Recording of Rare Non-native breeding birds
Since 1996, RBBP has covered the rarer non-native species breeding in the UK, and has published separate reports, in British Birds, detailing the status and population estimates for these species. This report is especially invaluable to the countryside agencies which monitor these species for the Government. The BOU held a conference, devoted to the impact of non-native speices, in autumn 2008. Proceedings of this conference are available here: bouproc.blogspot.com/2010/06/impacts-of-non-native-species_16.html"
All county and regional recorders are asked to ensure that they include information about these species in their annual submissions, and guidelines for the main species are given below. The last report covered 2006-2008 and was published in March 2011 in British Birds; the previous report covering 2003-2005 can be viewed on the Panel’s website at www.rbbp.org.uk/downloads/rbbp-nn-report-2003-04-05.pdf
Please note that records of confirmed breeding for ANY other non-native bird species found in the UK should also be submitted. A large number of non-native species has been recorded in the wild in the UK and the RBBP lists can only include species which have bred in the past which we know about. The species names listed on this website should therefore be used for guidance only.
Guidelines for recording rare non-native species
(1) Wildfowl, gamebirds except for pheasants, raptors, Night Heron and parakeets.
Record only breeding pairs, or potential breeding pairs (including mixed pairs), such as Black Swans maintaining a territory on a lake, but perhaps not nesting in the year concerned. For these species, we aim to record breeding evidence at the county level, with sites archived when there are less than ten in the county, or county totals maintained for more numerous species in the county (e.g. Egyptian Goose in Norfolk). There is no need to report single summering individuals to the Panel, as the expectation is that these would normally be documented in local bird reports in case future research required further details.
Examples Black Swan, (feral) Whooper Swan, White-fronted Goose, Bar-headed Goose, Snow Goose, Emperor Goose, Barnacle Goose, Red-breasted Goose, Egyptian Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Muscovy Duck, Wood Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Ruddy Duck (from 2009 season), Helmeted Guineafowl, Night Heron, Harris Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Alexandrine Parakeet, Monk Parakeet, Rosy-faced Lovebird and Blue-crowned Parakeet.
(2) Pheasants, Eagle Owl and passerines.
Record a summary of all occurrences and sites (these species are more elusive and we aim to maintain an inventory of sites and numbers).
Examples Silver Pheasant, Reeves’s Pheasant, Green Pheasant, Golden Pheasant, Lady Amherst’s Pheasant, Eagle Owl and Red-winged Laughing Thrush.