Report for 1973

Rare breeding birds in the United Kingdom in 1973 J. T. R. Sharrock, I. J. Ferguson-Lees and the Rare Breeding Birds Panel Although first formed in 1968, as a sub-committee of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 1973 was the Rare Breeding Birds Panel's first year as an autonomous body. The panel is supported and funded jointly by British Birds, the British Trust for Ornithology and the RSPB, and includes members from each of these bodies, and from the Nature Conservancy Council. David Lea, secretary of the panel since its formation, retired in December 1972. With the necessary approval of the councils of the BTO and RSPB and the editors of British Birds, his place on the panel was taken by R. H. Dennis; and Dr J. T. R. Sharrock, previously an ordinary member of the panel, became secretary. The panel now consists of A. W. Colling, Peter Conder, R. H. Dennis, I. J. Ferguson-Lees and Dr J. T. R. Sharrock. The aims and methods of operation of the panel have been set out in Bird Study, 20: 147-148; Brit. Birds, 66: 172-174; Ibis, 115: 481-482; Irish Nat. J., 17 (no. 12): iii-iv; Nature in Wales, 14:44-46; and Scot. Birds, 7: 226-227. Briefly, the aims are to collect in one place all information on rare breeding birds in the United King dom so that changes in status—both increases and decreases—can be monitored and so that essential information is not lost (as has happened in the past) through the deaths of individuals keeping such records secret. The panel recognises that it may take some years before complete trust is established and before the benefits of submitting all records become apparent. This first report is known to be incomplete. The counties which have submitted data are shown in fig. 1. Individual members of the panel have personal knowledge of records which are not included here because details have not been officially submitted by the county authorities. We hope that the publication of our annual reports will soon show that undue secrecy is unnecessary, and that a complete knowledge of each species' changing status is essential for conservation plans. The panel guarantees not to divulge data submitted to it to any other person without the permission of the person supplying the information (during his or her lifetime). We will never mention localities (or even counties) in this report unless permission has been specifically granted to us to do so. 5 Rare breeding birds in igyj •1 5r Fig. i. Areas covered by this report. Records (or a negative return) were sup plied to the panel by all the county or regional report editors of the areas shown black. In some cases indivi dual observers supplied data for the counties left white, but records were not received from the local editor, so the picture is incomplete for these areas. The panel does not collect records from the Republic of Ireland The majority of records have reached us via county report editors. In the few cases where records have been submitted by individual observers, we have sought permission to pass the infor mation to the county recorder concerned. Records in this report are listed under county headings. County names are those in existence before the boundary and name changes were implemented on ist April 1974, since these are still in use by the recorders who supplied data to us. Future policy will be dictated by whatever recommendation is made by the Report Editors' Committee and the policy adopted by the report editors. In instances where we cannot name the county for security reasons, we have adopted a system of lettering ('County A', 'County B', etc) under each species. A species' records for one such county will be desig nated in this way in subsequent reports (until it is safe to name the county), so that the history of colonisation (or extinction) can be followed, even if the exact location cannot be revealed. We are most grateful to all those who have supplied data. In some cases, the naming of the person concerned could be a clue to the birds' location. Therefore, rather than give an incomplete list Rare breeding birds in igyj 7 of contributors, we hope that all those who have co-operated with us will accept this acknowledgement of their help. The general comments following the actual records have this year been written by IJF-L. They are based primarily on Parslow (1973) and British Ornithologists' Union (1971); the references to recent range changes will mostly be found in the former. In future years the species comments will be largely concerned with com paring the current year's data with those in the panel's previous reports, but in this first report (and perhaps to be repeated at five- yearly intervals) a more comprehensive background picture is provided. The system adopted is to give the zoogeographical regions in which each species breeds and then to amplify the Pale- arctic range with particular reference to Europe. A summary of the status changes in Britain (and, where appropriate, Ireland) is then followed by an outline of the distribution up to 1972. Finally, reference is made to any relevant status changes in continental Europe. Records for the panel's files should be submitted as soon as possible after the breeding season (we hope that future reports will be published much earlier than this first one) on the special forms, obtainable from Dr J. T. R. Sharrock, 59 Curlew Crescent, Bedford MK41 7HY. Unless there are special reasons for not doing so, we ask that individual observers send their records to the relevant county report editor, who will then pass on a summary of his county's records to us. Systematic list of 1973 records Great Northern Diver Gavia immer No records received. Northern Nearctic and marginally Palearctic (Iceland, ?Bear Island, ?Jan Mayen, summering north Norway). Single birds and pairs have long summered in Scotland and breeding suspected on various occasions back to 1868, but not proved until 1970 when pair and two young seen in Wester Ross; in 1971 hybrid Great Northern x Black-throated G. arctica and normal Black-throated present with young on same loch; none in 1972. Slavonian Grebe Podiceps auritus 22 sites: over 50 pairs. Caithness: two pairs probably bred at one site: one young 1st July and two birds that were possibly juveniles 29th July. Inverness: 43 pairs located at 18 lochs; in one area 19 pairs reared 27 young. Numbers and breeding success higher than 1971 or 1972. Moray: five or six pairs at one site: two or three young reared. 8 Rare breeding birds in igys Perth: one pair hatched four young, three of which were probably eaten by Pike Esox lucius and the fourth was killed by a Coot Fulica atra. An adult with one young at a second site on 7th August. These are the first county records. Northern Nearctic and Palearctic (Iceland, south Fenno-Scandia, Baltic States and Russia eastwards). Breeding first proved 1908 in Inverness, where subsequently slowly increased and spread more or less regularly to Sutherland and Caithness and, more recently, to Moray, Aberdeen and now Perth; for some years estimated at 50 pairs or less. Corresponding increase has taken place in Sweden and southward range extension in Norway. Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis Four sites: 19 or fewer pairs; breeding proved at three sites. County A: three pairs had moderate success at one site (maximum of four young seen on any one visit) and one pair reared two young at a second site. County B: up to 14 pairs and five young at one site. An adult on 13th May at a second site. Ethiopian, Nearctic and Palearctic (locally and erratically over much of central and south Europe from Sweden to Spain east across Russia to central Asia). First colonised England and Ireland around 1915, and Scotland around 1929 when colony of up to 250 pairs also established in Ireland, but marked decline in recent decades, partly due to drainage, so that now extinct in Ireland and nowhere firmly established in Britain except at about three sites in central Scotland, occupied since at least early 1950's, where prob ably less than 20 pairs; other recent nestings in widely separated counties of Scotland, England and Wales have been temporary. Colonisations coincided with striking spread west from Caspian region around 1915-20 and 1929-32. Pintail Anas acuta Records received from only one site; we suspect that there must have been others which have not been submitted. Cambridge: two or three pairs bred on Ouse Washes. Mainly Nearctic and Palearctic (Iceland and north Europe eastwards, erratically farther south). Colonised Scotland towards end of 19th century and England about 1910, but only at scattered sites and few of those persistently occupied; in recent years has nested regularly in about four counties in Scotland (Caithness, Inverness, Aberdeen and Kinross) and two in England (Cambridge/ Norfolk and Kent). Scaup Aythya marila No records received. Northern Nearctic and Palearctic (Iceland, Fenno-Scandia and north Russia eastwards). Has bred sporadically north Scotland Rare breeding birds in igyj 9 since 1897; since 1945 has nested Orkney (in about eight years), Outer Hebrides, Wester Ross, Perth and perhaps elsewhere; female and brood seen Lincoln 1944 and infertile clutches laid Suffolk 1967-71. During 20th century southern edge of breeding range has been receding northwards in Fenno-Scandia. Goldeneye Bucephala clangula One site: three pairs hatched at least 22 young. Inverness: females with broods of eight, six and eight were seen on 12th, 24th and 28th May; on 4th June two of these females had broods of six and four or more.

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