The seventh report of the Taxonomic Sub-committee of the BOU Records Committee has just published. The changes suggested within the report have now been incorporated into BUBO Listing for use within all lists based on the BOU authority, as well as our combined "Britain & Ireland" authority (i.e. the combination of the decisions of the BOURC and the IRBC).
Of most relevance to birders, the report adds three additional species to the British List: Hudsonian Whimbrel Numenius hudsonicus (split from Eurasian Whimbrel N. phaeopus), Cabot's Tern Sterna acuflavida (split from Sandwich Tern S. sandvicensis) and Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maura (split from European Stonechat S. rubicola). Some BUBO listers are likely to be in line for some armchair ticks therefore, with Siberian Stonechat being a scarce but regular autumn vagrant and a number of recent records of Hudsonian Whimbrel. The only accepted record of Cabot's Tern to date, however, is of a bird in Herefordshire in 1984 which had been ringed in North Carolina.
These additions bring the total number of species recognised by the BOU to 595 (with a further eight pending species also available within BUBO listing).