British Birds list

The British Birds list of Western Palearctic birds sets out the names and taxonomic sequence used in all material published in and by British Birds.

In terms of taxonomy and scientific nomenclature, the BB list follows the International Ornithological Union’s IOC World Bird List (v. 13.2).  In most cases, English names are the same as the international English names used in the IOC World Bird List, but in some cases more familiar European names are retained (for example, divers and skuas rather than loons and jaegers).

Separate columns in the British Birds list denote differences in common names from the IOC World Bird List and also from the vernacular names used by the British Ornithologists’ Union in the official British List.

(v24.2, updated September 2024)

This list is intended as an editorial tool and is not an official list of all species recorded and/or accepted in the Western Palearctic.

In some cases, species for which records in the treated region are disputed may be included for pragmatism. For the status of records of rare birds in the region, we refer readers to the individual national rarities committees and their published reports from across the region.