The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds (" ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry Baker Tristram and other scientists. Its quarterly journal, '' Ibis'', has been published continuously since 1859. The Records Committee (BOURC) is a committee of the BOU established to maintain the British List, the official list of birds recorded in Great Britain. BOU is headquartered in Peterborough and is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

in England & Wales and Scotland.

Objectives and activities

* Publishes '' Ibis'' as a leading international journal of ornithological science. * Organises a programme of meetings and conferences. * Awards grants and bursaries for ornithological research. * Encourages liaison between those actively engaged in ornithological research. * Provides a representative body of the scientific community able to provide ornithological information and advice to government and other policy makers. * Maintains and publishes the official list of birds recorded in Britain – The British List.

Records Committee

The British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC) is the recognised national

bird records committee A bird rarities committee or bird records committee is a committee which exists to validate records of rare birds in a particular country or region. Many countries have national rarities committees; in some areas, such as Europe, coverage is nea ...

for Britain. It maintains a list of birds of Britain. Its findings are published in '' Ibis'', the house journal of its parent body the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU). From time to time, BOURC re-reviews records which it has previously accepted, to ensure they are acceptable in the light of improved knowledge of the species in question. The Committee does not assess records of birds from Ireland; that task is carried out by the Irish Rare Birds Committee, which publishes its decisions in ''

Irish Birds ''Irish Birds'' is the annual journal of BirdWatch Ireland. Its first issue was published in 1977, superseding the ''Irish Bird Report'', which had been published from 1953 (number 1) to 1975 (number 23). ''Irish Birds'' publishes papers and notes ...

''. For many years, records of IRBC-assessed rarities were included in the BOURC's reports, but this ceased in 2002, at the request of IRBC. BOURC is widely recognised as maintaining the most authoritative list of birds of Britain. BOURC has a chairman, a secretary and a number of voting members. It previously had a taxonomic subcommittee, set up to advise on taxonomic matters, but the disbanding of this subcommittee was announced on 6 November 2015; the BOU now contemplates relying entirely on one of the available global avian taxonomies with a view to adopting a single system for all its activities.

Committee and taxonomic reports

The Committee publishes an annual report in '' Ibis'' (the BOU's international journal of avian science). All reports can be accessed via th
British List pages of the BOU website
Previously, the Committee's Taxonomic Sub-committee also published regular reports, also in '' Ibis'', and these too can be accessed via th
British List pages of the BOU website

The Druridge Bay curlew

Following a detailed review by the British Birds Rarities Committee into the controversial identification of a curlew seen at Druridge Bay in Northumberland in 1998, which came to the conclusion that it was, as had been believed by many observers, a first-summer slender-billed curlew, this identification was accepted by BOURC, leading to the addition of this species to the British List.Steele, Jimmy and Didier Vangeluwe (2002) From the Rarities Committee's files: the Slender-billed Curlew at Druridge Bay, Northumberland, in 1998 '' British Birds'' 95(6):279-299 A subsequent review of the record overturned the original decision '' Ibis'' 156 :236-242.

Awards and lectures

The following are awarded: * Godman-Salvin Medal * Union Medal (known as the "Janet Kear Union Medal" from 2019) *

Alfred Newton Lecture The Alfred Newton Lecture is an academic prize lecture awarded by the British Ornithologists' Union. It is named for Alfred Newton. Lecturers * 1994 Ian Newton * 1995 Janet Kear * 1998 Jared Diamond * 2003 Chris Perrins * 2009 Tim Birkhea ...

List of presidents

* 1858-1867 :

Henry Maurice Drummond-Hay Colonel Henry Maurice Drummond-Hay (7 June 1814 – 3 January 1896) was a Scottish naturalist and ornithologist. He was the son of Vice-Admiral Sir Adam Drummond, K.C.B., of Megginch Castle, Perthshire. In June 1832 he received his commission i ...

(1814–1896) * 1867-1896 :

Lord Lilford Baron Lilford, of Lilford in the County of Northampton, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1797 for Thomas Powys, who had previously represented Northamptonshire in the House of Commons. His grandson, the third Baron, ...

(1833–1896) * 1896-1913 : Frederick DuCane Godman (1834–1919) * 1913-1918 :

Robert George Wardlaw Ramsay Colonel Robert George Wardlaw-Ramsay FLS, FZS (25 January 1852 – 22 April 1921) was an army officer and naturalist. His father was Robert Balfour Wardlaw-Ramsay while his mother Louisa was the third daughter of George, eighth Marquess of Tweedda ...

(1852–1921) * 1918-1921 : William Eagle Clarke (1853–1938) * 1921-1922 : Henry John Elwes (1846–1922) * 1923-1928 :

Lord Walter Rothschild Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he was present ...

(1868–1937) * 1928-1933 : William Lutley Sclater (1863–1944) * 1933-1938 :

Harry Witherby Harry Forbes Witherby, MBE, FZS, MBOU (7 October 1873 – 11 December 1943) was a noted British ornithologist, author, publisher and founding editor (in 1907) of the magazine ''British Birds''. Personal life Harry was the second surviving so ...

(1873–1943) * 1938-1943 : Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear (1882–1957) * 1943-1948 :

Percy Roycroft Lowe Percy Roycroft Lowe (2 January 1870 – 18 August 1948) was an English surgeon and ornithologist. Life Lowe was born at Stamford, Lincolnshire and studied medicine at Jesus College, Cambridge. He served as a civil surgeon in the Second Boer ...

(1870–1948) * 1948-1955 : Sir Arthur Landsborough Thomson (1890–1977) * 1955-1960 : William Homan Thorpe (1902–1986) * 1960-1965 :

Reginald Ernest Moreau Reginald Ernest Moreau, (29 May 1897 – 30 May 1970), was an English civil servant who worked as an accountant in Africa and later contributed to ornithology. He made studies of clutch size in nesting birds, compared the life-histories of birds in ...

(1897–1970) * 1965-1970 :

V C Wynne-Edwards Vero Copner Wynne-Edwards, CBE, FRS, FRSE (4 July 1906 – 5 January 1997) was an English zoologist. He was best known for his advocacy of group selection, the theory that natural selection acts at the level of the group. Life He was ...

(1906–1997) * 1970-1975 : Guy Mountfort (1905–2003) * 1975-1979 :

Sir Hugh Elliott Sir Hugh Francis Ivo Elliott, 3rd Baronet, OBE (Allahabad 10 March 1913 – 21 December 1989) was an eminent British conservationist, ornithologist and colonial civil servant. Born in India in 1913, the elder son of Sir Ivo Elliott, 2nd Barone ...

(1913–1989) * 1979-1983 :

Stanley Cramp Stanley Cramp (24 September 1913 – 20 August 1987) was a British civil servant and ornithologist best known as the first Chief Editor of the encyclopaedic nine-volume handbook ''The Birds of the Western Palearctic'' (BWP). Cramp was born in St ...

(1913–1987) * 1983-1987 :

James F Monk James is a common English language surname and given name: * James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambigua ...

(1915–2014) * 1987-1990 : David Snow * 1990-1994 :

Janet Kear Janet Kear (13 January 1933 – 24 November 2004) was an English ornithologist and conservationist who worked extensively on waterfowl and wrote several major works on ducks. She was the first woman to become president of the British Ornitholo ...

(1933–2004) * 1994-1999 : John Croxall * 1999-2003 : Ian Newton * 2003-2007 :

Christopher Perrins Christopher Miles Perrins, (born 11 May 1935) is Emeritus Fellow of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at the University of Oxford, Emeritus Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford and Her Majesty's Warden of the Swans since 1993. Educa ...

* 2007-2011 :

Alistair Dawson Alistair is a masculine given name. It is an Anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic '' Alasdair''. The latter is most likely a Scottish Gaelic variant of the Norman French Alexandre or Latin Alexander, which was incorporated into English in the sa ...

( Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) * 2011-2015 :

Jenny Gill Jennifer Mary Gill (born 1951) is a semi retired executive from New Zealand who works in philanthropy. She was New Zealand's first full-time paid employee working in philanthropy, and the chair of Philanthropy New Zealand. Biography Jennifer ...

( University of East Anglia) * 2015-2019 :

Keith Hamer Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish baron ...

( University of Leeds)

Honorary Life Members

The following have been elected as honorary life members: *

Peter Berthold Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

(Germany) * Jacques Blondel (France) *

Paul F. Donald Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

(UK) *

Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim Urs Noel Glutz von Blotzheim (born 18 December 1932 in Solothurn) is a Swiss zoologist, who is primarily known for his ornithological work. Glutz von Blotzheim is Professor Emeritus at the University of Bern. He is an honorary member of the B ...

(Switzerland) *

Andrew Gosler Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

(UK) *

Soekarja Somadikarta Soekarja Somadikarta (born 21 April 1930) is an Indonesian ornithologist 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 ...

(Indonesia) * Staffan Ulfstrand (Sweden)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Bird rarities committees Charities based in England Huntingdonshire 1858 establishments in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Cambridgeshire Organizations established in 1858