I figured it was something like that. With the Two-barred Crossbill and Little Bittern being the first 2 pukka rarities I've seen it prompted the question, because they're the first ones I will be able to say to myself that I saw if I'm idly reading the list in a few years time
One thing that I wondered was if there is a process to follow before Ian can add a new county bird like the Two-Barred Crossbill to the list. Does the sighting need to be ratified before it can be listed?
All records on the systematic list on the website are officially accepted by the national or county rarity committees and are published in the annual Greater Manchester Bird Reports or in the event of records which pre-date these, are recognised by the eminent Ornithologists of the day and widely considered acceptable. Some of the latter type of records which are currently not on the list are still a work in progress though as I investigate their credibility amongst other things.
The list is updated only after the publication of each annual county bird report though; so I have one update pending
That bit of the website is one of my favourites, helps remind me how lucky we are to have the electronic resources we have now. I also found it mildly amusing that because nobody shot the Little Bittern at Elton the survival rate of the bird in Greater Manchester has apparently increased from 50 to 60%, which is tremendous progress. It was in danger of getting trodden on by some very keen birders on the Sunday actually, but I don't think we put it in mortal danger.
One thing that I wondered was if there is a process to follow before Ian can add a new county bird like the Two-Barred Crossbill to the list. Does the sighting need to be ratified before it can be listed?
Thanks Tim, I didn't realise it was New Manchester. Does anyone know where in Hindley the 1978 Nutcracker was recorded? Just out of curiosity - I wasn't thinking of going to see whether it's still present.......
Thursday 22nd May saw me manning a polling station. In quieter moments during the fifteen hours I read through quite a lot of the systematic list on the website - a fascinating part of the site to dip in to for anybody who's not looked at it, plus a great guide to what records to submit. I read Ian's comment that another Little Bittern was long overdue - the last one recorded in our area was just a few months after the end of World War II. Without checking, there have been at least three recorded in Lancashire since then. The last two records were both in 1945 and both are just listed as 'near Manchester', wonder where they were? Presumably there would have been a lot more small areas of habitat still in existence then.
I checked this at the time stood next to Judith Smith. The 2 1945 New Manchester sightings Judith told me were in what is now called Cutacre. In 1945 GM didn't exist so they were in Lancs Vice County
It's been ages since I last saw a Little Bittern(abroad), and I'd forgotten just how small and skulking they can be. I wouldn't bet against one of these having been in GM before, but if it was in the middle of a Bryn Marsh, one of the back pools at Pennington or any if the similar places throughout the county you can understand why they might be missed.
-- Edited by Craig Higson on Sunday 25th of May 2014 09:19:24 PM
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
Thursday 22nd May saw me manning a polling station. In quieter moments during the fifteen hours I read through quite a lot of the systematic list on the website - a fascinating part of the site to dip in to for anybody who's not looked at it, plus a great guide to what records to submit. I read Ian's comment that another Little Bittern was long overdue - the last one recorded in our area was just a few months after the end of World War II. Without checking, there have been at least three recorded in Lancashire since then. The last two records were both in 1945 and both are just listed as 'near Manchester', wonder where they were? Presumably there would have been a lot more small areas of habitat still in existence then.
