diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES b/RELEASE-NOTES
index 4820bd3..180d6c9 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+version 0.8.11
+--------------
+
+- catch harmless socket exception
+- show session count in groups RPC call
+
 version 0.8.10
 --------------
 
diff --git a/server/protocol.py b/server/protocol.py
index dd6c855..5811f95 100644
--- a/server/protocol.py
+++ b/server/protocol.py
@@ -471,6 +471,7 @@ class ServerManager(util.LoggedClass):
             await asyncio.sleep(2)
             self.logger.info('{:,d} sessions remaining'
                              .format(len(self.sessions)))
+        await asyncio.sleep(1)
 
     def add_session(self, session):
         # Some connections are acknowledged after the servers are closed
@@ -514,14 +515,18 @@ class ServerManager(util.LoggedClass):
         for session in self.sessions:
             if session.is_closing():
                 if session.stop <= shutdown_cutoff and session.socket:
-                    # Should trigger a call to connection_lost very soon
-                    session.socket.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
-            else:
-                if session.last_recv < stale_cutoff:
-                    self.close_session(session)
-                    stale.append(session.id_)
+                    try:
+                        # Force shut down - a call to connection_lost
+                        # should come soon after
+                        session.socket.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
+                    except socket.error:
+                        pass
+            elif session.last_recv < stale_cutoff:
+                self.close_session(session)
+                stale.append(session.id_)
         if stale:
             self.logger.info('closing stale connections {}'.format(stale))
+
         # Clear out empty groups
         for key in [k for k, v in self.groups.items() if not v]:
             del self.groups[key]
@@ -567,13 +572,14 @@ class ServerManager(util.LoggedClass):
 
         data is the return value of rpc_groups().'''
 
-        fmt = ('{:<6} {:>9} {:>6} {:>6} {:>8}'
+        fmt = ('{:<6} {:>9} {:>9} {:>6} {:>6} {:>8}'
                '{:>7} {:>9} {:>7} {:>9}')
-        yield fmt.format('ID', 'Bw Qta KB', 'Reqs', 'Txs', 'Subs',
+        yield fmt.format('ID', 'Sessions', 'Bw Qta KB', 'Reqs', 'Txs', 'Subs',
                          'Recv', 'Recv KB', 'Sent', 'Sent KB')
-        for (id_, bandwidth, reqs, txs_sent, subs,
+        for (id_, session_count, bandwidth, reqs, txs_sent, subs,
              recv_count, recv_size, send_count, send_size) in data:
             yield fmt.format(id_,
+                             '{:,d}'.format(session_count),
                              '{:,d}'.format(bandwidth // 1024),
                              '{:,d}'.format(reqs),
                              '{:,d}'.format(txs_sent),
@@ -589,6 +595,7 @@ class ServerManager(util.LoggedClass):
         for group_id in sorted(self.groups.keys()):
             sessions = self.groups[group_id]
             result.append([group_id,
+                           len(sessions),
                            sum(s.bandwidth_used for s in sessions),
                            sum(s.requests_remaining() for s in sessions),
                            sum(s.txs_sent for s in sessions),
diff --git a/server/version.py b/server/version.py
index 646bbdf..654374a 100644
--- a/server/version.py
+++ b/server/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-VERSION = "ElectrumX 0.8.10"
+VERSION = "ElectrumX 0.8.11"