Although not published for a number of years, the ‘sister’ report to BBRC’s “Rare Birds in Great Britain” report is the “Scarce Migrant Report”. This will now be published in British Birds as a major set of articles, over the next 6 months covering Scarce Migrants from 2004 to 2010 inclusive. It will be published yearly thereafter. The first two articles cover 2004 to 2007, with non-passerines in the July issue of British Birds, and passerines in August.  A further two articles covering 2008 to 2010 will be in December (non-passerines) and January 2014 (passerines).

I have been lucky enough to see advance copies of the first two articles and they are a great read. Seventeen species were dropped by BBRC in 2006, and they now are covered here. So you can see the status of all those ex-BBRC species like Red-rumped Swallow, Black Kite and Rustic Bunting but also old favourites such as Melodious & Icterine Warbler, Hoopoe & Wryneck.

To make sure you receive a copy of these, visit British Birds web-site at www.britishbirds.co.uk