Daily News Summaries
This page gives you access to all of RBA's daily news summaries (since April 13, 2006), 10 days at a time. The most recent are shown, or you can select a specific date to show (along with the previous 10 days). Prior to April 13, 2006 you can find weekly reviews, located in articles.
Get news summaries starting        GO
  << Newer Back to the most recent Older>>  
Saturday 4th July 2009  
  Seabirds started to feature today with a Scopoli's Shearwater seen from a pelagic off the Scillies, whilst in County Cork a total of 53 Cory's Shearwaters and 3 Great Shearwaters passed southern headlands during the day. Elsewhere, Caspian Terns were the order of the day: one found in the morning at Welney in west Norfolk proved to be a popular attraction; whilst in Scotland there was another at the Ythan Estuary in Aberdeenshire.

There was another belated report of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, this one was seen and photographed on 21st June at Needs Ore Point on the Solent in Hampshire. Could it have been the same bird which then wandered to north Devon? Also in Hampshire there was a report of a possible Gull-billed Tern at Titchfield Haven today. In Highland the River Warbler continued to sing near Applecross and in Aberdeenshire the Great White Egret remained at the Ythan Estuary. Elsewhere the Marsh Warbler was still holding territory at Otmoor in Oxfordshire.
Pete Hayman, RBA
Wednesday 1st July 2009  
  The place to be today was Blennerville in County Kerry in south west Ireland, where the discovery of a Caspian Tern in the late morning was bettered in the afternoon when an adult Audouin's Gull was found. The latter is the first record for Ireland.

A Cattle Egret was seen briefly at Belmont Reservoir in Lancashire in the evening.

The Marsh Warbler remained in Oxfordshire, nine Spoonbills were at Cley in Norfolk and a Red-necked Phalarope was still on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Otherwise the autumn wader passage is starting to get underway with common species such as Green Sandpipers and Greenshanks being seen at many sites. An unseasonal Arctic Skua was at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire in the evening.
Pete Hayman, RBA
Tuesday 30th June 2009  
  Lingering rarities confirmed as still present today comprised the Forster's Tern in County Wexford, Black Duck in Cornwall and Ferruginous Duck in Somerset. Elsewhere, brief encounters included a Squacco Heron in Wiltshire at Upavon and a Bee-eater at Stiffkey, Norfolk.

A Red-backed Shrike in Cleveland and a Marsh Warbler in Oxfordshire headlined the scarcities whilst numbers of Wood Sandpiper (9), Spotted Redshank (45) and Crossbill (156) continue to be recorded.

Significant late news from yesterday concerned an adult male Pallid Harrier at Toseland, Cambridgeshire briefly in the early afternoon.
Chris Batty, RBA
Monday 29th June 2009  
  The highlight of the day was the discovery of a Bee-eater at Pott Row, Norfolk. A Great White Egret was seen briefly at Reculver, Kent whilst another remained in Aberdeenshire, as did the Little Bittern in Somerset and the Black Duck in Cornwall.

Early autumn aggregations included 26 Spotted Redshanks together in Kent, 24 Green Sandpipers in London, 11 Spoonbills in Norfolk, 11 Wood Sandpipers in Lincolnshire and three Quail in Oxfordshire.

Crossbills totaled 188 in seven counties including 110 in two flocks on the Orkney Isles.
Chris Batty, RBA
Sunday 28th June 2009  
  Lingering rarities proved to be the day's highlights comprising the territorial Little Bittern still in Somerset, Black Duck in Cornwall, three Cattle Egrets together in County Cork and single Great White Egrets recorded in each of Aberdeenshire, Derbyshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Scarcities included a Purple Heron again in Somerset, a Serin still in Dorset, Surf Scoter in Aberdeenshire and Marsh Warblers in Oxfordshire and the Shetland Isles.

Species engaged in post-breeding influxes included Crossbill (303 recorded in six counties including 172 on the Orkney Isles and 117 on the Shetland Isles), Wood Sandpiper (21 in seven counties including eight in Lincolnshire) and Spotted Redshank (93 across seven counties including 33 in Suffolk at Minsmere and 30 in Kent at Elmley Marshes).
Chris Batty, RBA
  << Newer Back to the most recent Older>>  
All weather charts on this page are Crown Copyright of the Met Office and are reproduced here with their permission.
If you wish to reproduce any of these charts yourself, you must seek prior approval from the Met Office