View source for British Ornithologists' Union

{{Short description|British organization of ornithology}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Advert|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox organization
| name          = British Ornithologists' Union
| image         = BOU_logo_(2014).jpg
| size          = 89px
| caption       = 
| abbreviation  = BOU
| formation     = {{Start date and age|1858}}
| purpose       = Ornithological research
| leader_title  = President
| leader_name   = Graeme Buchanan
| leader_title2 = Vice-presidents
| leader_name2  = Richard Bradbury & Emma Cunningham
| leader_title3 = Treasurer
| leader_name3  = Graham Appleton
| leader_title4 = Secretary
| leader_name4  = Mark Eaton
| key_people    = [[Alfred Newton]] (founder)
| main_organ    = Council of Trustees
| website       = {{URL|www.bou.org.uk}}
}}

The '''British Ornithologists' Union''' ('''BOU''') aims to encourage the study of [[bird]]s ([[ornithology]]) around the world in order to understand their [[biology]] and aid their [[conservation biology|conservation]]. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor [[Alfred Newton]], [[Henry Baker Tristram]] and other scientists.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bowdler Sharpe|first=R|title=Alfred Newton|journal=[[British Birds (magazine)|British Birds]]|year=1908|volume=1|pages=33–9|url=http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/search?id=9|access-date=21 July 2013|archive-date=1 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501033934/https://britishbirds.co.uk/search?id=9|url-status=live}}</ref>  Its quarterly journal, ''[[Ibis (journal)|Ibis]]'', has been published continuously since 1859.

The Records Committee (BOURC) is a committee of the BOU established to maintain the British List, the official list of birds recorded in Great Britain.

BOU is headquartered in [[Peterborough]] and is a [[Charitable organization|registered charity]] in England & Wales and Scotland.<ref>{{EW charity|249877}}</ref><ref>{{Scottish charity|SC044850}}</ref>

== Objectives and activities ==
* Publishes ''[[Ibis (journal)|Ibis]]'' as a leading international journal of ornithological science. 
* Organizes a program of meetings and conferences.
* Awards grants and bursaries for ornithological research.
* Encourages liaison between those actively engaged in ornithological research.
* Provides a representative body of the scientific community able to provide ornithological information and advice to the government and other policy makers.
* Maintains and publishes the official list of birds recorded in Britain – The British List.

==Records committee==

The '''British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee''' (BOURC) is the recognized national [[bird records committee]] for [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. It maintains a list of birds in Britain. Its findings are published in ''[[Ibis (journal)|Ibis]]'', the house journal of its parent body, the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU). From time to time, BOURC re-reviews records that it has previously accepted to ensure they are acceptable in light of improved knowledge of the species in question.

The Committee does not assess records of birds from Ireland; that task is carried out by the [[Irish Rare Birds Committee]], which publishes its decisions in ''[[Irish Birds]]''. For many years, records of IRBC-assessed rarities were included in the BOURC's reports, but this ceased in 2002, at the request of IRBC.<ref>[[Michael John Rogers|Rogers, Michael J.]] and the [[British Birds Rarities Committee|Rarities Committee]] (2002) [http://www.bbrc.org.uk/2001RevA.pdf Report on rare birds in Great Britain in 2001] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910043256/http://www.bbrc.org.uk/2001RevA.pdf |date=September 10, 2011 }} ''British Birds'' 95(10): 476-528</ref>

BOURC is widely recognized as maintaining the most authoritative list of birds in Britain.<ref>[http://www.bou.org.uk/recgen.html The BOU website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301142617/http://www.bou.org.uk/recgen.html |date=March 1, 2011 }} lists the following organisations as having indicated that they regard the decisions on status and taxonomy reached by BOURC as comprising the 'official' British List: [[British Trust for Ornithology]], [[Countryside Council for Wales]], [[English Nature]], [[Joint Nature Conservation Committee]], [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]], [[Scottish Natural Heritage]], [[Scottish Ornithologists' Club]], [[Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust]] and [[The Wildlife Trusts]].</ref> In 2025 the BOURC adopted the [[AviList]] global avian taxonomy.<ref>{{ cite web | title=BOU adopt AviList global avian taxonomy | date=7 July 2025 | url=https://bou.org.uk/british-list/bou-to-adopt-new-avilist-global-avian-taxonomy/ | publisher=British Ornithologist' Union | access-date=11 October 2025 }}</ref>

BOURC has a chairman, a secretary and a number of voting members. It previously had a taxonomic subcommittee set up to advise on taxonomic matters, but the disbanding of this subcommittee was announced on 6 November 2015; the BOU now contemplates relying entirely on one of the available global avian taxonomies with a view to adopting a single system for all its activities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bou.org.uk/about-the-bou/recent_news/ |title=News - British Ornithologists' Union - British Ornithologists' Union |access-date=2015-11-09 |archive-date=2017-01-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126044720/https://www.bou.org.uk/about-the-bou/recent_news/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Committee and taxonomic reports===

The Committee publishes an annual report in ''[[Ibis (journal)|Ibis]]'' (the BOU's international journal of avian science). All reports can be accessed via the [http://www.bou.org.uk/british-list/ British List pages of the BOU website].

Previously, the Committee's Taxonomic Sub-committee also published regular reports, also in ''[[Ibis (journal)|Ibis]]'', and these too can be accessed via the [http://www.bou.org.uk/british-list/ British List pages of the BOU website].

===The Druridge Bay curlew===

{{main|The Druridge Bay curlew}}

Following a detailed review by the [[British Birds Rarities Committee]] into the controversial identification of a [[curlew]] seen at [[Druridge Bay]] in [[Northumberland]] in 1998, which came to the conclusion that it was, as had been believed by many observers, a first-summer [[slender-billed curlew]], this identification was accepted by BOURC, leading to the addition of this species to the British List.<ref>Steele, Jimmy and Didier Vangeluwe (2002) From the Rarities Committee's files: the Slender-billed Curlew at Druridge Bay, Northumberland, in 1998 ''[[British Birds (magazine)|British Birds]]'' 95(6):279-299</ref><ref name="BOURC29">{{cite journal |title=British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee: 29th Report (October 2002) |journal=Ibis |volume=145 |pages=178–183 |publisher=British Ornithologists' Union |date= 17 December 2002|doi=10.1046/j.1474-919X.2003.00136.x |doi-access=free }}</ref> A subsequent review of the record overturned the original decision ''[[Ibis (journal)|Ibis]]'' 156 :236-242.<ref name="BOURC42">{{cite journal |title=British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee: 42nd Report (October 2013) |journal=Ibis |volume=156 |pages=236–242 |publisher=British Ornithologists' Union |date= 16 December 2013|doi=10.1111/ibi.12128 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Awards and lectures ==
The following are awarded:<ref name="about the bou">{{Cite web |url=http://www.bou.org.uk/about-the-bou/administration-and-people/medals-and-awards/# |title=Medals and awards - British Ornithologists' Union - British Ornithologists' Union |access-date=2013-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331172205/https://www.bou.org.uk/about-the-bou/administration-and-people/medals-and-awards/# |archive-date=2017-03-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Godman-Salvin Medal]]
* [[Union Medal of the British Ornithological Union|Union Medal]] (known as the "Janet Kear Union Medal" from 2019)<ref name="JKUM">{{cite web |title=The Janet Kear Union Medal |url=https://www.bou.org.uk/blog-janet-kear-union-medal/ |publisher=British Ornithologists' Union |access-date=10 September 2019 |date=28 May 2019 |archive-date=10 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910094503/https://www.bou.org.uk/blog-janet-kear-union-medal/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Alfred Newton Lecture]]

== List of presidents ==
* 1858–1867: [[Henry Maurice Drummond-Hay]] (1814–1896)
* 1867–1896: [[Thomas Powys, 4th Baron Lilford|Lord Lilford]] (1833–1896)
* 1896–1913: [[Frederick DuCane Godman]] (1834–1919)
* 1913–1918: [[Robert George Wardlaw-Ramsay]] (1852–1921)
* 1918–1921: [[William Eagle Clarke]] (1853–1938)
* 1921–1922: [[Henry John Elwes]] (1846–1922)
* 1923–1928: [[Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild|Lord Walter Rothschild]] (1868–1937)
* 1928–1933: [[William Lutley Sclater]] (1863–1944)
* 1933–1938: [[Harry Witherby]] (1873–1943)
* 1938–1943: [[Norman Boyd Kinnear|Sir Norman Boyd Kinnear]] (1882–1957)
* 1943–1948: [[Percy Roycroft Lowe]] (1870–1948)
* 1948–1955: [[Arthur Landsborough Thomson|Sir Arthur Landsborough Thomson]] (1890–1977)
* 1955–1960: [[William Homan Thorpe]] (1902–1986)
* 1960–1965: [[Reginald Ernest Moreau]] (1897–1970)
* 1965–1970: [[V. C. Wynne-Edwards]] (1906–1997)
* 1970–1975: [[Guy Mountfort]] (1905–2003)
* 1975–1979: [[Sir Hugh Elliott, 3rd Baronet|Sir Hugh Elliott]] (1913–1989)
* 1979–1983: [[Stanley Cramp]] (1913–1987)
* 1983–1987: [[James F. Monk]] (1915–2014)
* 1987–1990: [[David Snow (ornithologist)|David Snow]]
* 1990–1994: [[Janet Kear]] (1933–2004)
* 1994–1999: [[John Croxall]]
* 1999–2003: [[Ian Newton]]
* 2003–2007: [[Christopher Perrins]]
* 2007–2011: [[Alistair Dawson]] ([[Centre for Ecology & Hydrology]])
* 2011–2015: [[Jenny Gill]] ([[University of East Anglia]])
* 2015–2019: [[Keith Hamer]] ([[University of Leeds]])
* 2019–2023: [[Juliet Vickery]] ([[RSPB/BTO]])

== Honorary life members ==
The following have been elected as honorary life members:<ref name="BOU_awards">{{cite web |title=Medals and awards |url=https://bou.org.uk/about-the-bou/medals-and-awards/ |website=BOU |publisher=British Ornithologists' Union |access-date=18 December 2022 |archive-date=18 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218165951/https://bou.org.uk/about-the-bou/medals-and-awards/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

* {{Ill|Peter Berthold|de}} (Germany)
* {{Ill|Jacques Blondel|fr|Jacques Blondel (écologue)}} (France)
* Paul F. Donald<!--Q90008853--> (UK)
* [[Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim]] (Switzerland)
* Andrew G. Gosler<!--Q47516883--> (UK)
* [[Soekarja Somadikarta]] (Indonesia)
* {{Ill|Staffan Ulfstrand|sv}} (Sweden)

==See also==
* [[British Ornithologists' Union checklists]]
* [[British Birds Rarities Committee]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commonscatinline}}
* {{Official website|http://www.bou.org.uk/}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:British Ornithologists' Union| ]]
[[Category:Bird rarities committees]]
[[Category:Charities based in England]]
[[Category:Huntingdonshire]]
[[Category:1858 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Cambridgeshire]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1858]]