The British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (BOURC) has recently [13 August 2024] announced that the British list has climbed to 641 with the addition of five species.
The first two relate to seabirds seen in the summer of 2021. Britain’s first Soft-plumaged Petrel provided quite the shock when it moved along the east coast of England between Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire, and Stag Rocks, Northumberland, on 1 July. Native to the Southern Ocean, it becomes only the third record for the Western Palearctic (WP) following records off Finnmark, Norway, on 6 June 2009 – the only other record anywhere in the North Atlantic – and one off Eilat, Israel, and Aqaba, Jordan, on 25 March 1997. It is told from its close North Atlantic relatives (Fea’s, Desertas and Zino’s Petrels) by a complete, dark grey breast band.
The BOU’s Records Committee maintains the official list of wild birds occurring in Great Britain.
What does that mean exactly? What does it mean for a bird to “occur” in a place?
“The BOU maintains the British List, the official list of wild bird record in Great Britain” – https://bou.org.uk/british-list/
Even the official website doesn’t even contain an explanation of what, precisely, is in this list.
I’m mystified by the poorness of the communication around this thing (whatever it is). Clearly the people involved don’t communicate much with people outside their field.