Introduction

 

Recording the birds you see, and reporting this information, is a vital part of bird-watching.  Not only do scientists frequently make use of this data, but the annual Suffolk Bird Report could not be written without this data.  This page explains what should be reported and to whom.

 

Who should I report to?

 

National Rarities

 

The British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) is the official adjudicator of rare bird records in Britain. Its members are democratically elected by birders’ representatives in each county and serve for a fixed term.  It publishes its annual report in the monthly journal British Birds. 

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Suffolk Rarities

 

The Suffolk Ornithological Records Committee (SORC) is the recipient of all records of Suffolk birds.  There are three recorders in Suffolk:

 

• West:  Colin Jakes:  bird-w@sns.org.uk

• North-east:  Richard Walden:   bird-ne@sns.org.uk

• South-east:  Gi Grieco / Steve Fryett:  bird-se@sns.org.uk

 

The map below shows the areas and gives full contact details for the recorders:

 

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How do I report?

 

National Rarities

 

Submissions of national rarities should be made directly to the BBRC via its own form which can be found on their website.  All reports to BBRC will be made available by BBRC to SORC.

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Suffolk Rarities, Scarce and other birds

 

There are two methods of getting data to the Suffolk recorders at SORC:

 

• log your records in Birdtrack, or

• send a spreadsheet of your records to the relevant recorder’s email address above

 

The spreadsheet can be downloaded from our website here.

 

What should I report?

 

SORC maintains a list of Suffolk birds and assigns a category to each bird.  The categories are as follows:

 

• Category 1:  National Rarities

• Category 2:  Suffolk Rarities - should be reported to SORC with full description

• Category 3:  Suffolk Scarcities - should be reported to SORC

• Category 4:  Common birds - unusual records are of interest (behaviour, large numbers etc)

 

There is a spreadsheet available that is based roughly on the British List (maintained by the BOU) which lists all British birds and their category for reporting in Suffolk.  This information is also published at the back of the annual Suffolk Bird Report which is available from SNS.

 

However, for ease of reference, the category 2 and category 3 birds are listed below

 

Category 2

 

These are birds that have previously been seen in Suffolk but are which are deemed to be rare birds.  All reports of these birds are requested with full identification details.​

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Category 3

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These are birds that are reasonably frequently seen in Suffolk but for which SORC would also like all records.

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