Tag: birds
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Birds, Greenpeace, Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Snoopy
Before moving on to more pleasant matters, a quick follow-up on yesterday’s post about the Green Party, Zack Polanski and the right-wing media’s traducing of him. I have since come across two more disgraceful interviews, one by Mandelson’s friend Trevor Phillips and one by Laura Kuenssberg. Far worse than either is the cartoon which appeared…
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Holly Blues, SSSIs and Birdwatch
I’ve been seeing quite a number of tiny blue butterflies in the garden and around the village. They are most likely Holly Blues, also or previously known as Wood Blues, Azure Blues or Blue Speckt Butterflies with Black Tips. Only the females have black borders to their wings. They are apparently fairly common in the…
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Oilseed Rape, RPSB, Golden Eagles, Sam West birdwatching, Pied Wagtails, Protect the Wild Swifts, Trail Hunting and Glue Traps, Madagascar – Chameleons and Lemurs, Star Trek, Dad’s Army, The Assembly and Starmer
Oilseed Rape I wondeređ what this plant was when it appeared growing from the foot of a nearby wall. I have noticed it growing on local road verges too. It is Oilseed Rape and is rather pretty. I assume these appearances derive from an arable farm not far away. It may be pretty but it…
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A Chaffinch, planning this year’s bike trip and animal rescue
A Chaffinch was the first bird of today. Like Dunnocks, they are ground feeders. Their nests are described as neat, deep cups. Numbers here are more or less doubled by migrants in winter. When they are a part of a mixed flock with Bramblings there is no competition for food since Bramblings can take larger…
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Bird matters, birds matter and other wildlife
My bird of the day is the Blackbird. As well as the two books mentioned in earlier posts, I am drawing on the charming book above, Bird Lore, the Myths, Magic and Folklore of Birds, Quadrille, 2025, by Sally Coulthard, which has delightful illustrations by Clover Robin. It turns out that the “calling birds” in…
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Wood Pigeons, the British Trust for Ornithology News
Bird of the day, the first I saw this morning, is the Wood Pigeon. Actually they are the first I see most mornings since they perch on the wires across the road outside my office window. There is always a pair here and they are often seen in a group of three which I find…
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Seashells, Hippos, Cheetahs, the trouble with birdwatching, corrupt politicians and an amazing panorama
Seashells These shells were no longer wanted in my son’s room and so I have relocated them to the summerhouse which is getting rather cluttered with wildlife books, objects and art. I had forgotten we had them and cannot remember where they came from. They made me think of my good fortune in being involved…
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The British Trust for Ornithology Conference 2026. Part II
Sam Langlois gave an overview of seabird monitoring and tracking. In the past we simply have not known what goes on when the birds are out at sea but now with telemetry in the form of GPS tags, we have data to inform marine spatial planning, species ecology and in particular Marine Protected Areas. We…
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The British Trust for Ornithology Conference 2026. Part I
In most respects this was as rewarding as it was last year. It was tiring. The lovely lady I was next to said that she also felt exhausted having taken in so much information. The venue was the Mercure Hotel in Northampton. I understand the need for a fairly central location but this was not…
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Pheasant shooting – the insanity
The image above is from Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 1862-1873. A lively debate in the pub last night on a subject I often try to avoid or change because I tend to get overheated to say the least. Of the four people involved two were completely against me, one didn’t say much,…
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More George Monbiot, Birdwatch
George Monbiot’s How Did We Get Into This Mess?: Politics, Equality, Nature, Verso, 2016, continues to shine. In ‘Civilisation is Boring’ his prose really takes flight, soars and sings. He quotes the pioneering conservationist Aldo Leopold: “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds ……
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RSPB Magazine & BTO News
RSPB Winter/Spring 2026 Chief executive Beccy Speight enjoys the “gentle purring” of Turtle Doves in Italy and takes from it a call to action and Yellowhammers are on the rise at RSPB’s Hope Farm. In both cases a primary factor in downturns has been intensive agricultural practices leading to a decline in wildflower seeds on…
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Empathy and gratitude; foxes, raptors, swans, cows, deer, legal matters and more
The Kennet & Avon Canal played a large role in my year and my enjoyment of the summer in particular. The photo above and two of those below were taken in the cold winter of 2010 when the canal partly froze over. Wildlife rescue in the face of wildlife persecution A World We No Longer…
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Sarcastic Fringehead
This crazy name came up in a short multiple choice quiz set by the £1m winner of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? It is, it turns out, a fish, so named for its highly aggressive, territorial behaviour. I suppose sarcasm can be a relatively gentle form of aggression but I still don’t really get…
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Savernake Forest: fungi, lots of fungi and a Treecreeper
Savernake Forest, just outside Marlborough, Wiltshire, is privately owned and seems very well looked after for its wildlife, in spite of its being managed by Forestry England. The Marquess of Allesbury and his son the Earl of Cardigan are the owners. It has SSSI status for the diversity and in particular ancient oak trees and…
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Return to Farmoor, Ragwort, Slang, Starmer and Digital ID, RSPB Magazine
I much enjoyed my first visit to Farmoor Reservoir in Oxfordshire at the beginning of the year: Farmoor Reservoir – Animal Wild I planned to return and having acquired an electric bike in the interim much looked forward to cycling round, easily covering the distance so that I could be where the birds were. Thames…
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Birdwatch magazine October 2025, Choughs, the Isle of Wight, hard drugs and the latest from Starmer
Issue 400 Birdwatch magazine celebrates 400 issues. As ever much of it is too twitchy for me, but the photos alone of the rare Red-flanked Bluetail, as on the cover, are worth the price of admission. I confess to having wanted to see a Chough for a long time though (a black corvid with strikingly…
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From the heart of Bath to the outskirts of Bristol; the Sparrowhawk; Fergus the Silent; Patrick Galbraith
The Bristol and Bath railway path was the first major project undertaken by Sustrans. It’s more or less flat of course and asphalt all the way. I didn’t feel the need to continue on into Bristol – this had already been my most urban bike ride this year by far – so I turned around…
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The Great Auk
The Great Auk, Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife by Tim Birkenhead, Bloomsbury Sigma, 2025. I have already written about this book briefly when it was reviewed in British Wildlife magazine. Of at least two other books I have said that there’s a danger with those about a single species that they can…
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Phoenix Trail, a double rainbow, a Sparrowhawk in the garden and a bird murder raffle
The Phoenix Trail I parked just outside Princes Risborough and easily picked up the Phoenix Trail which runs on variably surfaced paths to Thame, about a fifteen mile round trip. It was very peaceful and runs through wooded sections and arable fields, with great views of the Chiltern Hills. It’s also a sculpture trail with…
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The Starling: a Biography
The Starling: a Biography, by Stephen Moss, Square Peg, 2024. Stephen Moss is a prolific author and I have read and enjoyed many of his works. And I am extremely fond of Starlings. The stunning dust-wrapper image is from: Lilford (Lord, Thomas Littleton Powys). Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Islands. Seven volumes. …
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Birdwatch, BBOWT, BTO and RSPB magazines, Camp Beagle and a little bit of wonderful news
Beginning with the good news, two Dorset hunts, following convictions for illegal activities, have been asked not to to attend an agricultural show. I have only ever been to one and absolutely hated it. This might seem a small victory but it seems significant to me. They parade their appallingly abused hounds at these events,…
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They steal baby Gannets and eat them, don’t they?
I photographed this Gannet, collecting seaweed for the nest, off the coast of Alderney earlier this year. The headline above is shameless in two ways. It’s a steal from the novel and film They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and I usually try to be less emotive, but this has got me really angry. We harvest…
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Seven Red Admirals
The absence of butterflies is a huge concern again this year but I was delighted to see seven fresh and bright Red Admirals all at once in the garden the other day. The lovely illustration above is from: Humphreys (H.N.) and Westwood (J.O.) British Butterflies and their Transformations; British Moths and their Transformations. Three volumes.…
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Gifts of Nature: The Return of the Starlings; A Wren’s Nest; Other Birds, a Ladybird and Flowers
Flowers Vibrant carpets of Buttercups and Oxeye Daisies: The alliums have gifted generously this year too. This is strikingly coloured Honey Garlic, or Sicilian Honey Garlic, Allium siculum. These are Drumstick Allium or Round-headed Garlic, Allium Sphaerocephalon: The colours couldn’t complement each other better it seems to me. Here they are just a day later:…
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RSPB Magazine, Spring/Summer 2025 and a time-lapse Water Lily
Chief Executive Beccy Speight opens with a no-nonsense attack on the grouse and gamebird (what an awful word) shooting industries and the destruction they cause, especially of birds oḟ prey. Heather Mathieson, Investigations Liaison Officer, writes on the same subject in more detail in an article “Stop the Killing”. ‘Birdcrime’ is specifically used to refer…
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Heron
I have already posted these but feel they deserve a separate post of their own. From: The Kennet & Avon Canal part V – Animal Wild). Burbage Wharf to Pewsey Wharf – including a fabulous surprise.
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The Kennet & Avon Canal part V
Burbage Wharf to Pewsey Wharf – including a fabulous surprise Eleven miles there and back, which doesn’t sound a lot especially on an electric bike, almost effortless, but you really do have to concentrate to avoid the worst of the roots, stones and overheard branches and other hazards, such as where the towpath narrows worryingly…
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Gallimaufry: Badgers, birds and birdsong, royal hands, Coyotes, an Oak Tree, a Colossal Squid, a Slow Worm & aliens
Gallimaufry is a great word. A colleague at an antiquarian bookshop was very fond of it and various other synonyms for miscellany. It’s a French stew. Olla podrida is a Spanish stew (pot pourri is the direct French equivalent), also used by the book cataloguer to my mystification at the time, salmagundi and macédoine are…
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Alderney wildlife
Even during such an emotional trip (see previous post) I did not of course forget about the wildlife. My first stop was the Alderney Wildlife Trust’s (AWT) centre and shop. I had hoped to meet the new warden at the observatory as well but timings unfortunately did not allow. The Trust is very active, organising…
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Nature Boy
Seán Ronayne, Nature Boy; a journey of birdsong and belonging, Hachette Books, 2024. Book review. I didn’t want to finish this book, in the sense that I didn’t want it to end. It had me in tears too many times to count and from the beginning I was sure that it was going to be…
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Collared Dove
An adult pair were regular visitors earlier in the year as usual, but I haven’t seen them for weeks. Then two appeared this morning, but something was different and not just in their slightly fluffy appearance. They were shy and reticent, staying in the tree. I think they are juveniles and like to think the…
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Rattus norvegicus, George Monbiot and a few more garden birds
Rats Rattus norvegicus, variously know as the Norway rat, sewer rat, brown rat, wharf rat, common rat and Hanover rat. I had noticed an unusual although not unpleasant smell in the shed some weeks ago and some minor evidence of rodent damage. If I ignore it for long enough, I thought, it will go away.…
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The Kennet & Avon Canal part II
Hungerford to Little Bedwyn I started a little east of Hungerford at Lower Denford, exactly where I had stopped on the previous trip (I do like to be thorough), aiming for Little Bedwyn. I covered around eleven miles, the last two on the way back on foot following a front wheel puncture. Recognising the weight…
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Garden trees, shrubs & flowers, Magpies, Taxonomy, The Urban Birder, Ruddy Ducks and Temple Elephants
Garden trees, shrubs and flowers I have spent the morning going down rabbit-holes. Not literally of course. It began with a few photographs of trees and plants in the garden. I had been in a terrible muddle about the former and remembered the lesson never to assume anything, to question everything even when you are…
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Sparrow with attitude
I do think this female House Sparrow seems to have attitude, as in “What do you think you’re looking at?” BirdWatch magazine Bird Watch magazine is here again, issue 394, April 2025. I think I am coming to an end with it. It seems increasingly to be almost all about twitching rarities. That’s not really…
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Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve
This is a roughly forty minute drive from me and is part of the Cotswold Lakes area, much of which is given over to water sports. It is also part of the Cotswold Water Park Site of Special Scientific Interest, is Cotswold Lakes Trust’s flagship site and consists of wetland lagoons, scrapes, reedbeds and ponds. I…
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Bird Table – the BTO magazine for Garden Birdwatchers, BTO News & more
I picked up a year’s worth (2024) of the British Trust for Ornithology’s quarterly, generously illustrated magazine at the recent BTO conference in Manchester. As I said in my report on the conference, they will presumably be changing the name in short order since we are all now being discouraged from using bird tables at…
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Bird conference
British Trust for Ornithology, Annual Conference, Midland Hotel, Manchester, 1st March 2025 My first such conference (the only others I have attended have been about rare books and manuscripts), which tied in with visiting and staying with my younger daughter who is studying at Liverpool University, a long overdue but somewhat less than fruitful look…
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Long-tailed Tits
I have seen these adorable little birds a few times, in small groups (they are highly sociable), once at a distance in Norfolk and once, fleetingly, locally. They are not uncommon but they never sit still for long, generally not more than a second. Collins Bird Guide describes them as restless. I had never seen…
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Boring brown birds
Of course I don’t think they’re boring, no bird is boring to me, but I have heard it said of these two, a female Blackbird and a Dunnock. I rest my case with these photos showing their striking and complex markings.
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Falcons and falconry
This image of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco pergerinus), famously the fastest animal on the planet, is taken from John Gould’s magnificent The Birds of Great Britain, published in twenty-five parts, usually sumptuously bound in five folio volumes, between 1862 and 1873. Copies on the market today are priced between £60,000 and over £200,000. The copy…
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A few more garden bird photos
I have been trying to take some pictures which are a bit different with, preferably, the birds away from the feeders in a more natural setting, which is of course much harder. The smaller birds especially do not hang around and pose nicely – they usually fly off the second you have established focus. These…
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Vulpines, vicars and vets, Bill Bailey’s latest book, raptor decoys, zonkeys and Brocken spectres
Vulpines, vicars and vets Vulpes vulpes, the Red Fox, whose clownish-looking but sadistic persecutors continue to hunt them at will (although with a little less impunity than in the past) is getting no help from certain members of the clergy and the veterinary profession. Protect the Wild quite rightly wonders why clergymen continue to bless…
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A few more bird names
Information is mostly taken from the exciting new addition to my library, The Bird Name Book, Princeton University Press, 2022, by Susan Myers. These are birds who visited the garden yesterday or today. Two of the photos are from previous posts. The Robin (redbreast), Erithacus rubecula. Robin is a diminutive of Robert and in fifteenth…
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Books about Bird Names
I have often sung the praises of Stephen Moss’ Mrs Moreau’s Warbler; how birds got their names, Guardian Faber, 2018 especially in Animal Wild. In an update to this post Birdwatch, HART Wildlife Rescue and other wildlife notes and news – Animal Wild I reviewed The Vanishing Mew Gull; a guide to the bird names of…
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British Wildlife magazine December 2024; Birdwatch February 2025
British Wildlife, Volume 36, Number 3 The Common Lizard on the cover somehow looks relaxed and malevolent at the same time. The issue opens with a piece questioning whether Ireland’s Lusitanian heathers are in fact Spanish. I am sure it’s fascinating but to be honest I struggle to care terribly much. Brett Westwood in his…
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Birdwatch, HART Wildlife Rescue and other wildlife notes and news
At HART yesterday morning I was once again in the Isolation Room (is someone trying to tell me something?) then washing up in utility – a process also governed by strict protocols. I have been watching Joanna Page’s series about her experiences volunteering at Wildlife Aid and finding it quite relaxing. Her reactions to various…
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Avian Architecture. Book review. Part II
Avian Architecture, How Birds Design, Engineer and Build, by Peter Goodfellow, Princeton University Press, 2024, revised and expanded edition. With a foreword by consultant editor Professor Tony D. Williams. See earlier post: Avian Architecture. Book review. Part I – Animal Wild I began Part I with this: “In a sense it is a bold title. Whilst no…
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A Christmas wildlife miscellany
The picture above was taken in in January 2010 when the Kennet & Avon canal which runs through our village was partly iced over. No decent snow this year though. Newsletter 139 from the Binfield Badger Group is an excellent issue, not just because they have partly reproduced my account of our last survey, for…
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Slimbridge Wetland Centre
This is a rather gloomy post, so at the end is a short list of twelve reasons the RSPB has given to celebrate in the form of wildlife successes this year. I last went to Slimbridge ten years ago with my children. It was very sobering to visit again this week and to see it…
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BTO, RSPB, BBOWT, BirdGuides and Tamanend
I usually review and summarise the British Trust for Ornithology’s news magazine at some length, but I have to say that I found the winter 2024 edition rather lacklustre. It features a Harlequin Duck (I prefer the less gaudy Mandarins) on the cover to accompany a piece about the hoary and difficult subject of invasive…
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A Jay, a Magpie and Birdwatch magazine December 2024
Magpies are pretty common, I see them all the time, but I have only ever seen a Jay perhaps two or three times in my life. Their colours, both delicate and bold, are beyond words. At Hart Wildlife Rescue, in the isolation room again, I was entrusted with five hedgehogs and moving a Jay and…
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A White-crowned Parrot and other wildlife
A close friend is in the enviable position, in spite of weeks of constant torrential rain, of volunteering at a wildlife rescue in Costa Rica. He has also passed a Teaching English as a Foreign Language course with flying colours. Enchanted by this bird’s visit, he sent me this picture. He noticed that when it…
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A Swan, a Badger, a Gyrfalcon, a Fox, and Squirrel and Songbird theatre
A first for me at HART Wildlife Rescue this week. Whilst others worked inside with the hedgehogs, I was assigned the Collared and Stock Doves and Feral Pigeons outside, which I am used to, and a Mute Swan, which I am not. The columbines flapped about a fair bit in the aviary but soon calmed…
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Nuthatch!
There is a wonderful constant flurry of Blue Tits, Great Tits (they are very vocal this morning) and Sparrows at my feeders and a regular Great Spotted Woodpecker. I have seen a Nuthatch before, but never in my garden. I have gently (I hope) poked fun at certain twitchers and their adrenalin rushes and sleepless…
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A few more fungi, local poaching, Thames Water and the budget
We are fortunate to have another natural archway very close by. This leads to Barton Court, formerly the home of Sir Terence Conran, now of Pippa Middleton and her family. It was a favourite walk or cycle with the children and we knew it as the conker way (as opposed to the donkey way, or…
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Birdwatch November 2024
When I said to one of the tour leaders on my trip to Norfolk that the egret was my favourite bird, he asked which one. I said I really didn’t mind – Great, Little or Cattle. They share an extraordinary elegance. I should have known it wouldn’t be as simple as that. There are both…
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Wildlife crime and protest
Illustrated, for no particular reason, with photos from a recent short walk along the canal at Hungerford, showing a few common hybrid Mallards and a Moorhen. A new report from the RSPB on the illegal killing of birds of prey, protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, uses data collected over…
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A global check-list for birds
I was keen to explore this topic as reported in BirdGuides online. There are three global avian lists most widely used but inevitably there are differences between them. The plan is to unify them in one final list, AviList, which it has been agreed will be the official taxonomic reference. As ever with such matters,…