Birds missing from official county lists
 

For UK members at least, do you know of birds that ought to be on your county lists (NOT personal lists) but have never been seen or accepted onto the county list? I will start the ball rolling for Gloucestershire where I have my house. Believe it or not, Gloucestershire have never had an Ortolan Bunting, Melodious Warbler or Pallas's Warbler. There are more rarer birds not logged of course. Now this year, the first and last have been in plentiful supply in the UK but not here.

Here in Fife the shock omission is Ring-billed Gull. They just don't seem to happen round here.

How about Scarlet Rosefinch and Ortolan Bunting for Cheshire!

Of course I have had 3 fly-overs of the latter, but not enough for a first for the county!

Hi Colin,

Interesting thread!

The main Northumberland omissions:

Pallid Harrier
Black-winged Pratincole
Killdeer
Greater Sandplover
Least Sandpiper
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher (as the 1999 NE Scotland - Teeesside bird must have passed through!)
Greater Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Franklin's Gull
Forster's Tern
Scops Owl
Blyth's Pipit
Pechora Pipit
Alpine Dunnock
Black-eared Wheatear
Rock Thrush
Eyebrowed Thrush
Cetti's Warbler
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
Melodious Warbler
Dartford Warbler
Sardinian Warbler
Desert Warbler
Collared Flycatcher
Wallcreeper
Southern (Steppe) Grey Shrike

But perhaps the most surprising is that a fly-by Caspian Tern at Newbiggin just over a month ago was the first for 123 years, and there hasn't been a Gyr Falcon since 1845 or a Great Spotted Cuckoo since 1870.

Michael

One of the most notable omission for Cumbria is Cetti's Warbler, given they have been as close as the Lancashire border at Leighton Moss. Great White Egret was also a notable omission until this year. If you include subspecies there is actually no accepted record of Scandinavian Rock Pipit at present, and a Black Brant or a Siberian Stonechat are perhaps due in the Walney area. I don't think there has been an accepted Caspian Gull yet.

In Lancashire terms White-billed Diver and Hume's Warbler off the top of my head; the wader list is quite long for north west England but Semi-palmated Sand is due. Come to that I don't think any of the claimed Semi-p's in Cumbria were ever clinched, and the White-billed Diver doesn't count because it was technically 'at sea'.

A couple of years ago I predicted GW Egret and Dartford Warbler as the next firsts for Lancs, an Ivory Gull and a Black-headed Bunting got in the way but they have both now turned up.

Stephen.

Where does one find these County lists.? Yes ,Stephen,I think there are lots of birds which pass through this Western coast are not acknowledged.
Christine.

A little ambitious there Michael!!!

Can hardly call birds like Short-billed Dowitcher, Collared Flycatcher & Wallcreeper glaring omissions from your counties list can you!

Whatever next....you`ll be complaining Fea`s Petrel is becoming tricky to catch up with for your county year list!!!

Hi Jason,

Well that S-b Dowitcher really should've been picked up between 25-28 September '99 . . . and there's been Collared Flies in most of the other east coast counties. Yeah, Wallcreeper's a bit ambitious, I'll agree!

Guess the commonest UK birds not on the NL list are actually Ptarmigan and Capercaillie, but they're hardly likely to turn up, either. Oh, and those Parakeets.

Michael

The Melodious Warbler in Whitburn earlier this year must have been galling ..only about 2 miles across the county border

Christine,

Interesting point you make. In terms of Cumbria I don't think the list in full has been published in bird reports or similar since Malcolm Hutcheson's book in the 1980s. Probably due a re-issue to allow for splits as well as new birds.

The Lancs list was included in the 1997 report, I think the intention is to republish every few years.

Stephen.

I spent some time along with the county bird report editor last year revising the list for Cornwall. It can be found online at www.cbwps.org.uk (hows that for a plug) Many unconfirmed or spurious records were deleted eg Great Snipe.
The biggest gaps on the list are Caspian Gull, Marsh Sandpiper and Thrush Nightingale, but birds we really should have have such as Bobolink and Rose-breasted Grosbeak are missing too.
I love county birding, and think that one of the greatest thrills is finding a new bird for the county list. So far I've managed to find two, but I'm constantly on the lookout for a third and a fouth .....

Darrell

Just working out how many first's for Cheshire I can claim. I think its 5:- Great-Spotted Cuckoo, Dartford Warbler, Greenish Warbler, Red-rumped Swallow, Barred Warbler -still the only one!

Need to check Bee-eater, can't believe it was the first!

Leicestershire and Rutland are always counted together as vice-county 55 and being an inland county we are short of dozens of not-too-difficult species - too many to list! A full county list is available as an 'Excel' file from www.lros.org.uk

Only a mere trickle of all the good warblers such as Yellow-browed ever get to us so just about any of those East-coast specials would be a new county bird.

I suppose that Marsh Sandpiper is one glaring omission given the numbers of waders that get recorded at Rutland Water.

Being towards the east of the county and not that far from the coast (The Wash), Rutland Water is by far the most likely place to turn up a new county species, anyway.

Where I live in the south-west of the county is just about as far as you can get from the coast in any direction so I would be extremely lucky to find a new one on any of my local patches - but I do keep trying!

Adey

Hi Denis,
It was, it was . . . . kept hoping it would decide to fly those extra two miles . . . !
Guess you were happy with it as a Durham first (and in fact, North-east first)!?

Hi Stephen,
Malcolm has now 'defected' to our side of the border . . . doing a great job in a previously very under-watched part of NL (around Berwick) ;)

Michael

Had a scarlet rosefinch at point of air once Jane,i could see cheshire from there!!

I know...its silly isn't it

Hi all,
Despite Cork's well-deserved reputation for attracting rarities,we have yet to have an official record of any of the following species:
Lesser Scaup:not too many decent bodies of standing water in the county,but I ticked the first one for Waterford in a small reservoir back in '99.Must be on the cards,probably at the Gearagh(site of Ireland's only Bufflehead in 1998).
Water Pipit:a bird was seen very briefly at Ballycotton 10 years ago,but was never submitted to the IRBC.There may be up to SIX at Tacumshin at the moment,surely this is the winter to find one here?
Forster's Tern:Astonishingly,there are records from almost every other coastal county in Ireland,even ones that are much more underwatched than Cork,but none here yet!
Great Spotted Cuckoo:OK,this species is very rare in Ireland as a whole,but it has occurred in Dublin(a tideline corpse),Down and Galway(?):a bird with such a southern distribution really ought to have occurred here!
Shore Lark:very rare here,and most records have been along the eastern seaboard,but there is an accepted record of a small group in Kerry in 1977(and was also a report of one there seen by a reliable observer in recent years):perhaps 'Horned Larks'?
Semi-palmated Plover:controversy surrounds the bird seen in 1993 at Ballycotton and subsequently rejected;there was a tundrae type there as well,and many birders thought that this was the Semi-P....
Marsh Sandpiper:A different sort of controversy here:a bird was found near Cobh in 1999 and suppressed at the bequest of the owner of a nearby oyster farm.The record has not,to my knowledge,been submitted yet?
Crag Martin:Not actually on the Irish list,but a bird was seen well by a reliable observer at Ballycotton in mid-summer 1994 and not submitted.
Actually,the county isn't missing out on too many species:I think that Booted Warbler is the only Old World warbler not on the county list and a)that was only added to the Irish list this year and b)there was a convincing report from Firkeel by an experienced birder back around 1990 which I think has yet to be submitted....
We've also managed such unlikely(for Cork)species as Snowy Owl,King Eider,Rough-legged Buzzard,Great Grey Shrike,Ivory Gull(a few records,ticked sp.in Cork) etc.
Harry H

One that I know frustrates birders in Northamptonshire is Spotted Sandpiper. There have been several in the Midlands and other landlocked counties but never any in Northants (although there was a claim of one last autumn - not sure what happened with that). Derbyshire has had two in the last two years and Draycote Water in Warwickshire (within 5 miles of Northants) has had three.

Hi Harry,

What, all 290 of them?? ;)

When was the Japanese Bush Warbler? and the Hainan Leaf Warbler?

:king:

Sardininan warbler is an obvious gap in Cheshire too

Hi Michael,
Of course,I was referring to the Old World warblers that are on the Irish list!Probably another one,but can't think of any at the moment!Indeed,there are a few species of Old World warbler recorded in Cork and nowhere else in Ireland: Cetti's Warbler(singles on Cape Clear 1968 and 1975),Fan-tailed Warbler(singles on Cape Clear 1965 and 1985),Blyth's Reed Warbler(Cape 1968,but how long can this stay on?),Great Reed Warbler(3 records,one would have expected a singing male in south Wexford by now),Sardinian Warbler(two different males in April 1993).We've also had 8 of the 10 Dartford Warblers here.
Harry H

Coming from Nottinghamshire...you name it we`ve not had it!
Rare Passerines very thin on the ground and while we`re OK for American Wildfowl we`re not exactly innundated with Waders either.
Thats why County listing just won`t appeal till the opportunity to move to the coast arises....
Shouldn`t complain too much Whiskered Tern and Blyths Pipit this year which is good for an inland county!

Errrr . . . I name it, you've not had it?

Hmmmm . . . Song Thrush?

:king:

Another surprising omission from the Fife list is Red-necked Phalarope. Surprised Fifebirder hasn't found one this year to make it 3 biggies after Great Shear & Desert Wheatear.
Tom

Hi Tom,

I guess it might be a bit late now for Red-necked Phal so it looks as if I'll finally have to nail that Ring-billed Gull after all!