Rare Breeding Birds Panel turns 50

The Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP) is celebrating 50 years of monitoring the UK's rarest breeding bird species.

Although the independent body was set up in 1972, its first meeting took place in 1973, when it began to gather breeding records. The panel is marking the occasion with its first conference and a flurry of papers and articles.

Black-necked Grebe is one species monitored by RBBP and features on the organisation's logo (R Thew).

The conference will be held online via Zoom on 15 and 16 March, running each evening from 19:00 to shortly after 21:00. A range of speakers will cover topics including monitoring European Honey Buzzard, Hawfinch in the New Forest and the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme.

A series of papers on the last 50 years of monitoring will appear in the journals British Birds and British Wildlife. A look back at breeding records of Spotted Sandpiper and Great Grey Shrike have already appeared in recent issues of British Birds, and a summary of European Serin records is next in line. As well as the annual report, Rare Breeding Birds in the UK in 2021, the journal will also publish the less-frequent report on rare non-native breeding birds (covering 2015-2020) in September.

The panel's website (rbbp.org.uk) will see new features and further information added this year, including interactive functions enabling visitors to explore results from the body's monitoring work.

You can register for a free ticket for the conference at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/537295434107.