Siberian Accentor added to BOU's British list

Siberian Accentor has been admitted to Category A of the British list with the bird at Mossy Hill, Scousburgh, Mainland, Shetland, on 9-10 October 2016 (photographed) being accepted as the very first example for the country.

The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) said that this was one of the most straightforward additions to the British list maintained by their Records Committee (BOURC), being accepted after just two days of consideration. The description and many excellent photographs confirmed identification unequivocally.

Siberian Accentor, Scousburgh, Shetland, 10 October 2016 (Photo: David Aitken)

Siberian Accentor was a long-anticipated vagrant to Britain, and this first individual was part of an unparalleled invasion to north-western Europe in October and November 2016, when more than 200 individual birds were recorded, with at least another 10 subsequently found in Britain.

The species breeds in the taiga zone across northern Russia, from north-east Europe east to Chukotka, and winters from north-east China to Korea. It will now be placed after Alpine Accentor on the British list.

Further details of this decision will be published as part of the BOURC's 47th report which is expected to be published in Ibis in October 2017. Upon publication of this decision, the British list stands at 606 species (Category A = 588; Category B = 8; Category C = 10).

Siberian Accentor, Avoch, Highland, 6 November 2016 (Photo: Dave Tanner)