Scottish List - species and subspecies by DL Clugston, RW Forrester, RY McGowan and B Zonfrillo on behalf of the Scottish Birds Records Committee

From Scottish Birds volume 22 part 1 (June 2001)

The Scottish Birds Records Committee (SBRC) is responsible for maintaining the Scottish List, first published in Scottish Birds in 1994. Until now, the list has been based on the species level of classification. This is the first attempt by SBRC to tabulate all subspecies recorded in Scotland and also introduces status symbols. It is envisaged that this expanded list will form a baseline for future studies, will be of use as a conservation tool and could be used in courts of law.

The species sequence is based on the original Scottish List of species as it appeared when published in 1994, but incorporates amendments contained in subsequent reports, Scottish Birds 18:129-131, 19:259-261 and 21:1-5 plus a few additional changes published in a separate paper within this issue of Scottish Birds.

In recent years there has been an increasing divergence of opinion on taxonomical matters. We established several principles for the original version of the Scottish List, which we still follow. The British Ornithologists' Union's Records Committee (BOURC) has maintained the official British List since 1883. We decided at the outset to follow their taxonomy, sequence and scientific names for the Scottish List. This approach has now been extended to subspecies and as a result, if for instance BOURC consider a species to be monotypic but some other authorities show 2 or more races, we have followed BOURC. We also use identical categories to BOURC and in no instance is a species placed in a higher category on the Scottish List than it appears on the British List. This principle now also applies to subspecies and therefore we do not include a subspecies on the Scottish List unless BOURC have accepted it for Britain.

One of the advantages in basing the Scottish List on that used by BOURC is that it is compiled in a consistent manner. A consequence of this approach is that conservation agencies can use the list, in the knowledge that a rigorous process is undertaken during its compilation. This may be especially important in advising on legal issues where the status of an individual bird may be discussed in court.

In 1998, BOURC introduced a revised categorisation (British Birds 91:2-11). The changes included a new category (Category E) for escapes and a redefining of the existing categories (A-D). We adopted the new categories in our 2000 Report (Scottish Birds 21: 1-5), although a list of Category E species is not yet available. We have recently formed a sub-committee, with the intention of publishing a list of Scottish Category E species to supplement the existing Categories A-D. A provisional list will appear on the website once it is available.

When the Scottish List was first published BOURC had recently altered the English names of a large number of species on the British List. Many of these new names were at that time considered controversial and it was decided that the Scottish List should adopt a more traditional approach. In the intervening period there has been considerable debate and, whilst a few of the names remain disliked by many, most of the English names adopted by BOURC now appear to be accepted by the majority of birders, many of whom are widely travelled, preferring unambiguous and unique English names. We have always followed BOURC in all other respects and adopting their English names is therefore appropriate. Members of SBRC unanimously agreed to use the English names as they appear in the British List for this and all future versions of the Scottish List.

Scotland has 9 endemic subspecies in addition to one endemic species, the Scottish Crossbill. When working on this list we were surprised to note that many of Scotland's endemic races have been almost completely ignored during the last 50 years. It is our intention in the near future to outline known information on status, distribution and identification for our endemic races in an attempt to encourage more study.

The work involved in preparing this list has been undertaken by a sub-committee comprising Dave Clugston (Chairman, SBRC), Bob McGowan (SBRC's Museum Consultant), Bernie Zonfrillo (coopted; Chairman, SBRC 1984-1994) and Ron Forrester (Secretary, SBRC).

The SOC website includes the Scottish List and lists of recent decisions. The website is for information purposes only and is not an official document, or part of the permanent record. Any announcements of changes to the Scottish List do not come into effect until published in Scottish Birds or the Scottish Bird Report, under the authorship of the Scottish Birds Records Committee.

Whilst we now have a robust species list, subspecies and status symbols are appearing in print for the first time and we anticipate that there will inevitably be errors. An appendix at the end of the systematic list shows species and subspecies under consideration for inclusion on the list. We would be grateful for comments, particularly in respect of errors or omissions.

Categories

  1. Species which have been recorded in an apparently natural state at least once since 1 January 1950.
  2. Species which were recorded in an apparently natural state at least once up to 31 December 1949, but have not been recorded subsequently.
  3. Species that although originally introduced by man, either deliberately or accidentally, have established breeding populations derived from introduced stock, that maintain themselves without necessary recourse to further introduction. Category C has been further subdivided by BOURC to differentiate between various groups of naturalised species (C1 naturalised introduction, C2 naturalised establishments, C3 naturalised re stablishments, C4 naturalised feral species, C4 vagrant naturalised species.), although we await the allocation of these additional codes.
  4. Species that would otherwise appear in Category A or B except that there is reasonable doubt that they ever occurred in a natural state. Category D species do not form any part of the species totals and are not regarded as members of the Scottish List.
  5. Species that have been recorded as introductions, transportees or escapees from captivity and whose breeding populations, if any, are thought not to be self sustaining. Category E species form no part of the Scottish List. A list of Category E species has not yet been produced for Scotland.

Abbreviated codes are provided for status of each race on the list. We have followed the standard set of codes used by BOURC in The Status of Birds in Britain and Ireland 1971, which they also used in Checklist of Birds of Britain and Ireland, 6th edition, published in 1992.

Where species are monotypic ie BOURC do not recognise any subspecies, nothing is shown in the subspecies column. If a subspecies has an established English name this is shown in brackets. Species appearing in Category D, all of which have occurred in Scotland on less than an annual basis, are tabulated separately, following the main list, without any further details on subspecies or status.

Subspecies appearing in bold are endemic to Scotland.