The 1996 Suffolk Bird Report Introduction to the systematic list T h e systematic list of species and its appendices have been written using data supplied by the c o u n t y ' s birdwatchers and entered into computers by the Area County Recorders. The collators of data for the checklist are as follows: Divers to Shag Herons to geese Ducks Raptors Game birds to cranes Oystercatcher to Ruff Snipe to phalaropes Skuas to gulls Terns to auks
Gary Lowe Andrew Easton Malcolm Wright Mike Crewe Richard Rafe Mike Crewe Mike Crewe Stuart Ling Mike Crewe
Pigeons to woodpeckers Larks to Dunnock Chats to thrushes Warblers to flycatchers Tits to shrikes Crows to Starling Sparrows to buntings Escapees
Darren Underwood Philip Murphy Mike Crewe Mike Crewe Tony Howe Rob Macklin Rob Macklin Mike Crewe
T h e order and nomenclature follow the Birding World Complete List of The Birds of the Western Palearctic, which in turn follows Dr K H Voous's List of Recent Holarctic Bird Species with any more recent alterations. All records refer to a single bird unless otherwise stated. Subspecies are listed under the main species' heading, which includes the scientific name. With scarcer species, all records are listed under the parish followed by a more exact location, if known. This exception to this is at the river estuaries and larger, well-known sites criss-crossed by several parish boundaries e.g. Walberswick N N R , Minsmere, Orfordness, Alton Water etc. To minimise any potential threats to site security, some records of rare breeding birds are published anonymously and under a vague site heading. Unless otherwise stated, the tabulated sets of counts for some waterfowl and waders are from the co-ordinated WeBS (formerly B o E E ) counts. Using such co-ordinated data instead of m a x i m u m counts gives a better idea of the populations of each species wintering in the county on a given date. However, fluctuations in n u m b e r s due to changing weather patterns will affect totals and higher counts are given in the text after the table where appropriate. Counts f r o m North Warren include T h o r p e n e s s Meare, Church Farm Marshes and the shoreline between Thorpeness and Aldeburgh; the Aide/Ore includes the complex of the Aide, Ore and Butley rivers as well as Orfordness, Gedgrave reservoir and Havergate Island; the Orwell includes Trimley Marshes, Loompit Lake and Bourne Park Water M e a d o w s and the Stour includes the Essex side of the estuary for completeness (although efforts are m a d e to show this separately). In the past we have been in the fortunate position of having data for a n u m b e r of years f r o m a cross-section of geographically well-spread sites throughout the county. It is to the credit of those observers w h o have persevered with such intense studies as the C o m m o n Bird C e n s u s (CBC), Constant Effort Site (CES) and transect counts, that this information is available for use. Such data are invaluable when monitoring any local population changes in c o m m o n species. However, the number of such sites remains small, and in fact appears to be falling, so it is of great relief that the Breeding Bird Survey has taken off so well, both locally and nationally. This scheme should provide an even better data base on the health - or otherwise - of the Nation's avifauna and we are indebted to the willingness of the British Trust for Ornithology to provide data f r o m this scheme.
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