As described by John last week, records of bird sightings from Upton Warren are the life blood of the reserve. Not only do they raise the profile (and therefore income) of the reserve but they provide a valuable statistical background that enables us to identify and then monitor trends in population / breeding activity / feeding patterns / migration behaviour and then manage the habitat accordingly. They also provide a wealth of hard, indisputable facts when engaging with the Trust regarding future management proposals and also in the Trust’s engagement with other bodies / funding agencies.
As part of your sightings for Upton Warren you may be lucky enough to discover a rare bird for the reserve. The log books in the hides have a number of contact numbers of key individuals who can start the local grapevine moving, including posting information on this forum.
Once a rare bird has been shared with regulars and visitors alike, there is the small matter of submitting a description and/or supporting information to the revelant body to ensure that the sighting is verified and accepted to form part of the reserve's (and county's / country's) ornithological history. The very rarest birds on a national basis are considered by the British Birds Rarities Committee, a panel comprising of a number of County Recorders. There are six species currently considered by the BBRC which have occurred at Upton Warren:
Blue-winged Teal, Black-winged Stilt, Least Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, Laughing Gull, Caspian Tern
A link to the BBRC's submission page is attached here:
http://www.bbrc.org.uk/submit-a-sighting. The occurrence of any of the species considered by the BBRC at Upton Warren would be a major event and I am sure any of the regulars such as myself, John, Mike, Dave, Des etc would be happy to assist an observer in pulling together a submission if required.
The next tranche of species require a description to be submitted to the County Recorder (details below) as they are considered rare birds for Worcestershire. This is not the full list of submission species for Worcestershire but I have selected those most likely to be recorded at Upton Warren; those in bold have yet to have an accepted record from the reserve:
Whooper Swan,
Bean Goose, White-fronted Goose, Brent Goose,
American Wigeon,
Green-winged Teal,
Eider,
Ring-necked Duck, Ferruginous Duck, Long-tailed Duck, Velvet Scoter,
Surf Scoter, Smew, Red-breasted Merganser, Quail, Great Northern Diver,
Red-throated Diver,
Black-throated Diver,
Fulmar,
Manx Shearwater,
Storm Petrel, Leach’s Petrel, Gannet, Shag, Bittern,
Night Heron,
Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Spoonbill, Purple Heron, White Stork,
Red-necked Grebe, Slavonian Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Honey Buzzard,
Black Kite, Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Montagu’s Harrier, Goshawk,
Rough-legged Buzzard, Osprey,
Red-footed Falcon, Spotted Crake, Corncrake,
Crane, Avocet,
Stone Curlew,
Kentish Plover,
Dotterel, Temminck’s Stint,
White-rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper,
Purple Sandpiper,
Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Grey Phalarope,
Pomarine Skua, Great Skua, Arctic Skua, Long-tailed Skua,
Ring-billed Gull, Sabine's Gull,
Caspian Gull, Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, Little Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Sandwich Tern, Roseate Tern, Ring-necked Parakeet, Long-eared Owl,
Nightjar, Alpine Swift, Bee-eater, Hoopoe,
Wryneck, Golden Oriole, Red-backed Shrike, Great Grey Shrike, Firecrest, Willow Tit, Bearded Tit,
Woodlark, Shorelark, Red-rumped Swallow, Yellow-browed Warbler, Savi’s Warbler,
Aquatic Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Waxwing,
Rose-coloured Starling, Bluethroat, Black Redstart, Richard’s Pipit, Water Pipit,
Serin, Twite, Mealy Redpoll,
Arctic Redpoll,
Common Rosefinch,
Cirl Bunting, Snow Bunting,
Lapland Bunting,
Rustic Bunting,
Little Bunting
Attached below are the contact details of the County Recorder:
<
[email protected]>
6 Norbury Close, Redditch, Worcs B98 8RP
01527 60169
The County Recorder is assisted by a Rarities Panel of experienced local birders in assesing records that are submitted; at present I dont link any members of this panel who are regular visitors to Upton Warren but I stand to be corrected. A link to a guide produced by the West Midland Bird Club to assist in the writing and submission of descriptions is attached below; again I am sure thar regulars would assist those less familar in writing such descriptions:
http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/records/guidelines
Please note that any submission species reported at Upton Warren but then not subsequently submitted to and accepted by the County Recorder will not form part of Upton's orniothological history. The annual report now includes an appendix which details the "fate" of those submission species reported from the previous year or two (depending on the time-lag in processing submissions).
Finally, there are a number of birds that, whilst not considered rare in Worcestershire as a whole, are rare in a local context at Upton Warren. In has therefore been decided to form a low-key Upton Warren Rarities Committee to consider these sightings. It will comprise of myself as the annual report writer, Mike Wakeman and Des Jennings as the report's editors, and Dave Walker and John Belsey as experienced birders. The aim is to provide a "light touch" review of this type of bird. UWRC will consider the following species; the basis being 10 records or less in the last 15 years:
Bewick's Swan, Pink-footed Goose, Egyptian Goose, Red-crested Pochard, Scaup, Red-legged Partridge, Grey Partridge, Grey Plover, Knot, Turtle Dove, Short-eared Owl, Dipper, Ring Ouzel, Nightingale, Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Marsh Tit, Hawfinch, Corn Bunting
As with county recording this list will change in time as the frequency of the stated species varies. Please dont feel offended if you are requested to produce a couple of lines of supporting information should you be lucky enough to spot of the the above (ideally in the log books at the time of the sighting if possible, together with a name and contact details). As with the previous two categories, the availability of photographs greatly assists in the processing and verification of such reports.
Happy birding (and rarity finding!) :t:
John
