SURREY LIFE LISTS
If you have seen more than 200 species in Surrey then
you are doing well. Of the top ten Surrey lists, number ten stands on 227. However,
the top man is myself, Johnny “Badgeman” Allan and I’ve seen 263 species in Surrey.
Dave “the Walton Ninja” Harris is on 262. All of the top ten listers are avid, even
fanatical, patch watchers so get to see a lot of species which are not easy to see
in Surrey. Some of them are excellent rarity finders. Between them, they have seen
279 species in Surrey.
The area covered for Surrey listing is as recorded by the Surrey
Bird Club (the Watsonian vice county, south of the Thames). Spelthorne, “Political
Surrey”, north of the Thames (it’s still Middlesex on your address if you live there),
is not included.
All birds on the list follow the BOU British list so you can’t count,
for example, Pale Bellied Brent Goose or “White” Wagtail etc until they are officially
“split”. In recent times, some of the top ten have added Green Winged Teal, Common
“Mealy” Redpoll and Hooded Crow to their lists (and even more recently Yellow-
All county and national rarities
on the list must have been accepted by the official records committees so you can’t
count that Black Kite that flew over your head if you don’t submit it or if it’s
not accepted. The committees are the British Birds Rarities Committee for national
rarities and the Surrey Bird Club Records Committee and the London Natural History
Society Records Committee (if they occur in the part of Surrey that now is in Greater
London), for county rarities.
If you have a list of 225 or more, are interested in
Surrey listing, and want to be included, please let me know.
Move on to view the following:
WHAT BIRDS DO THE TOP TEN SURREY LISTERS NEED
