John
Clark
What
you put on your various lists is totally up to you, because they are
your lists. But if you want to compare your lists with those of other
birders, then there has to be a suite of criteria which you follow.
The main criteria are that the species has to be on the official list
of the area concerned and that the record (if of a rare species) has
to be accepted by the relevant records committee. The custodian of
the British List is the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee
(BOURC) and of the Hampshire List it is HOS.
I
keep four main life lists - World, British, Hampshire and my local
area - the Hants/Surrey Border. To get on to those lists, I like to
see a species well and/or at length, and hear it as well if possible.
That is not always possible, especially in the tropics. I have three
categories of lower quality listing:
·
BVD - better views desired
· BVR - better views required; often heard and only glimpsed
· Heard only.
BVDs
gain entry to my main lists but BVRs and heards don't; I'm always
trying for upgrades!
When
it comes to my Hampshire list, the bird must be in the county but
it doesn't matter where I am, i.e. I could be standing in Surrey and
watching a bird over Alice Holt Forest in Hampshire, and that would
count. Any bird on the sea must be less than half way to the Isle
of Wight. I probably need to check up if any of the birds I've seen
from Hurst or Milford were over half way to the Needles or the IOW
coast - I suspect not but it may be the case for some of you! The
county is defined as the present day administrative county of Hampshire
plus the unitary authorities of Portsmouth and Southampton. Some observers
keep a list for the two vice-counties of North and South Hampshire,
which essentially comprises the pre-1974 county before Christchurch
Harbour and the Avon below Sopley were transferred to Dorset.
I've
recently done a rough count on a self-found list for Hampshire. I
reckon my list is around 232, but it's very difficult to be sure because
the criteria for inclusion are debatable. My list includes birds I've
found breeding in areas where they've bred in a previous year - e.g.
Red-backed Shrike and Stone Curlew, and it includes birds I've found
on sea-watches when the species was seen the previous day - e.g. Sabine's
Gull and Storm Petrel. But what about situations when I'm birding
with someone else? A friend and I are scanning through a flock of
birds and the friend says he's found an interesting bird and I call
it, or the friend calls and identifies a bird and I confirm it. I
think the former scenario is countable for a self-found list but the
latter isn't.
I
don't do year lists very often, but I think the criteria should be
the same as for life lists, except that if you hear a skulking bird
you've previously seen, e.g. Quail or Corncrake, you can count it.
I've
done quite a few day lists in my time! Here the rules are a little
different and a bit more relaxed. In contrast to life and year lists,
you need to be in the area concerned, and the bird needs to be identified
(i.e. seen and/or heard) from the area but not necessarily be in it.
So a Barnacle Goose seen on the Berkshire side of the River Blackwater
at Eversley, a Goshawk over a Wiltshire wood or a Gannet which disappeared
behind The Needles would all count if I was in Hampshire when I saw
them.
And
what species can you count on your Hampshire list? On the HOS website
you will find the official Hampshire list at http://www.hos.org.uk/checklist.htm.
It comprises 363 species, 342 in category A, nine in category B and
12 in category C. If you see any of the 342 in category A, that's
no problem unless they're obvious escapes. If you see any of the nine
in category B, which haven't been recorded since 1950, please phone
me immediately, unless it's a Great Bustard with a wing tag!
It's
the category C birds, and a few others not in categories A, B or C,
which produce the problems. Category C includes well established introduced
species such as Canada Goose, Pheasant and Little Owl which are totally
tickable unless you are a complete purist! However, the following
now, or will in the not too distant future, produce problems: Snow
Goose, Barnacle Goose, Golden Pheasant and Lady Amherst's Pheasant.
Although introduced, these all formerly bred in the county in an apparently
wild state, making them tickable in my view. But the two pheasants
have almost certainly stopped breeding, with the occasional sightings
nowadays presumably relating to recent escapees. Numbers of the two
geese species are declining rapidly. Only one pair of Snow Geese and
a few pairs of Barnacles attempted breeding in 2008, but no young
are known to have been raised. Once the remaining individuals have
died, you will have to use your judgement as to whether any birds
seen are truly wild. The recent Red-crested Pochard at Badminston
raises the question as to whether or not to tick the species. Birds
from feral populations on the near continent and in the UK, the nearest
being at Cotswold Water Park, would be tickable, but Red-crested Pochard
is one of the most commonly kept species in captivity and undoubtedly
escapes - so the appearance of odd individuals outside the main dispersal/migration
months suggest a suspect origin, as is the case with the Badminston
bird. The same is true of Ring-necked Parakeets. They are fairly sedentary
in their breeding areas, the nearest being in London. So odd birds
seen in Hampshire must be possible escapees, and thus non-tickable.
In my view, the status of the Ruddy Shelduck is similar to the pochard,
although there are no feral breeding populations in the UK to my knowledge.
The BOURC doesn't accept any post-1950 records as being of wild birds.
Thus the species is not on category C making it untickable. But it
is worth noting that this view is hotly debated by many birders and
the BOURC has hedged its bets and reserved a special category C5 (yet
to be used) for birds occurring from overseas feral populations. Other
wildfowl to have occurred in Hampshire which could conceivably occur
in a wild state include Lesser White-fronted Goose, Cackling (Lesser
Canada) Goose and Ross's Goose. Records of the first two are always
with Canadas or Greylags, and no doubt relate to escapees. Unfortunately,
the opportunity to get a wild Lesser White-front on the Hampshire
List was missed when up to 1500 Eurasian White-fronts regularly wintered
in the Avon Valley! The first-winter Ross's Goose which occurred with
Brents at Farlington Marshes from Oct 29th-31st 2001 may well have
been wild, although the conservative BOURC has not admitted the species
to the British List despite several occurrences with flocks of wild
geese. Thus it cannot feature on a Hampshire list.
I'll
bet quite a few of you have the Black Kite from Cheesefoot Head in
early 2003 on your Hampshire Lists. But although we all know it was
one, the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) stubbornly still
refuses to accept it, and so technically it can't be on your Hampshire
List. Fortunately I saw the Rockbourne bird in autumn 1999, although
I've even heard whispers that that was an escape! I'll make no bones
about the fact that I've got the (in)famous Dummer Scops Owl on my
list. The HOS chairman, John Eyre, has collected evidence, which he
considers irrefutable, that the bird was an escapee. The BBRC reviewed
this a few years ago and did not reverse its decision, although I
note that on the Birdguides Online Guide to Rarer British Birds (see
http://www.birdguides.com/rbcd/species.asp?s=073018)
it is listed as accepted but with the words probable escape added.
That was the result of a conversation I had with the compiler, Keith
Naylor. If and when the record is removed from the list of accepted
records I'll have to delete it from my Hampshire list. I should add
that John didn't see the bird! A fortunate (?) few have had the opportunity
to see American passerines hopping around on liners and the quayside
in Southampton Docks - species recorded recently include Common Yellowthroat,
White-throated Sparrow and Grey Catbird. I believe these birds had
been or were being fed, and so apparently ineligible for acceptance
in to category A. However, surprisingly the 2007 White-throated Sparrow
was accepted by the BBRC, so technically can be included on a Hampshire
list.
Nowadays,
lumping and splitting is the domain of taxonomists who rely increasingly
on DNA analysis. I have steered clear of this subject but splits of
taxa such as Caspian Gull and Yellow-legged Gull have been accepted
by the BOURC and thus are allowed on your Hampshire List, but Black
Brant, Pale-bellied Brent, Tundra and Taiga Bean Geese aren't, yet!!
And yes, I have seen both Tundra and Taiga Bean Geese in Hampshire!
In
conclusion, what you tick is really your decision. There is no doubt
that some birders are much stricter than others in what they put on
their list. I hope my comments will raise some debate in the columns
of the next edition of Kingfisher!
My
thanks to Alan Cox for comments on the above article.
