The number of records that the BBRC assesses has grown rapidly, while at the same time some observers are becoming less willing to submit descriptions for species that they feel are `less' rare. Following a consultation with County Recorders and records committees, and in order to control this increasing workload, BBRC has decided to remove a number of Britain's best-loved rarities from its list as from 1st January 2006. For all the species involved there have been more than 200 records in total and 100 or more in the last ten years, and, in most cases, the identification is relatively straightforward and well known. The species that we will no longer consider are as follows, listed in decreasing order of the number of British records between 1958, when BBRC was formed, and the end of 2004: Arctic Redpoll Carduelis hornemanni, White-winged Black Tern Chlidonias leucopterus, Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus, Subalpine Warbler Sylvia cantillans, Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica, Alpine Swift Apus melba, Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica, Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus, Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides, Wilson's Storm-petrel Oceanites oceanicus, White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis, Black Kite Milvus migrans, Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca, Dusky Warbler Ph. fuscatus, Great White Egret Ardea alba, Radde's Warbler Ph. schwarzi and American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica. We will, however, continue to consider rare races of the above species, such as the eastern race albistriata of Subalpine Warbler and `Two-barred' Greenish Warbler Ph. t. plumbeitarsus

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Issue 1
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