Records
Great Blue Heron
09 December 2007
Well, there goes another first for Britain that the rest of us can no longer dream about finding. On Friday 7th December 2007, a juvenile Great Blue Heron was discovered at Lower Moors on St Mary's, Scilly, where it stayed for the rest of the day. However, this may turn out to be a major blocker in future as by the following morning it was gone, denying it a place on many keen listers' lists, and denying the Isles of Scilly travel operators a large amount of unseasonal revenue! It seems reasonably likely that it may yet get relocated, however, lurking elsewhere in Scilly or west Cornwall.
Great Blue Heron has long been anticipated as an addition to the British list, with a number of records from the Azores but also one as close as Ouessant, north-west France, in 1996. Moreover, a number have been documented crossing the Atlantic on board ships. For an excellent summary of the identification of Great Blue Heron in a British context, see Birding World 11(1).
Given that it was well-watched by multiple observers and that perfectly convincing pictures of the bird have been posted online (e.g. see Birdguides) Great Blue Heron has been added as a provisional new species for BUBO lists using the BOU, UK400, Birdwatch and 'Official British & Irish' authorities. In the event of it being rejected in future, however, it would then be removed from all such lists.
Olive-tree Warbler
27 October 2007
The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee has admitted Olive-tree Warbler Hippolais olivetorum to category A of the British List, following a record of a first-winter bird at Boddam, Shetland, on 16th August 2006. Following initial difficulties in identification of the bird in the field, its identity was clinched by some fine photos, including the one below by Hugh Harrop.
.jpg "Olive-tree Warbler (Hippolais olivetorum)")
As the species tends to depart its breeding grounds (from Croatia to Israel) quite early, an August occurrence in Britain is consistent with its known movements. There had apparently been two previous claims of the species, on Scilly in September 1972 and on St Kilda in August 1999 but these had not been found acceptable due to inadequate documentation. Read the full BOU press release.
BUBO Listing had added Olive-tree Warbler as a 'provisional' species to the BOU and 'Official Britain & Ireland' base-lists, and the 'provisional' status is now removed.
Two New Gulls!
09 October 2007
The taxonomic subcommittee of the BOU has recommended that Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans) and American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus) would best be treated as separate species, rather than as subspecies of Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) as previously. The details of the recommendation can be read in full here.
Although this recommendation has not yet been accepted formally by the BOU Records Committee, this is considered to be only a matter of time and thus, BUBO Listing now allows the addition of these two species onto lists using the BOU or "Official British & Irish" authorities. [The two species were already split by the UK400 Club and Birdwatch authorities.]
This decision will be widely welcomed by British birders ("about time too" many will say!) and will result in a number of "armchair ticks". In recent years, Caspian Gull has proved to be a scarce but regular visitor, especially in eastern and central England; it remains scarcer than Yellow-legged Gull and, moreover, shows a less distinct late summer peak in the number of records. American Herring Gull is much rarer, with most records in western counties and identification of older birds still problematic.
[Note that the other recommendations made by the taxonomic subcommittee (i.e. changes to some latin names and alterations to the species order of some groups) will not be incorporated by BUBO Listing until they are formally accepted by the BOURC.]
.jpg "Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans)")
.jpg "American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus)")
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