Birds in Avon – an Annotated Report

Birds in Avon An annotated checklist A checklist of species in the Avon recording area with details of how their status has changed over time Expanded third edition, December 2020 This is the third edition of this checklist, now updated to the end of 2019, with extra detail, particularly of scarce species and pre 1950 records, and a number of corrections. I have removed most of the previous appendices, those relating to species not on the Avon list, and put them in a separate Supplement. I need to thank Rich Andrews for allowing me to use his line drawing to illustrate the latest text. I also need to thank a number of people for allowing me access to their reference material, in particular Nigel Milbourne for access to his archive of Somerset Bird reports back to 1924, Martyn Hayes for his input on the birds of south Glos, Harvey Rose and Andy Davis, and various others for helping clarify individual records. Richard Mielcarek December 2020 Species are divided between regular, scarce and rare and each is treated differently. Regular species Full details of these, and their recent local status, can be found in Bland and Dadds (2012) and there is no point in duplicating that information; instead, their status at five points in time is shown; 1874 – taken from Wheeler (1874) which covers the undefined ‘Bristol district’ (although it includes the estuaries of the rivers Avon and Severn, and Steep Holm) 1899 – taken from ‘The Birds of the Bristol District’, an article included in the 1899 BNS Proceedings. This defined the boundaries as follows; “on the north, a line drawn eastward from Aust Cliff to the boundary of the county of Gloucester near Badminton, on the east a line drawn from Badminton to Wells so as to include Bath; on the south the River Axe, on the west that part of the coastline of the Bristol Channel which stretches from the mouth of the Axe to Aust Cliff” 1947 – taken from Davis (1947) which covered a larger area, bounded to the north by a line between Slimbridge and Tetbury, in the east by the Wiltshire border, and in the south by a line between Frome and Wells and then the River Axe to the coast1. 1990 – taken from the 1990 Avon Bird Report, the first to show a status line for all species2. 2019 – taken from the 2019 Avon Bird Report (or the last edition that included the species). For the common breeding species, I have also used the 2019 Breeding Bird Survey results to show the percentage change since 1994. In addition, between 1925 and 1939 the Somerset Bird Report selected a number of species each year for a more detailed analysis and I have included a precis of the details that apply to Avon. For those species which are now regular but were rare or unrecorded 70 years ago the early records until they became widespread or bred are listed. Scarce species These are species that used to be regular but have declined and become local rarities (ie require descriptions for records) since 2000. They are treated the same as for regular species (ie status at five points in time) but all the published records since descriptions were required are also shown. Counts and migrant dates For many of the regular and scarce species the largest published count is included. For migrant species the earliest published arrival date and the latest published departure date are also shown. Some of these dates have been taken from Bland (1992) or Hale (1991), both of which used data from the monthly Bird News published by the Bristol Ornithological Club but not published in the report. Bland (1992) also consulted the original submitted records but mentions no sites for any of the records. 3 1 As the 1874, 1899 and 1947 sources each covered a different area I have paraphrased or adjusted the wording to remove references to sites that are outside of the current Avon recording area. 2 Or the first subsequent ABR to include the species 3 The concern here is how carefully these records were vetted, even when published in Bird News Rare species A species, or subspecies, is classed as rare if it is either a national rarity (ie records assessed by the British Birds Rarities Committee) or it has been a local rarity, where records require a description, since prior to 2000. All published accepted records where the site is in the current Avon recording area are shown. Where a bird remained over the year end, or is presumed to be a returning individual, the record is only shown for the initial year albeit with the final departure date. Records relate to single individuals unless specifically stated For species that were commoner in the past, or where there is confusion about the correct dates of past records, what is stated in Wheeler (1874), ‘The Birds of the Bristol District’, Davis (1947) and Palmer and Ballance (1968) is also shown. Sources used for ‘published’ records The current Ornithological Section of the BNS started in late 1922 and an annual bird report has been included in the BNS Proceedings since 1936. Initially this annual report was known as the Ornithological Notes then, from 1955, as the Bristol Bird Report and, from 1974, as the Avon Bird Report which became a separate publication in 1983. For simplicity all these reports are called the ABR in this document. Copies of the BNS Proceedings are available online from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The ABR only published records of unusual species after receipt of confirmatory notes; a list of the species that required such notes was included in the 1964 report and in each report since 1983. Also included are records that have only been published in the Somerset Bird Report, these are marked [SBR], or in various articles in Bristol Ornithology. Additional records shown in the annual reports of the British Birds Rarities Committee since its inception in 1958 are included; records that have been assessed by that committee are marked [BBRC] 4. Accurate records are harder to find prior to 1936 and there is often conflict between various sources. Records have been taken from the following sources (and in which case the source is stated in the text); Davis (1935), Davis (1947), Palmer and Ballance (1968), Swaine (1982), Wheeler (1874) and Yarrell (1843). 4 those asterisked mean we hold the original description locally The Avon List By the start of 2020, and the move to IOC taxonomy, the Avon list stood at 346 species, with another two only identified to genus. However, eight of those have not been recorded for at least 100 years and a further six not for at least 50 years. Not recorded for over 100 years Not recorded for over 50 years Baillon’s Crake (1840) Black Grouse (1922?) Ivory Gull (c1864) Great Snipe (1950) White’s Thrush (1871) Bridled Tern (1958) Collared Pratincole (before 1881)5 Gyrfalcon (1962) Sooty Tern (1885) Arctic Warbler (1965) Pallas’s Sandgrouse (1888) Little Crake (1967) Two-barred Crossbill (1895) Red-breasted Goose (1909) Over the last decade an average of 228 species was recorded each year, with a high of 237 in 2011 and a low of 217 in 2017. Various other species have been recorded in Avon but there was doubt about whether the bird was of a wild origin. There is now a Supplement to this document that includes these records. Avon Recording area The county of Avon was created in 1974 but disbanded 21 years later. The current Avon recording area covers the four unitary authorities, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset, that replaced the county of Avon. 5 But with a record in 2020! References mentioned Aldridge (1987); ‘Birds of the Keynsham area’ by J Aldridge in Bristol Ornithology 19, December 1987 Bland (1992); ‘First and last migration dates for summer and selected winter visitors in Avon’ by R L Bland in the 1992 Avon Bird Report Bland (2003); Migration Summary by Richard Bland in the 2003 - 2006 Avon Bird Reports Bland and Dadds (2012); Avon Atlas 2007 – 11, privately published Davis (1935); ‘Waders in the Bristol District’ by H H Davis in the 1935 BNS Proceedings Davis (1947): ‘A revised list of the birds of the Bristol District’ by H H Davis in the 1947 BNS Proceedings Davis (1953); ‘Notes on the status and distribution of birds in S. Gloucestershire’6 Davis (1985): ‘Birds at Blagdon Lake, 1963-1983’ by A H Davis in Bristol Ornithology 18, December 1985 Hale (1991); an unpublished document of notable records gleaned by Steve Hale from Avon Bird Reports and the monthly BOC Bird News Hayes (2019); ‘The Birds of South Gloucestershire’ by M Hayes, privately published in 20197 Higgins (2009): ‘Wildfowl numbers at CVL, 1960 – 2010’ by R J Higgins, in two parts, in the 2009 and 2010 Avon Bird Reports Higgins (2017): Trends in Wildfowl numbers on the Severn Estuary by R J Higgins in the 2017 Avon Bird Report Kemp (1982); ‘The Nightjar in Avon, 1850 – 1982’ by M S Kemp in the 1982 Avon Bird Report Kemp (1983); ‘The status of the Cirl Bunting in Avon and the northern Mendips’ by M S Kemp in the 1983 Avon Bird Report Middleton (2006): ‘The Birds of Oldbury Power Station silt lagoons’ by A J Middleton, D H Payne and J D R Vernon in Bristol Ornithology number 28, 2006 Palmer and Ballance (1968); ‘The Birds of Somerset’ by E M Palmer and D K Ballance published in 1968 by Longmans, Green and Co Ltd Rogers (2004); ‘Past and Present status of the Red Kite in Avon and Somerset by M A Rogers in Bristol Ornithology 27, 2004 Rogers (2004b); ‘Waterbirds of the tidal Avon at Sea Mills Reach by M A Rogers in Bristol Ornithology 27, 2004 Rogers (2008); ‘White-tailed Eagles in Avon and Somerset by M A Rogers in Bristol Ornithology

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