5.1 Introduction
Submissions come in to the BBRC at all times of year, with some arriving within days of the sighting whilst others may be well over a year before the finder/observer records the details and forwards them to their County Recorder or direct to the BBRC. Therefore although there is a broad annual cycle that covers receipt of submission, assessment by the BBRC and then publication in the annual report it is not always possible for a sighting in one year to be published in the next Annual Report.
However in broad terms the assessment of records for a year commences late summer of the following year, following completion of the previous year’s report, though a few records of special importance (such as claims of new species for Britain) may be circulated earlier. Autumn records are mostly circulated during November to January. Late submissions and re-circulations are circulated as they arise. Records received after March of the following year are less likely to be dealt with in time for inclusion in the next annual report.
With the latest electronic methods of both submittal and assessment by BBRC a record should be assessed within 3-4 months of its receipt, depending on the work load which varies considerably throughout the year. However records involving contentious matters requiring extensive enquiries, reference to other authorities and so on, may take a year or more to be processed.
5.2 Submission of Records
5.2.1 Introduction.
Observers are encouraged to submit records as soon as possible after the observation preferably electronically via email or the online submission form on the BBRC website (see http://www.bbrc.org.uk/submission.htm).
5.2.2 Submission Forms & procedures
It greatly helps the Committee if records are submitted using a BBRC form (available from www.bbrc.org.uk or via the Secretary). Use of the BBRC form ensures that the Committee knows all the circumstances of the sighting. If digital images are available these will be invaluable to assist the assessment task. Sketches (no matter how poor artistically) are often more precise than words and can also prove very valuable. We also encourage the submission of scanned copies of original field notesif supporting images are not available or their quality is insufficient to prove the identification alone. It greatly assists the Committee if supporting documentation such as digital images, scans of field notes are submitted as separate documents and not embedded in the report form.
A selection of sketches and photographs is published in the annual report.
5.2.3 Liaison with County recorders and BTO
Records are sent to the Secretary, preferably via the appropriate County or regional recorder. The Secretary will provide acknowledgement of receipt by e-mail, including the details of the record that will appear in our annual report. Observers and recorders are asked to notify the Secretary as soon as possible of any errors or amendments that are required to these details.
The appointment of one member of each County or regional records committee to liaise with the Rarities Committee is recommended to improve communications. A full list of the County Recorders who act as primary liaison with the committee appears on the BBRC website.
Records of rarities which are trapped and ringed are submitted to the Committee via the BTO Ringing Office, in accordance with the procedure described in Ringers Bulletin 5(1978): 49-51, although they may also be submitted direct to the BBRC Secretary, who will ensure that the details are forwarded to the BTO.
5.2.4 Confidentiality
If there is good reason for confidentiality over the site and/or observers names, this should be requested when the record is submitted.
5.3 Assessment procedure
5.3.1 Introduction
Records are circulated in two different ways – known as Motorway & full circulation.
Motorway: Records which are relatively straight forward to assess, involving well photographed birds or species which have occurred more than 100 times are considered by a group of five members of the committee. The committee is geographically split roughly into 5 North & 5 South members (see 2.2.2) and these are informally called the North & South Motorway teams. Recording areas are also split North to South (roughly Wales and a line across to include Lincolnshire is South) & North records go to the northern team, and South to southern team. Motorway records are accepted if they receive a unanimous vote in favour. If there is any disagreement in this process, or if any voting member asks, then the record goes to a full circulation.
Full circulation: All other records, and all re-circulations go to all 10 voting members.
5.3.2 Voting method – Internet forum based.
All submission are loaded onto a private internet forum which only BBRC members can assess. Along with the submission a voting page is created which summarises the record and allows members to record their vote, along with any comments or extra information they wish to show other members.
Members can vote Accept or Not Proven. A member may comment on a record, but not vote, if they are awaiting the input of voters with more experience or knowledge of the species, sub-species, geographical area or other factors pertinent to the assessment process. However, they must make a decision as soon as these comments and votes are available. If the early voters did not accept the record, but the later voters do, they should inform all voting members, the Secretary and the Chairman to ensure that earlier voters are encouraged to revisit their decision. The same applies when a member has put in an important piece of information that may influence the voting of earlier voters.
If further information is required before a member can vote (e.g. further information on the record or the species, an observer reference or an expert opinion), they must identify this in the comments or discussion section and notify the Secretary. The Secretary should then determine how this information should be obtained, in consultation with the Chairman if necessary. The record can either be retained in circulation if it is perceived that the information can be obtained relatively quickly, or it can be put on hold if the information will take longer to establish. A lead individual for collecting the information should be agreed, along with an achievable timetable, so that this information can be related back to observers or recorders following any specific enquiries regarding the record.
5.3.3 Voting Accept or Not Proven
All voting members (5 or 10 according to Motorway or Full circulation procedure) must eventually vote in one of two ways: Accept or Not Proven.
At an individual level, an Accept vote implies a very high (though not always total) confidence in the mind of the voter that the record was as claimed. Voters try to apply their individual judgement and level of confidence when making their decision. This is usually a subjective judgement and will be influenced by many factors, including the views and light, the apparent care with which the bird has been observed, the species involved, the experience of the observer and many others. Consistency with previous decisions will also be considered and is very important to ensure the long-term value of the BBRC database. Confidence may not be absolutely total, but needs to be very high for an Accept vote to be given.
At an individual level, a Not Proven vote means that the voter has less than the very high level of confidence required for an accept vote. This means that a voter can feel that the record was probably as claimed, but that it simply does not quite meet the personal level of confidence they apply. It explicitly does not imply that the voter believes the observer to be either incompetent or dishonest in any way, but in many cases just that there is a risk of a genuine error having occurred because not quite enough evidence could be assimilated by the observer(s) in the time available. Experienced and highly competent observers will often submit records on much lower levels of evidence than less experienced observers, but these are sometimes not accepted because the confidence felt by the observer in the field may not be matched by the detached assessment of the voters.
If a member is having workload problems dealing with record assessment they should contact the Chairman to identify if alternative arrangements could be made temporarily (see section on Co-opted members above)
5.4 The Voting Decision
5.4.1 Finalising the votes . A record (Motorway or Full circulation) is Accepted on first circulation if all members vote in its favour. If one or two members have voted Not Proven, the Secretary will ask voting members to re-visit the record and confirm their votes.
A Motorway record requires a unanimous decision. If the vote is split it should go Full circulation. If a Full circulation record has less than 8 accepts it is Not Proven. In all other cases the record goes to a re-circulation, which is always to all 10 voting members. A record can be accepted on a re-circulation if 9 or 10 members vote to accept. All other outcomes are Not Proven.
A Not Proven outcome almost never implies that a record is not as claimed, but just that the evidence presented falls short of being enough to ensure all members are confident that the record was as claimed. As can be seen from the preceding paragraphs a Not Proven outcome can occur, even where a majority of members accept the record, though this is uncommon.
The Secretary may ask the Chairman to look at any record, particularly if the comments made during the first circulation suggest that the voting members were not sure of their decision. If the aspect under consideration does not relate to the acceptance of the record (e.g. a decision on ageing or sexing) then the Chairman (or a delegated assistant) may recommend a decision to the Secretary. If the decision is to accept or not, the Chairman can then decide if further information should be sought and if the voting members should re-visit the record and inform the Secretary as appropriate. The Chairman will ensure that all appropriate documentation is available and may prepare a synopsis of the record. The Chairman can make their opinion on the acceptability of the record known at this stage. Records are sometimes sent, via the Chairman, to acknowledged experts on the species or sub-species concerned for their views. In the event of disagreements on the decision on a particular record amongst the voting members, in normal circumstances, no more than three opportunities for voting members to consider their vote should take place. A decision (which will usually be a Not Proven in these circumstances) should be made. This can be re-evaluated in the light of subsequent important information becoming available. After circulation, all records, member’s comments and relevant correspondence are retained permanently on file whether or not the record is accepted. All comments and the votes of individual members are strictly confidential.
5.4.2 Advising the outcome. All decisions are notified via the Work in Progress file on the BBRC website and in the BBRC Annual Report in British Birds. The reasons for decisions are not normally given but submitters & County Recorders may ask the Secretary for such information. The Secretary may consult with the Chairman regarding these discussions and the Chairman may act as a point of contact if appropriate.
5.5 Reconsideration of earlier records
If there is new evidence or any other legitimate reason, the Committee will reconsider any record on request. Legitimate reasons are shown in Appendix I.
The majority of reconsiderations concern reviews of all records of a species where there has been a significant advance in established identification criteria. Rejection of a previously accepted and published record is regarded as a serious matter and requires at least six reject votes rather than the two votes that are normally required.
5.6 Withdrawal of Accepted records (or of a submitted In Circulation record)
Any observer has the right to withdraw a previously accepted record, at any time, by communicating this wish to the Secretary of BBRC. The observer is under no obligation to explain why, although such explanations would be welcomed. However, the secretary should endeavour to ascertain whether or not there was any question of the record having not been properly assessed at the time.
In the case of a record in which more than one claimant was involved, care must be taken to ensure that the withdrawal is supported by all parties involved. If only the one observer wishes to withdraw, further investigation may be necessary. If the matter cannot be readily resolved, a supplementary should be published to the effect that the withdrawer no longer supports the record and BBRC reserves the right to re-assess the record. If the committee determines that the record remains acceptable, a suitable comment should be published in the annual report.
5.7 Records of Species new to Britain
Records of species or sub-species new to Britain are assessed in the usual way (following the criteria set out in Appendix II), but are then sent to the Records Committee of the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOURC), where they are subsequently retained on file. The BOURC considers formal admission of the species to the British List (or upgrading from one category to another). Publication of such records is subject to acceptance by both committees. If the BOURC accepts the identification, it then decides whether the species should be added to the British List and, if so, in which category. Species occurring in an apparently wild state are admitted to category A, even those which have been ship-assisted as long as there is no evidence that they have been otherwise assisted by man [e.g. fed or been temporarily captive]. Where there is reasonable doubt that the species has ever occurred in a wild state or where the record relates to a tide-line corpse, the species is admitted to category D. If captive origin is highly probable, the species is placed in Category E. The BOURC also considers the transfer of species from category D to A or E (or vice versa) as and when fresh evidence warrants such a review. All records of Category D species are forwarded to BOURC for their files as requested, following assessment of identification by BBRC. BOURC subsequently retain these records on file. Full details of species categories and other items relating to the BOURC can be found via the BOURC website http://www.bou.org.uk/index.htm.
5.8 Rarities of possibly captive origin
The Committee publishes all accepted records of rare species in categories A and D and some records of birds of special relevance or interest in category E or where the identification was proven but the origin is considered suspect. The possibility of captive origin may be assessed by a vote: if six or more members consider that a particular rare bird has probably or certainly escaped from captivity, it is not included in the main list or the species totals, but is nevertheless always mentioned in the appendices of the report and, if appropriate in the species comments for future reference.
