List of species requiring a description

This is a list of species that require a description and/or photograph to confirm the identification. Records of nationally rare should be submitted to the British Bird Rarities Committee (BBRC) for assessment. Local rarities are adjudicated by the Herts Rare Bird Panel.

A description form (in MS Word format) is available to download here and should be emailed to the County Bird Recorder, or returned by post to the address as shown on the form.

Please note that in addition to the below, Great White Egret and Caspian Gull (excluding sightings at Amwell) require local rarity descriptions for records up to and including 31 December 2017.

National rarities

  • Aquatic Warbler
  • Arctic Redpoll
  • Baillon's Crake
  • Black Stork
  • Blue-winged Teal
  • Bonaparte's Gull
  • Broad-billed Sandpiper
  • Caspian Tern
  • Eastern Crowned Warbler
  • Ferruginous Duck
  • Franklin's Gull
  • Great Bustard
  • Great Reed Warbler
  • Great Snipe
  • Grey-cheeked Thrush
  • Laughing Gull
  • Least Sandpiper
  • Little Bittern
  • Little Crake
  • Long-billed Dowitcher
  • Marsh Sandpiper
  • Nutcracker
  • Paddyfield Warbler
  • Pallas's Sandgrouse
  • Pallid Harrier
  • Rock Thrush
  • Roller
  • Rustic Bunting
  • Savi's Warbler
  • Sociable Plover
  • Solitary Sandpiper
  • Spotted Sandpiper
  • Squacco Heron
  • Two-barred Crossbill

Local rarities

  • Alpine Swift
  • American Wigeon
  • Arctic Skua
  • Barred Warbler
  • Bee-eater
  • Black Kite
  • Black-throated Diver
  • Black-winged Stilt
  • Bluethroat
  • Cattle Egret
  • Cirl Bunting
  • Common Crane
  • Common Rosefinch
  • Corncrake
  • Curlew Sandpiper
  • Dartford Warbler
  • Dipper
  • Dotterel
  • Eider
  • Fulmar
  • Gannet
  • Glaucous Gull
  • Glossy Ibis
  • Golden Oriole
  • Goshawk
  • Great Grey Shrike
  • Great Northern Diver
  • Great Skua
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Grey Phalarope
  • Guillemot
  • Honey Buzzard
  • Hooded Crow
  • Hoopoe
  • Iceland Gull
  • Icterine Warbler
  • Kentish Plover
  • Lady Amherst's Pheasant
  • Leach's Petrel
  • Lesser Scaup
  • Lesser Yellowlegs
  • Little Auk
  • Little Bunting
  • Long-tailed Duck
  • Long-tailed Skua
  • Manx Shearwater
  • Marsh Warbler
  • Melodious Warbler
  • Montagu's Harrier
  • Night Heron
  • Nightjar
  • Olive-backed Pipit
  • Ortolan Bunting
  • Parrot Crossbill
  • Pectoral Sandpiper
  • Penduline Tit
  • Pink-footed Goose
  • Pomarine Skua
  • Puffin
  • Purple Heron
  • Purple Sandpiper
  • Razorbill
  • Red-backed Shrike
  • Red-breasted Flycatcher
  • Red-breasted Merganser
  • Red-footed Falcon
  • Red-necked Grebe
  • Red-necked Phalarope
  • Red-rumped Swallow
  • Red-throated Diver
  • Richard's Pipit
  • Ring-necked Duck
  • Rose-coloured Starling
  • Roseate Tern
  • Rough-legged Buzzard
  • Sabine's Gull
  • Serin
  • Shag
  • Short-toed Lark
  • Slavonian Grebe
  • Snow Bunting
  • Spoonbill
  • Spotted Crake
  • Stone Curlew
  • Storm Petrel
  • Temminck's Stint
  • Tundra Bean Goose
  • Twite
  • Velvet Scoter
  • White Stork
  • White-tailed Eagle
  • White-winged Black Tern
  • Willow Tit
  • Wood Warbler
  • Woodchat Shrike
  • Woodlark
  • Wryneck
  • Yellow-browed Warbler