Records of rarities
If you see a bird that is considered to be a rarity (please refer to the copy of the BOU 2017 checklist of species that shows if each species is a national or Welsh rarity) complete the rare birds form as completely as you can. Please describe the bird as you saw it, giving details of the colours of the different parts of the body. If you take any digital photos, please label them with date, species, place and your name.
There are two levels of rarity in North Wales - national rarities on the list of the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) or Welsh rarities on theblist of the Welsh Records Panel (WRP).
If you have seen a bird that is on the national rarity list, please submit the record to the BBRC using their form:
For information about the BBRC, please see their website:
A decision was taken by the CBRG that as from April 2012 we would no longer have a list of 'local rarities'. It was a system that the Recorder inherited, but it has become increasingly difficult to administer or justify. However, the Recorder retains the right to seek further information, possibly including a description, for any 'odd' record that seems to need particular justification (eg a Lesser Whitethroat in January). This means that we now use the same system as that used by the Cambrian Ornithological Society. This will mean that more records will appear in the North-East Wales Bird Report.
Please submit records of rarities to me as soon after the observation as is possible.
If you have not completed a rarities form before, you may wish to see an example of what a successful form is like. Susan Morris has kindly agreed to let us make available a copy of the form she submitted to the Welsh Rarities Panel for a record that was accepted:
If you have seen a bird that is on the Welsh rarity list (below), maintained by the Welsh Records Panel please submit the record using this form:
Bean Goose
American Wigeon
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
Smew
White-billed Diver
Cory’s Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Wilson’s Petrel
Night Heron
Purple Heron
White Stork
Glossy Ibis
Red-necked Grebe
Black Kite
White-tailed Eagle
Montagu’s Harrier
Rough-legged Buzzard
Golden Eagle
Spotted Crake
Corncrake
Crane
Stone-curlew
Black-winged Stilt
American Golden Plover
Kentish Plover Temminck’s
Stint White-rumped Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper Pectoral
Sandpiper Red-necked Phalarope
White-winged Black Tern
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Gull
Alpine Swift
Bee-eater
Red-footed Falcon
Golden Oriole Red-backed Shrike
Woodchat Shrike
Penduline Tit
Bearded Tit
Shore Lark
Short-toed Lark
Red-rumped Swallow
Greenish Warbler
Pallas’s Warbler
Radde’s Warbler
Dusky Warbler
Barred Warbler
Icterine Warbler
Melodious Warbler
Blyth’s Reed Warbler
Marsh Warbler
Rose-coloured Starling
Nightingale
Bluethroat
Red-flanked Bluetail
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Citrine Wagtail
Olive-backed Pipit
Common Rosefinch
Common Redpoll
Arctic Redpoll
Parrot Crossbill
Serin
Cirl Bunting
Ortolan Bunting
Little Bunting
Corn Bunting
Photos of rarities