Total surges forward for mid May

The total number of species now recorded in Britain and Ireland has climbed to a very impressive 340 species, with the addition of a further 18 species since my last update in early May. The new additions are thus -:

1) ORIENTAL PRATINCOLE (a very showy individual at Frampton Marsh RSPB, Lincolnshire)

2) PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER (adult summer briefly in Surrey/London)

3) Temminck's Stint (small passage, perhaps involving 25 birds thus far)

4) BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER (migrating bird with Dunlin, firstly in County Wexford and then on Skye)

5) LESSER YELLOWLEGS (singles in Lincolnshire and in West Cornwall)

6) RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (very early female on Sheppey, North Kent)

7) Long-tailed Skua (a few early flocks passing NW coasts and an early migrant in the Solent)

8) European Nightjar (arrival from late April)

9) GREATER SHORT-TOED LARK (confiding bird in County Cork followed by more in the west including migrants on Scilly)

10) TAWNY PIPIT (two early migrants)

11) GREAT REED WARBLER (a singing male in Derbyshire)

12) EASTERN SUBALPINE WARBLER (male briefly on The Lizard in West Cornwall)

13) Spotted Flycatcher (large arrival in May)

14) Red-backed Shrike (a very early male in Gloucestershire)

15) HORNEMANN'S ARCTIC REDPOLL (an elusive individual and rare spring migrant on Dursey Island)

16) WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (a major arrival of ship-assisted birds including one in a garden in North Cornwall)

17) SLATE-COLOURED JUNCO (belated news of a garden wintering bird in Gloucestershire)

18) ORTOLAN BUNTING (two early migrants including a confiding bird at Portland Bill)