The Status of Birds in Britain and Ireland

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Description

The Status of Birds in Britain and Ireland was written to update the British Ornithologists' Union's last full Checklist published under the same title as far back as 1971. Since then there have been remarkable changes in both distribution and abundance of the region's birds. Some species have become extinct as breeding birds, whereas others have colonised and even become quite common; many of our most familiar birds have suffered critical declines with changes in land use and climate. Dozens of new species have occurred as vagrants, and many previous vagrants now occur much more frequently. Furthermore, there has been a major revolution in bird taxonomy. The book summarises all these changes and gives an up-to-date account of the status of the birds in Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man. The book has been written by two former Chairmen of the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee, and long-serving members of the BOU Taxonomic Sub-Committee. It was compiled with the close cooperation of former colleagues in the BOU Records Committee and TSC, as well as key figures in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, to ensure it reflects the 'official' position in all the countries covered. The Status only includes records accepted by the committees responsible for each of the countries, follows the new taxonomy of the BOU, and uses English names approved by the International Ornithological Congress's working group on English names, as also adopted by the BOU. As such, the book is the only key text reflecting the 'official' status of birds throughout Britain and Ireland, as followed by bodies such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the British Trust for Ornithology, the Joint Nature Conservation Council, BirdWatch Ireland, the BOU itself, and many others.

Reviews

'...the contents are superb, and in the few days that I have had this book I have already referred to it several times. This is a brilliant work.' * Bird Watching (March 2010) *
'This book will answer all those questions about why you are seeing more, or less, of a particular bird.' * Bexley Times (March 2010) *
'An excellent reference book.' * RSPB *
'...an up-to-date summary of avian distribution, status and especially taxonomy for all our islands, this comprehensive book deserves an audience...' * Birdwatch (August 2010) *
'many ornithologists will rightly want to have this volume on their bookshelves.' * Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Union (2010) *

Author Bio

David Parkin is Emeritus Professor of Genetics at the University of Nottingham. Alan Knox is the Head of Historic Collections at the University of Aberdeen. Both authors are former Chairmen of the BOU Records Committee and were long-serving members of the BOU's taxonomic subcommittee.