Records in the Sheffield area

The appearance of records on the SBSG web site does not guarantee the accuracy of records, nor their addition to the SBSG data-base or subsequent publication in the annual "Birds in the Sheffield Area". 

Records requiring special attention - 'Description' Species

Submitters of species records requiring full descriptions to enable assessment at the appropriate [local/county/national] level will be contacted by a member of the Recording Committee.  Such records will also be displayed in "recent news' in red.

In an effort to maintain the accuracy and integrity of all records of rare and scarce birds published in the annual report, observers are required to provide supporting details of species in the following two categories:

  • Any national rarity as defined by the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC)
  • Any county rarity as defined by the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union (YNU) or the Derbyshire Ornithological Society (DOS).

Records of any of these species will be assessed by the relevant body. Descriptions should be submitted to the SBSG Recorder who will forward it to the BBRC or appropriate county committee. This should be done using the Online Description Form (see right). If you are unable to use this feature, a paper form will be provided by the Group on request. Descriptions are required for all species on the list without exception. Records with no description or which are rejected by the relevant county records committee will not be published by the SBSG.

Species in the Sheffield list requiring descriptions at county level are:

Bean Goose, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Ferruginous Duck, Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Velvet Scoter, Black Grouse, Quail (if silent), Golden Pheasant (female), Red-throated Diver, Black-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Red-necked Grebe, Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Storm Petrel, Leach's Petrel, Gannet, Bittern, Night Heron, Great White Egret, Purple Heron, White Stork, Spoonbill, Honey Buzzard, Black Kite, White-tailed Eagle, Montagu's Harrier, Rough-legged Buzzard, Red-footed Falcon, Spotted Crake, Corncrake, Common Crane, Avocet, Stone Curlew, Dotterel, American Golden Plover, Temminck's Stint, Pectoral Sandpiper, Purple Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Grey Phalarope, Pomarine Skua, Arctic Skua, Long-tailed Skua, Great Skua, Sabine's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, White-winged Black Tern, Roseate Tern, Little Auk, Puffin, Alpine Swift, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Wryneck, Wood Lark, Shore Lark, Red-rumped Swallow, Richard's Pipit, Red-throated Pipit, Nightingale, Marsh Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Firecrest, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Bearded Tit, Golden Oriole, Red-backed Shrike, Twite (away from known areas), Common (Mealy) Redpoll, Arctic Redpoll, Common Rosefinch, Lapland Bunting, Snow Bunting.

 

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In addition, descriptions may be required for other species at the discretion of the SBSG Recorder and/or Rarities Committee as follows:

  • An unusual or unseasonal record of a more common species
  • Certain subspecies separable in the field. e.g. Greenland Wheatear, White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail (excluding flavissima).
  • Any species not recorded in the Sheffield Area since 1960
  • Any of the following species: White-fronted Goose, Garganey [female], Scaup [both sexes: to eliminate similar aythya - type hybrids], Slavonian Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Shag, Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Goshawk (away from known localities), Mediterranean Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Caspian Gull, Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, Little Tern, Water Pipit, Rock Pipit, Black Redstart (female/immature), Lapland Bunting and Snow Bunting.

The SBSG Records Sub-Committee still reserves the right to ask for full details of any species recorded in the area and not covered by the above guidelines.

Online Description Form - click here to open the form

Please complete it as fully as you can, then use the 'Photos/Scans' fields to attach photos and/or scans of notes and sketches. You can also attach sound recordings if you have them.

NB - you cannot save the contents of your Form as you go along, so to avoid the risk of losing your work it is advisable to write your main text entries in any text editor or word processor, and then copy them into the relevant boxes.

Clicking the 'Submit record' button will then save your form data to the online Form database. You will then be given the option to print off your Form for your records if you wish to.

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