Hi All,
Apologies if the following pretty basic list questions have been answered before somewhere on this forum (I can't find them if they have). Can anyone help a beginner out?
1) It's called 'The British List': but am I right in thinking sightings seen in the Republic of Ireland can be counted (and that for some reason the Isle of Man isn't included?)
2) Just in case Ireland isn't included, where does a country's borders end for the purposes of listing? When you leave territorial waters?
Guess where I'm going for an autumn trip shortly!
Thanks for any help or further reading people can point me to.
David
David
Bad luck, you've only got me to answer this so far.
Answer 1: your lists are whatever you choose them to be. It really doesn't matter unless you were thinking of being competitive with someone (and then Lawd help you, see many threads on this forum).
Answer 2: no, Ireland is separate from Britain. And so is the Isle of Man technically, because it's not part of the UK.
As for territorial waters, quote, deep breath, "The BOURC's function is to collect, investigate and apply uniform standards to claimed records of rare birds in England, Scotland and Wales, and ‘at sea’ within the British Economic Zone, which now extends to 200 nautical miles (370 km)."
That covers 'the British List'.
I don't know what Ireland claims. Maybe Rockall ? Maybe halfway across the Atlantic ?
Thanks for the response Dave. I found the page on the BOU website where that quote appears but the other info on that page seems a bit confusing. In the first sentance it says:
For over 100 years the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) has maintained a list of birds that have been recorded in Britain and Ireland.
but later on it says:
Species recorded from the Republic of Ireland (jurisdiction of the Irish Rare Birds Committee (IRBC)) and the Channel Islands are not covered in any reports or lists produced by the BOURC.
Is the significant bit here the fact that Irish rarities are no longer covered by the BOU?
I'm pleased to say I'm not a competitive lister (at least I don't think I am!) but just want to know whether I should keep my Irish sightings discrete from my British sightings in my notebook. Sounds like I should.
David