Early morning and the local patch seemed busier than it had been for a few days. As I stepped out the back door Swallow and House Martin passage was evident, as too was the ever increasing flock of c60 Greylag Geese (unfortunately the 20 'Snow Geese' reported in York last week haven't made it into my Greylag flock yet!).
Plenty of Meadow Pipit were recorded heading southeast and an increase in the numbers of Linnet and Chaffinch was noted. Several Chiffchaff were still calling away.
New office ticks were of the not-so-mega variety, Grey Wagtail and Mallard!!! Well they all count!
More good birds have been found today including Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Bobolink, Buff-bellied Pipit and River Warbler in the UK, with the White-crowned Black Wheatear and Northern Waterthrush still present in Germany and The Netherlands respectively. However bird of the day has to go to the White-winged Lark found in Sweden. Having only been recorded (accepted) twice in the UK (1869 and 1981 - and seen only by the finders) an occurrence of a twitchable bird over here would be huge! I've learnt a lot on White-winged Lark today and I'm glad I purchased Rare Birds Where and When: An analysis of Status & Distribution in Britain and Ireland (Vol 1) by Russell Slack which provides a great deal of information on the past records of this central Asian vagrant.
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