Records

No, this isn't the latest DEFRA plan, but the latest change to BUBO Listing. The most frequent comment we have received regarding BUBO Listing is that the number of people with Ruddy Shelduck records on their BOU lists makes for unfair list comparisons. It should be noted that Ruddy Shelduck is a category B species, with the last acceptable record in 1946. Thus we don't really expect anyone to have this legitimately recorded on their BOU lists (although more recent records are acceptable under the UK400 Club and Birdwatch Magazine authorities).

We have previously emailed BUBO Listers with Ruddy Shelducks on their BOU lists to explain this, and most have then taken the records off. However with new listers registering and new lists being entered, the number of Ruddy Shelduck records has been steadily increasing again!

After much thought, we have taken the following two steps:

1. It is no longer possible to add category B (or D) species to lists, either via the Create New List or Add Species to List options. The full species lists including category B species can still be viewed as part of the Species Checklists but category B species will not be available for BUBO listers to add to their lists. The species affected by this are:

• Ruddy Shelduck: only available for UK400 Club and Birdwatch Magazine authorities
• Hooded Merganser: only available for UK400 Club and Birdwatch Magazine authorities
• White-faced Storm-petrel: not available
• Maderian Storm-petrel: not available
• Egyptian Vulture: not available (although the recent Norfolk record could necessitate a provisional acceptance)
• Spotted Eagle: not available
• Eskimo Curlew: not available
• Great Black-headed Gull: not available
• Great Auk: not available
• Red-necked Nightjar: not available

2. Any invalid records of these species have been deleted from lists by BUBO Listing. Note that we are keen to avoid direct action like this but in this case it seemed the most pragmatic option given the number of comments we were getting.

If you have legitimate reasons for including any of these species (e.g. you saw Ruddy Shelduck in 1946, you saw the 1957 Irish Hooded Merganser, you saw the recent Egyptian Vulture in Norfolk etc.) then please Contact Us and we will add the species directly.