Chas Holt, Paul French and the Rarities Committee

Chair’s introduction

This is the 62nd annual report of the British Birds Rarities Committee. A look at the ‘top ten’ list of the rarest taxa (below) shows just how much birding has changed in the last 20 years. Of the 20 species and subspecies listed, perhaps less than half would have featured in the thoughts of the average rarity finder a couple of decades ago, and this emphasises just how much our collective knowledge and expertise has developed recently. Some will bemoan the fact that many of these birds are currently distinguishable only in the hand, with DNA evidence, sound recordings or excellent photographs; but the reality is that ornithology and birding are continually developing. New horizons have opened up and, by using all the tools at our disposal, we can gain a much better understanding of the occurrence patterns of rare birds in Britain. It is surely the case that standards of acceptance will be modified in the future for those taxa where field identification is proved to be reliable, and I encourage everyone to submit full descriptions of any suspected rare subspecies, a full list of which can be found on our website: www.bbrc.org.uk.