Experienced rarity-finder joins the British Birds Rarities Committee
A noteworthy change has taken place at the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC): as announced on its website, the committee has appointed Richard Patient as a new voting member, following the retirement of David Fairhurst.
A lifetime of birding, now stepping into national-records adjudication
Richard began serious birding as a child, and has since built an enviable track-record of rarities submitted for national review. His first submitted description dates back to 1985, when four ‘spooned’ adult Pomarine Skuas flew low over the fens in a notable influx. Since then, his contributions to the county records panel and to rarities work have grown steadily.
Highlighting Richard’s rare-bird finds
Among the many rare birds for which he has prepared submissions are:
- Blue-winged Teal
- Ferruginous Duck
- White-headed Duck
- Black Kite
- Multiple Red-footed Falcons
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Semipalmated Sandpiper
- Whiskered Tern
- Penduline Tit
- Savi’s Warbler
- Several Arctic Redpolls
- American Golden Plover
- White-rumped Sandpiper
- Ring-billed Gull
- Richard’s Pipit
- European Serin
- Great Reed Warbler
- Lesser Scaup
- Gull-billed Tern
- Franklin’s Gull
- Britain’s first Kelp Gull (for which he gained the Carl Zeiss Award)
The BBRC assesses records of rare bird species in Britain, applying uniform adjudication standards for descriptions and evidence. A voting member such as Patient will participate directly in the assessment of rare-bird records, contribute to annual reports and help shape identification criteria going forward.
With Patient joining the committee at a time when bird-recording is evolving (more photographs, digital submissions, shifting species distributions), his background in both rarity submission and county records is likely to be valuable. The BBRC itself noted that nominations were invited but no others came forward, so the appointment streamlines continuity.
This appointment underscores the BBRC’s ongoing commitment to robust standards in rarity assessment. For birders and recorders it offers reassurance that experienced practitioners remain at the core of national record adjudication. The birding community will be looking to see how Patient’s involvement influences the committee’s work in the years ahead.
November 2025
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