Holling, M. & the Rare Breeding Birds Panel. 2007b. Non-native breeding birds in the United Kingdom in 2003, 2004 and 2005. British Birds 100: 638-649.

Abstract

This is the eighth report by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP) summarizing breeding reports of the rarer non-native species in the UK. The RBBP has monitored the establishment and spread of populations of these species since 1996, so there is now a decade’s worth of data on a total of 38 species. This information assists the conservation agencies and the Government to fulfil Article 8 of the Biodiversity Convention, and other international treaties such as the EC Birds Directive, through the provision of the results of monitoring programmes. Any deliberate releases of non-native species must be closely monitored and care must be taken to minimize ecological conflicts with native fauna of flora. In fact, much of what is reported here reflects unregulated or accidental releases made in the past.
This report covers a three-year period, 2003 – 2005. In part, this is to allow the Panel to catch up with the delay in processing the records they hold (see Holling et al. 2007), but also because coverage and reporting of these species is still patchy and a more coherent analysis is possible when several years’ data can be considered together. It is likely that future Panel reports of rare non-native birds will also treat several years together. The Panel is keen to present more detailed analysis of the breeding records of selected species in its reports and here we include such a review of breeding Eagle Owls Bubo bubo in the UK, from the first recorded nesting in 1984 up to the present day.

Holling et al. (2007) included details of the membership of the Panel and the key to the geographical regions used in this report.

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