SBRC announcements

Amendments to the Scottish List (9 Dec 2000)

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English Names, subspecies and SBRC List (Dec 2000)

There has been considerable debate in recent years concerning the use of English names for our birds. On the one hand there have been the traditionalists who wished to retain historic names and on the other those who prefer to see a standardisation throughout the world. The Records Committee of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOURC) are responsible for maintaining the British List and in 1992 they made substantial changes to the English names appearing on the list. This was done in the belief that the desirability for unambiguous English names was widely recognised, particularly given the ease of foreign travel and the great increase in books and television programmes about birds throughout the world. Following the changes made by BOURC, much discussion took place, but most of the new English names appear now to be widely accepted. Whilst it is normal practice for birdwatchers to 'colloquially' use old names in conversation (eg Eider, Scaup) most serious ornithological publications and journals are now using either BOURC names (eg Common Eider, Greater Scaup) or something similar.

• The argument that scientific names are unique is valid, but most birdwatchers know only a fraction of the ten thousand scientific names used for the world's birds.
• The Scottish List follows the British List in all other respects including use of scientific names, species taxonomy, sequence and classification.
• Many of the names now considered to be traditional would have been radical only fifty years ago when such names as Eversmann's Warbler and Pomatorhine Skua were in common usage. It is therefore not a serious option to never make changes.

The new names are to be adopted from 1 January 2001. They now appear on the Scottish List section of website and will be used in all future versions of the Scottish List.

Subspecies

We are now well advanced with the production of a list of subspecies recorded in Scotland and this is expected to appear in Scottish Birds during 2001. A provisional list will appear on the Club's web site by the end of December and we would welcome any comments in connection with the accuracy of this list (either errors or omissions), which should if possible be sent to me by the end of February.

SBRC List

The British Birds Rarities Committee is responsible for the acceptance of records of species that are rare in Britain. There are a number of additional species which are rare in Scotland, and SBRC are responsible for deciding those that require to be authenticated by the submission of written descriptions. The SBRC list of species is reviewed from time to time and has recently been revised, with the amended version expected to remain in place for the next three years.

Changes to the SBRC List for 2001-2003

KEY

• UPPER CASE (BLOCK CAPITALS): SBRC would prefer to receive all records.
• Lower case: These should normally be dealt with locally if a local records committee exists, but should be submitted to SBRC if there is no local committee.

• Eurasian Spoonbill ---> removed
• Surf Scoter ---> Surf Scoter (females only)
• Mediterranean Gull ---> removed
• Common Nightingale ---> COMMON NIGHTINGALE
• Marsh Warbler ---> MARSH WARBLER
• BEARDED TIT ---> removed
• Ortolan Bunting* ---> ORTOLAN BUNTING*

The full, revised 2001-2003 list and the previous 1999-2000 list are both available online.

The Scottish Bird Report will only include records of the above species if they have been accepted by either SBRC or a local records committee. Assessment of a record can only take place by a committee if a full written description is provided by the observer. This should be submitted by the observer to the Local Recorder.

*A dispensation has been granted to the Local Recorders in Shetland & Orkney that records of species marked with this symbol can be accepted at their discretion without full written descriptions. A similar dispensation has been granted to the Argyll Local Recorder in respect of Balearic Shearwater.

In addition to the above, all records of sub-species recorded in Scotland on twenty or fewer occasions, should be examined by either BBRC or SBRC. All 'new' pre-1950 records of species appearing on the BBRC List require to be accepted by SBRC.

Election of new member (November 2000)

Roger Riddington was elected, unopposed. We welcome him to SBRC.

Election of new member (July 2000)

Since 1990 one member of SBRC has retired annually by rotation. Kevin Osborn is due to stand down at the end of this year and to fill the vacancy the Committee is nominating Dr Roger Riddington. Roger was Warden on Fair Isle 1994-1997 and now lives on Mainland, Shetland. He is primarily interested in migration during spring and autumn and seabirds during summer. He has much experience of Scottish rare birds, having seen all of the species on the SBRC List and we believe his knowledge would be an asset to our committee.

We are disappointed that we have never received any nominations from outwith our committee and therefore we are required to put forward candidates ourselves. We would welcome further nominations to fill the vacancy, which should be submitted to me by 31st August, being signed by both a proposer and seconder who must both be SOC members. If there should be more than one nomination, a postal ballot will take place, in which all SOC Local Records will be eligible to vote.

Ron Forrester, Secretary, SBRC, The Gables, Eastlands Road, Rothesay, Isle of Bute PA20 9JZ

July 2000