La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Time to get rid of the moustache: a review of British records of Moustached Warbler
Auteurs :	Tim Melling, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	British Birds (99(9) SEP 2006)
Article en page(s) :	465-478
Résumé :	This paper presents a recent review of one of the most extraordinary 'firsts' for Britain, that of Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon. Once an old specimen record from 1915 was dismissed as being part of the 'Hastings Rarities' affair, the record of a breeding pair in Cambridgeshire in 1946 became the first for Britain, and this record has stood as such for over 30 years. The Cambridgeshire birds were seen by many of the leading British ornithologists of the day, yet the publication of original field sketches (in British Birds in 2000) prompted fresh doubts about the identification. All material relating to the record was reviewed thoroughly in 2005, and BOURC members agreed unanimously that it was no longer acceptable as a first for Britain. Subsequently, a review of the one remaining British record, a bird trapped at Wendover, Buckinghamshire, in July 1965, showed that the evidence in support of this record was also not sufficient for it to stand as a first for Britain. Consequently, Moustached Warbler has now been removed from the British List.

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