The following pages, under the Sussex Birds menu, contain a database of the Sussex List. For the commoner species a link is provided to pictures of the species where available. For most rare and scarce species a link is provided to a list of occurences in Sussex with additional links to photographs where available. All records are listed for many of these species while for others only those since a given year have been included (usually 1948, 1960, 1980 or 1990).

Many thanks are due to Richard Fairbank who kindly provided most of the records listed, these have been brought up to date using the relavent Sussex Bird Reports as published by the Sussex Ornithological Society.

des Forges and Harber (A Guide to the Birds of Sussex. Edinburgh. 1963) is the standard reference for scarce records in Sussex up to 1961. Shrubb (Birds of Sussex. Chichester. 1979) adds scant details on records during 1961-1976 but contains a number of errors and omissions relating to scarce records. James (ed.) (Birds of Sussex. Sussex Ornithological Society. 1996) summarises records published in des Forges and Harber (expanding on a few) and details those during 1962-1994. Records since 1994 can be found in relevant editions of the Sussex Bird Report as published by the Sussex Ornithological Society.

des Forges and Harber do not list individual records for species which had occurred in the county on more than ten occasions up to 1961, providing instead a summary. Where possible the individual records have been determined from the very detailed Walpole-Bond (A History of Sussex Birds. London. 1938) and subsequent South Eastern and Sussex Bird Reports. Walpole-Bond did not vet records prior to inclusion in his book and des Forges and Harber undertook a comprehensive review of all records up to 1961, omitting some records they had concerns with. Unfortunately Harber's working papers were lost following his death (G. des Forges pers. comm.). As a result, it has not been possible to determine, for some species, exactly which records were excluded or wheither any additional records were found. Reconciliations with des Forges and Harber’s totals up to 1961 have been attempted where relevant

In cases where images are available of birds prior to their acceptance by the relevant committee and publication in the relavant Bird Report they are included in the listings. Otherwise rcords are updated only on pulication in the relavant Bird Report.


No part of this web site may be copied or reproduced without permission from site owner. All photographic copyrights retained by photographer and no reproduction allowed unless authorized by the photographer. Authors of articles published here retain the copyright & no reproduction is allowed without their consent. No responsibility is accepted for inaccurate, false or out of date information. Articles may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the site owner.
© The Birds of Sussex

Home | Site Map | Contact Us
JavaScript DHTML Drop Down Menu By Milonic