Record submissions
Red-rumped swallow. © Paul Jackson
It is important that bird sightings are reported to the County Bird Recorder. This enables timely preparation of ‘Recent reports’ summaries in each issue of the Isle of Wight Ornithological Group Newsletter, and, more importantly, permits consolidation of the annual bird sightings which form the basis for production of the Isle of Wight Bird Report, a joint publication with IWNHAS.
In terms of record submission, there are a number of options available - the simplest being submission into one of the following online record systems. All records submitted in this way will be accessible to the county recorder.
- online input into BTO's Birdtrack, Isle of Wight Going Birding, eBird, Trektellen and iRecord.
- Submissions to coordinated national and local surveys, see survey page.
If you place your records into any other database, please submit an extract in Excel or .csv format to the Recorder.
If you do not wish to place your records into any of the above systems, please send the recorder a list of your sightings by filling in one of the online options here.
Please note that sightings placed on social media platforms (e.g Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp etc) are not considered as submitted records. Please additionally submit these by one of the methods above.
Reports of rarities
All sightings of nationally rare or locally rare birds are reviewed by the appropriate committee. Only those accepted by these processes will be considered proven and appear in the annual bird report. The processes are as follows:
Local rarities
Written descriptions for local rarities, ideally accompanied by photos/video or sound recordings, should be submitted to the recorder for Joint Local Rarities Committee (JLRC) review. The JLRC list comprises two categories:
- asterisked species for which a full description is required
- non-asterisked species for which the committee may request documentation should the sighting fall outside of typical occurrence patterns.
View the list of local rarities and the Local Rarity Submission Form.
British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) submission guidelines
Updated 30 June 2023
List of species for which sightings currently require review by the BBRC.
Online submission of descriptions of BBRC rarities is currently not functioning so, for now, a form must be downloaded and completed prior to emailing to the BBRC secretary.
The form is available in PDF or Word format here at the BBRC website
The Isle of Wight Bird Recorder is happy to assist with completion of this form.
The completed form can be submitted directly or via the Isle of Wight Recorder. The latter option is preferred as the Recorder then has an overall picture of what has been submitted in respect of Island sightings.
If you have any questions, please contact the Recorder at robinpattrill@gmail.com.