Brambling breeding records in UK (1 Viewer)

[JTweedie]

According to the RSPB website http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/brambling/index.aspx there are 0-2 breeding pairs of Brambling in the UK. Looking at the BTO site http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob16380.htm it shows the first record of breeding to be in Sutherland in 1920, but further down says it does not breed or there are too few nesting records.

So what's the story here? Does it occasionally nest in the UK, and would these be limited to the far north?

Are there any other birds that are normally winter visitors that have small numbers of breeding locations in the UK? I'm heading to Shetland in the summer where I believe some Whooper Swans stay all year, any other birds of note?

 

[Jacana]

I remember hearing about a breeding record for Devon of all places in the 1800's don't know if it was confirmed or not though...

 

[david kelly]

See

http://www.rbbp.org.uk/rbbp-reports.htm

Goes up to 2008.

David

 

[John Cantelo]

The Breeding Birds Atlas 1988-1991 notes that "with the exception f the record of a pair feeding fledged young in 1991 in SE Highland, most other records (i.e. during 1988-1991) scattered mainly through E Briain, are of males recorded in singing in summer" It goes on to note that the first accepted breeding record (although breeding had previously been suspected earlier) was in Sutherland in 1920. It continues that breeding wasn't confirmed again until 1979 (in Scotland). However, it continues that over the following ten years a further seven pairs were confirmed as breeding, with as many as 35 possible breeding records - widely scattered in Scotland & Eastern England. However, since the zone of overlap between Brambling & Chaffinch has been moving north in Scandinavia, this seems likely to reflect infrequent isolated opportunistic breeding rather than full blown colonisation,

 

[Farnboro John]

Scotland is a big empty place and runours abound as to what is out there. I will skip lightly over the known occasional breeders, but over the years I have been regaled with tales of Great Grey Shrikes, Gyrfalcons, Pygmy Owls, Cranes, and long ago one chap told me in tones of high drama that the previous year was the first for seven years that Rough-legged Buzzard hadn't bred.

Facts however seem hard to come by. Its probably the cloak of protective silence that engulfs all breeding season records of rarities.

John

 

[JTweedie]

Scotland is a big empty place and runours abound as to what is out there. I will skip lightly over the known occasional breeders, but over the years I have been regaled with tales of Great Grey Shrikes, Gyrfalcons, Pygmy Owls, Cranes, and long ago one chap told me in tones of high drama that the previous year was the first for seven years that Rough-legged Buzzard hadn't bred.

Facts however seem hard to come by. Its probably the cloak of protective silence that engulfs all breeding season records of rarities.

John

Yes, I was concerned that I may have opened a can of worms with this - just to be clear I'm not interested in knowing where any of these birds have bred because I know revealing this kind of info can lead to disastrous consequences for rarer birds (although I think it's fair to say something like east coast of Scotland or something similarly vague should be fine), just the knowledge about what has bred would suffice.

 

[matt2499]

Wasn't there once a rumour of Red-footed Falcon breeding in the New Forest?