The Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP) was founded 50 years ago this month. It uses data, mostly collected by volunteers, to track the fortunes of around 100 of the UK's rarest breeding species, including Golden Eagle, Crane and Turtle Dove. The Panel's work informs a wide range of conservation and monitoring work, including the reintroduction of Red Kite and White-tailed Eagle, and assessments of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Protection Areas.
Rare sighting of Elegant Tern
An Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans) has been spotted amongst a committee of Sandwich Terns (Sterna sandvicensis) on the Sefton Coast this month.
Local naturalist discovers rare insect in St Helen’s
Local naturalist, Dave Owen, discovered a Giant Lacewing (Osmylus fulvicephalus) at Sankey Valley Country Park. This locally rare species has only been sighted once in St.Helens, back in 1988 at the Goyt woodland, Carr Mill about a mile and a half north of Sankey Valley Country Park. Hopefully more of these very impressive insects can be recorded in our area and...
A rare fungus find: Daisy Earthstar (Geastrum floriforme) by Anthony Carter
This species first appeared in Liverpool at Springwood Crematorium in October 2019, a single fruitbody under some Cupressus leylandii near the access road. There are only 38 previous UK records on the national database. A rarity in this area, the only previous record for the North West was in 1953 at Blundellsands. This was also...
