As you may all be aware during our AGM at Spurn Bird Obs we discussed changing some scores for certain species. After much debate we decided to change 34 species based on losing or gaining BB status, declines and increases in more common species and deleting a couple plastic species or non-existent sub species. We have discussed all the changes in the latest podcast (which can be listened to by clicking here) but here is a very brief overview of the changes:
Lets start with the species that we have promoted from a 4 pointer to a 5 pointer.
Great Bustard
Forster's Tern
Black-eared Wheatear
Syke's Warbler
Yellow-breasted Bunting
Several species have went the other way and have been demoted from 5 points to 4 points:
Hooded Merganser
Pallid Harrier
Buff-bellied Pipit
Red-flanked Bluetail
Iberian Chiffchaff
Four species have been increased from 3 points to 4 points as they all have become BBRC species again:
Tawny Pipit
Red-throated Pipit
Aquatic Warbler
Rustic Bunting
And six species have went the opposite way as they lost their BBRC status so 3 points for the following as of 2017:
Lesser Scaup
White-billed Diver
Glossy Ibis
Olive-backed Pipit
Citrine Wagtail
Blyth's Reed Warbler
Three species have been upgraded from 2 points to 3 points, the first due to the increasing difficulty in finding them bar a few hotspots and the latter two to clear up a sub-species anomaly we created by mistake! So as of 2017 it will be bonus points if you find any of these:
Shore Lark
Any non-flavissima Yellow Wagtail
Siberian Chiffchaff
The next category hurts slightly as we see some of our old faithful 3 pointers cut down to 2 pointers, mainly because they are pretty common now so if you find any of these next year there will be no bonus points on offer:
Great White Egret
Crane
Yellow-browed Warbler
On the plus side five 1 pointers have been upgraded to 2 pointers as a result of their much publicised declines in the country:
Grey Partridge
Ruddy Duck
Turtle Dove
Willow Tit
Corn Bunting
Only one species has went the opposite way as the ever increasing populations of Little Egret sees it reduced to a 1 point bird.
And finally the 2 species/sub-species that will now score 0 points:
Ruddy Shelduck
Borealis Eider
All point changes will be in place as of 1st January 2017 and the new website (hopefully) will have these changes in place for your scoring at the start of the year.
All seems pretty reasonable but isn't this going to screw up comparative scores?
ReplyDeleteIt shouldn't take very long though to re-jig your last few years' scores to take these changes into account.
ReplyDeleteIf i understand this correctly, you don't need to go back and adjust scores.
ReplyDeleteThe way i see it, your total score is the the overall 'value' of the birds in your patch in a given year. The comparison is still valid - it stands to reason that a Turtle Dove now is worth more than it would have been say 30 years ago when it was more common.
For me the status of Little Egret hasn't changed at all (it's a banker) but now I'll get a point less.
DeleteHow much for calcarata Citrine Wagtail... ;-)
ReplyDelete