''British Birds'' is a monthly

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

that was established in 1907. It is now published by BB 2000 Ltd, which is wholly owned by The British Birds Charitable Trust (registered charity number 1089422),Charity Commission register entry
/ref> established for the benefit of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

ornithology. Its circulation in 2000 was 5,250 copies; its circulation peaked at 11,000 in the late 1980s. The current editor is Stephen Menzie. ''British Birds'' is aimed at serious

birdwatchers Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

and ornithologists, rather than the more casual birdwatchers catered for by some other magazines on the subject. It publishes the findings of the

British Birds Rarities Committee The British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC), established in 1959, is the national bird rarities committee for Britain. It assesses claimed sightings of bird species that are rarely seen in Britain, based on descriptions, photographs and video r ...

. Its mascot, and later logo, the red grouse, was chosen because at the time it was thought to be an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

British species (although it is now considered a subspecies of the

willow grouse The willow ptarmigan () (''Lagopus lagopus'') is a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse and in Ireland and Britain, where the subspecies '' L. l. scotica'' was previ ...

). In 1916, ''British Birds'' magazine absorbed ''

The Zoologist ''The Zoologist'' was a monthly natural history magazine established in 1843 by Edward Newman and published in London. Newman acted as editor-in-chief until his death in 1876, when he was succeeded, first by James Edmund Harting (1876–1896) ...

'', due to the latter's shortage of subscribers.

Editors

The current editor of ''British Birds'' is Stephen Menzie. Former editors: * starting with volume 1 (1907): H.F. Witherby, assisted by W.P. Pycraft (until vol. 3) * from volume 3 (1909), Witherby was further assisted by the Rev. F.C.R. Jourdain and Norman F. Ticehurst * in volume 12 (1918), for one year, Jourdain was the editor, assisted by Ticehurst * from volume 13 (1919) Witherby was back as the editor; this situation continued until volume 33 (1939), when Jourdain died. * from volume 34 (1940) Bernard W. Tucker became assistant-editor

Numbering

Before 1946, all volumes ran from June to May. Harry Witherby produced Vol.1 No.1 in June 1907 and produced 12 monthly issues per volume. It was finally decided to change with Volume 38, which ran from June 1944 to December 1945. Wartime paper restrictions meant that those issues were all pretty thin so it was possible to bind 19 into one volume.

The digital era

In 2007 a DVD-ROM disk containing the first 100 years' worth of content (volumes 1–100) was released in conjunction with BirdGuides Ltd. Subsequent volumes are available as paid-for updates. In 2010, the magazine launched a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

Facebook group Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of t ...

and a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account. From October 2011, the magazine's first 100 years' of back issues are available on-line, free. More recent issues are available to subscribers to the print edition.

References

External links

*
Issues from 1907–1923
on the

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ...

1907 establishments in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom English-language magazines Journals and magazines relating to birding and ornithology Magazines established in 1907 Ornithology in the United Kingdom Wildlife magazines {{zoo-journal-stub

Editors

Numbering

The digital era

See also

References

External links