The British List
the official list of birds of Great Britain
and the work of the BOU Records Committee
 For over 100 years the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) has maintained a list of birds that have been recorded in Britain and Ireland.
Records of birds new to Britain are passed to the British Ornithologists’ Union’s Records Committee (BOURC) by the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) after that committee has examined them. The BOURC Secretary prepares a file summarising each record. The file contains original descriptions and supporting documentation, including BBRC comments, correspondence from independent specialists, an analysis of the captive status of the species and its escape likelihood, and extracts from books and journals referring to migration and vagrancy patterns. Records are circulated by post and require unanimous agreement on identification and a two-thirds majority on categorisation. All files are archived for future reference.
The Committee also studies taxonomic advances and initiates research into
this field. In October 2002, the Committee’s Taxonomic Sub-committee
published a paper in Ibis setting outlining the basis on which they
will base their taxonomic decisions (Guidelines
for assigning species rank. Helbig et al. Ibis (2002) 144: 518-525).
Information on feral populations is monitored, and reviews are undertaken
of older records. Anyone can ask for old or rejected records to be reviewed
by the BOURC if they provide fresh evidence to justify re-examination.
This is time-consuming work, particularly when it involves detailed research or discussions with experts who are often based abroad.
The 'Official' British List
The following organisations have indicated their support for the work undertaken by the BOU and its Records Committee in maintaining a list of birds recorded in Britain. They have indicated that the decisions on both status and taxonomy reached by BOURC are accepted by them as comprising the 'official' British List.
● British Trust for Ornithology ● Countryside Council for Wales ● English Nature ● Joint Nature Conservation Committee ● Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ● Scottish Natural Heritage ● Scottish Ornithologists' Club ● Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust ● The Wildlife Trusts
Publication of BOURC decisions
The BOURC publishes regular reports in Ibis, the BOU’s scientific journal. As few birders regularly see
Ibis, information is press-released to the main birding magazines, who also receive pre-publication copies of the
Ibis reports. The magazines use some of this information as the basis for news items or articles, but much of the BOURC’s work goes unreported. BOURC members occasionally write longer papers on species reviews and decisions for publication in birding magazines. Decisions are notified to appropriate recorders and/or the original observers.
The role of the British Birds Rarities Committee
The BOURC works closely with the British Birds Rarities Committee
(BBRC). Its function is to collect, investigate and apply uniform standards to claimed records of rare birds in England, Scotland and Wales, and ‘at sea’ within the British Economic Zone, which now extends to 200 nautical miles (370 km). The BBRC publishes an annual report in British Birds which includes the essential details of the rarities seen in Britain in the previous year. The BBRC also assesses records from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, at the request of the birdwatchers and ornithologists there.
BOURC and BBRC – why two committees?
For records relating to new species for Britain (a ‘first’), the BOURC looks at identification, taxonomy and the origin of the bird. Detailed investigations into racial and species identification, escape likelihood and vagrancy potential are undertaken to determine the validity of the record before admission to the British List.
The BOURC alone decides which species are to be admitted to the British List and how they are to be categorised. The BOURC also considers records of all major rarities, particularly those prior to 1958 (when BBRC was founded), monitors introduced populations for possible admittance to or deletion from the list, and reviews taxonomy and nomenclature in general. For ‘first’ records, the BBRC is concerned solely with identification. However, the BBRC also assesses large numbers of subsequent records of major rarities after 1958. The workload of both Committees is substantial, and complementary.
The BOURC maintains the British List on behalf of the BOU, legislators and the international birdwatching and ornithological communities.
The British List and the UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man
In 1997, the BOURC worked in liaison with the government’s Joint Nature
Conservation Committee (JNCC) and others to revise the categories used in the British List to give them more relevance to conservationists and
policy makers.
Northern Ireland, however, has different legislation. Responsibility for
the British List lies with the BOURC and that for Northern Ireland rests
with the Northern Ireland Birdwatchers’ Association (NIBA). The Isle of
Man (which is not a legislative part of the UK) also keeps its own list
which is maintained by the Manx Ornithological Society (MOS).
Decisions relating to the British List will continue to be published by
the BOURC in its annual reports in Ibis, and decisions relating to
Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man will be summarised in these reports.
Species recorded from the Republic of Ireland (jurisdiction of the Irish
Rare Birds Committee (IRBC)) and the Channel Islands are not covered in any
reports or lists produced by the BOURC.
Further information about the different lists of the individual
organisations can be obtained from:
- BOU, The Natural
History Museum, Tring, Herts HP23 6AP
- NIBA, c/o 12 Belvoir Close, Belvoir Park, Belfast BT8 4PL
- MOS, c/o Water Edge, Lime Street, Port St Mary, Isle of Man IM9 5EF
- IRBC, c/o BirdWatch Ireland, Ruttledge House, 8 Longford Terrace, Monkstown, Co. Dublin
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