The Devon List & Checklist - Introduction

Introduction

There are two lists available from this page.

List 1 – Devon List

The first list is a standard Devon List, similar to those presented in the Devon Bird Report each year. The only change from the usual DBR format is the lack of BOLD type to denote a species seen in the current year. This is fully covered by the fact that any species that does NOT have a year appended to the end of the line has been seen in the current year.

List 2 – Devon Checklist

Since Pete Reay, Richard Hibbert and Ian Farrell took over as editors of the Devon Bird Report in 2000 and were joined by Simon Geary, then Data Manager and Mike Langman, then County Recorder, it was always intended that this ad hoc Editorial Committee would find the time to bring forward an up to date Devon Checklist.

This has finally been achieved by Simon Geary, since stepping down as a co-editor of the DBR in 2006. This Devon Checklist is now available to view on-line and download as a PDF file which can be printed locally by the user if desired.

As this Checklist will be constantly reviewed by a large selection of editors and section writers as well as species specialists within Devon and will be updated as often as necessary, it will not be made available as a normal stock publication due to the fact that it will go out of date so quickly.

It has therefore been decided that this document will appear as a “Print on Demand” publication that can be ordered from this website if the website user does not wish to print it themselves.

The basic data (at present accurate to the end of 2006) has been published to the website to allow members to benefit from all the work done so far and to allow particular species data to be checked by those members that have specialist knowledge. It will be updated regularly as part of the review process and as new data is received.

Simon welcomes all constructive comments and additional information and would be pleased to hear from members with their views in order that the final printed version of this document will be as accurate as possible. Further details on how the status of species has been analysed is available on request by emailing Simon

Sources

The County List has appeared in successive DBRs for many years and it was always intended that a thorough analysis of the DBRs and other documentation would provide the data that would bring A Checklist of the Birds of Devon (Rosier 1995) up to date. Indeed Rosier (1995) forms the basis of this new revision and is the default status. A meticulous analysis has thrown up some discrepancies which, if presently unresolved, are noted in the Checklist Notes that are available on request and will be presented later as an Appendix.

The analysis is based on accepted records published in DBR. However, historical records generally concur with those accepted by Moore (1969), and some subspecies records are derived from Langman et al. (2007) and Davis and Jones 2007.

Data Analysis

Table 1 contains all species or subspecies positively identified and accepted in Devon up to the end of 2006.

Table 2 contains additional subspecies which have not been formally accepted or confirmed to occur beyond reasonable doubt, or have often been described as 'showing characteristics of' in DBR, in Devon (Langman et al. 2007). Where more than one subspecies is used, nominate subspecies are in normal font, non-nominates in italics.Waterbirds (mainly WeBS species) have been analysed for the past 5 years (2002-2006) in line with the standard WeBS analysis technique (5-year peak monthly means). Data is derived from DBRs. Status of some wildfowl is complicated by escapees. Some scarcer waterbird species, i.e. those ever assessed by the BBRC, have been analysed using data for the past 10 years 1997-2006.

Common or frequently occurring species have been analysed for the past 10 years 1997-2006.

Vagrant and rare species, i.e. those which have ever been assessed by the BBRC together and selected Devon A-listed species, are analysed for all time.

Long-staying birds (usually rarities) have been counted in the month of first occurrence only and not once in each month of their stay. Scarce species monthly status has, where indicated by DBR, accounted for mobile birds, e.g. Greenland White-fronted Goose, by counting only once at one location.

As most vagrants occur singularly they automatically become one record. Where rare birds have occurred in multiples, i.e. the individuals are considered to have migrated/arrived as a flock, these are also classified as one record.

BBRC Codes

@ - Species for which descriptions are required by the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC).
A - Species which have been recorded in an apparently natural state at least once since 1950.
B - Species recorded in an apparently natural state before 1950
C - Species that, although originally introduced by man, either deliberately or accidentally, have established breeding populations derived from introduced stock, that maintain themselves without necessary recourse to further introduction.

C1 - Naturalised introduced species
C2 - Naturalised established species
C3 - Naturalised re-established species
C4 - Naturalised feral species

D & E - Only those also included in categories A, B or C are listed here and included in the British List. Those that have bred in the wild in Britain are designated E*.
# - Species on the British List, but not known to have occurred in a genuine wild state in Devon and / or to have been self-sustaining for the last ten years. These species are not included in the Devon totals.

Devon Codes

(A) - (Devon Rarities). All records required with full supporting notes
(B) - All records required. With brief supporting notes
(C) - All records required
(D) - All breeding, but only selected non-breeding records required
(E) - Only selected records required

Status Bar Codes

Figures in plain text: 1, 2, 3 etc - indicate Rare Vagrants and show the number of times recorded by month

Figures Italicised and underlined: 1, 2, 3 etc - indicate Scarce species and show the number of times the species has occurred in that month during the last decade (1996-2005). Note: long-stayers have not been counted once in each month of stay, just in the month that they were found as it is considered that this is more representative of when certain species are likely to arrive in Devon irrespective of how long they stay.

Figures used within the status tables are: 10, 100, 1000, 10k, 50k, 100k, 1M and 10M and indicate abundance and should be interpreted as follows:

10= up to 10, 100= up to 100, 1000=up to 1000, 10k=up to 10,000, 50k= up to 50,000, 100k= up to 100,000, 1M= up to one million and 10M= up to ten million, and the first six categories directly replace the 1 through 6 Monthly Status Number codes in Rosier (1995).

Simon Geary - May 2008