ireland were both of Nearctic origin; a Laughing
Gull was at Blennerville, Co Kerry and a Lough-billed Dowitcher was
at Lough Beg, Co Derry.
In England the Marbled Duck remained on show in Gloucestershire, whilst other rarities on offer included Glossy Ibis in Lancashire, Barrow's Goldeneye in Forth, Black-eared Kite in Norfolk, Laughing Gull in Devon and Ferruginous Duck in London. The Pallas's Warbler continued its stay in Wouldham, Kent. A belated report from Thursday referred to a report of a Snowy Owl in the Caingorms NNR, Aberdeenshire. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Monday 9th April 2007 | ||
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| A Marbled Duck located this afternoon at Saul Warth, Gloucestershire
was 'unringed and fully winged', and wasn't from the wildfowl collection at
nearby Slimbridge WWT. The bird remained in the area into the evening, but two
of today's other new rarities were both brief - a Lesser Yellowlegs at
Freiston Shore RSPB, Lincolnshire and Franklin's Gull on the Camel
Estuary, Cornwall.
In Kent the singing male Pallas's Warbler continued to show on and off near Wouldham. In Ireland a 2nd-winter American Herring Gull was identified at Blennerville, Co Kerry. Several late items of the news were of note; a female Snowy Owl was on St Kilda, Western Isles, on 5th April and a King Eider was at the Ormsary Water mouth, Argyll on 1st April. Presumably 'the' white morph Gyr was reported over Gerrans Bay, Cornwall on 7th, quite a distance from where it was last seen. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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| Sunday 8th April 2007 | ||
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| A Black-throated Thrush was located at Walcot Mill in Shropshire this
morning with a flock of Fieldfares. The bird showed on a couple of occasions
until late morning, when it disappeared, and was not seen again despite
extensive searching. On the Western Isles a Bonaparte's Gull was
discovered on Lewis, but like the thrush, it remained in the area for only a
short period, before flying north at 1.20pm.
The theme of today was clearly frustrating brief sightings - a Pallas's Warbler was seen and heard singing in Wouldham, Kent for just over half an hour this morning, and a Little Bunting was at Hengistbury Head, but only early in the morning. A swift species over St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, was more than likely an Alpine, or even a Pallid Swift, but the bird was too high to identify. The two ducks found yesterday, the King Eider off Burghead, Moray, and the Ferruginous Duck in London were both still on offer, as were a number of long-staying rarities, which included Glossy Ibis, Black-eared Kite, Black Scoter, Laughing Gull, Spotted Sandpiper, two Lesser Scaups and Dusky Warbler. Migrants continue to trickle in, but numbers are noticeably low. Apparently the weather has been poor in Iberia, so as soon as that clears, hopefully the floodgates will open and spring will really kick-start. Late last night intriguing news of a possible male Black-eared Wheatear on Lundy, Devon was released, but there has been no news at all on the bird today. |
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| - Stuart Piner, RBA | ||
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