Recent reports

01 April 1997
Comments News and comment Compiled by Barry Nightingale and Anthony McGeehan This summary covers the period 10th February to 16th March 1997. These are unchecked reports, not authenticated records. White-billed Diver Gavia adamsii Flying over Portland Bill (Dorset), the...
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Recent BBRC Decisions

01 April 1997
Comments Editorials This monthly listing of the most-recent decisions by the British Birds Rarities Committee is not intended to be comprehensive or in any way to replace the annual 'Report on rare birds in Great Britain'. The records listed are mostly those of the rarest...
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Monthly Marathon

01 April 1997
Comments Other December's scaly-plumaged bird was obviously a swift Apus, and most entrants (80%) identified it as a Common Swift A. apus; other suggestions were Pallid Swift A. pallidus (16%), Pacific Swift A. pacificus (3%) and White-rumped Swift A. caffer (1%). It...
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Looking Back

01 April 1997
Comments Other One hundred and fifty years ago: 'Occurrence of the Scops Eared Owl at the Scilly Islands.--I received yesterday [12th April 1847] from Mr. James, the steward of the lord-proprietor of the Scilly Islands, a very good specimen of the scops owl. It was r...
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Letters

01 April 1997
Comments Letters A great deal has been written concerning the fate of the Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis in Britain and Ireland (e.g. Brit. Birds 86: 338; 87: 394-395, 494; 88: 243-244). While I have no wish to add any weight to the emotive rhetoric which has sometimes ...
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Notes

01 April 1997
Comments Notes On 8th April 1992, while visiting Fes, Morocco, we observed many Alpine Swifts Apus melba feeding very low over the city, some foraging only 3 m above the ground and between the buildings. Many were evidently in poor condition; three were picked up fro...
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The Carl Zeiss Award

01 April 1997
Comments Editorials All prints or transparencies of 1996 rarities sent to the Rarities Committee for circulation during record assessments will be eligible for consideration for The Carl Zeiss Award. The year's winner will be able to choose a pair of Zeiss binoculars (10x...
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Letter

01 May 1953
Comments Letters SIRS,--One of our most important bird-reserves, Havergate Island, Suffolk, was severely damaged by the exceptional tide which swept down the East Anglian coast on February 1st. This island is not only unique in t h a t it contains the only British breedin...
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