Spring is in the air - 254 species now recorded in 2010

The total number of species now recorded in Britain and Ireland in 2010 has now risen to 254 species, with the addition of six new species in the past week.

1) PIED-BILLED GREBE: only the 6th for IRELAND and the first twitchable in over ten years, frequenting Lough Gur in County Limerick since 25 February;

2) Sooty Shearwater: off Dungeness, Kent, 27 February;

3) Manx Shearwater, off Dungeness, Kent, 27 February;

4) Little Ringed Plover: two early migrants with singles in Middlesex and Notts;

5) AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER: in Lincolnshire;

6) European Turtle Dove: wintering individual in garden in County Cork