BOU's British List reaches 630

The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC) has added Long-legged Buzzard to its British list, taking the list total to 630 species.

The move is based on the acceptance of a second-calendar-year bird seen on Mainland Shetland and later Fair Isle on 1 September 2019. A full account of the discovery and retrospective identification of that bird can be read here.

A BOURC statement said: "Long-legged Buzzards of the nominate subspecies are increasingly being observed as vagrants in northern continental Europe, with the species a predicted addition to the British List (Birding World 26: 332-343). Based on this established vagrancy pattern and that the species is rare in captivity, the record was accepted by BOURC as the first British record, and the species added to Category A of the British List.

Long-legged Buzzard is placed after Rough-legged Buzzard on the British List.

Long-legged Buzzard over Hillwell, Shetland, 1 September 2019 (Tom Gale).

As part of the same announcement, the BOURC has also added a new subspecies to its British list. A striking alba wagtail seen on Unst, Shetland, on 25 October 2020 transpired to be of the subspecies ocularis ('East Siberian Wagtail'), a form not previously seen before in Britain. A fuller account about this bird, including its identification, can be read here.

East Siberian Wagtail at Westing Beach, Unst, Shetland, 25 October 2020 (Mark Sutton).

These changes will be published as part of the BOURC's 55th report due to be published in Ibis in January 2023. Upon publication of these changes, the British List will stand at 630 species (Category A = 612; Category B = 8; Category C = 10).