IRBC - Irish Rare Bird Report

The first Irish Bird Report for the year 1953 was published in 1954 by the Irish Ornithologists Club. It was edited by the late Major Robert F. Ruttledge. The report continued in this format until the 23rd Annual Report for 1975 was published in 1976. By this time Ken Preston had taken over as editor from Major Ruttledge. Subsequent to 1976 Irish Bird Reports were included in the journal Irish Birds published by the Irish Wildbird Conservancy (now known as BirdWatch Ireland).

The 51st and last Irish Bird Report for 2003, edited by Paul Milne, appeared in Irish Birds volume 7 number 4 published in 2005. In the intervening years Hugh Brazier, Jim Dowdall, Jim Fitzharris, Kieran Grace, Pat Smiddy, Oran O'Sullivan, Dave McAdams and Eric Dempsey had all undertaken editorial duties at various times. In 2005 a decision to amend the scope of the report was taken by the Irish Rare Birds Committee which 'brought forward a change in the format of rare bird recording in Ireland for 2004 and henceforth, which will see the IRBC focus solely on rare bird recording' (IRBC 2006). For a full account of the reasons behind this decision click here.

This new approach was immediately implemented and the Irish Bird Report made way for the Irish Rare Bird Report (IRBR). The first IRBR for 2004 was published in Irish Birds volume 8 number 1 in 2006. Both the 2005 and 2006 reports have also been published in Irish Birds and are available for download on this website. At present the 2007 IRBR is available for download as a PDF document only on this website (follow the link in the right hand column to begin download). The 2007 IRBR will also be published in the next issue of Irish Birds, i.e. volume 8 number 4, which is due for publication in 2010. Irish Birds is published annually and is available from the BirdWatch Ireland online shop Wings.

Irish Rare Bird Report File Sizes

Please note the large file size of each report before begining download. The PDF documents are all in excess of 3MB.

Reference:

Irish Rare Birds Committee 2006. Irish Rare Bird Report 2004. Irish Birds 8(1):107-108