​HRC description species (with effect from 1st January 2017)

Any record of the following species in the Highland recording area requires a formal description using this form.

​Bewick’s Swan
​Taiga Bean Goose
Dark-bellied Brent Goose 
Egyptian Goose (added 2017)
Snow Goose
American Wigeon
Green-winged Teal
Garganey
Red-crested Pochard
Ring-necked Duck
Surf Scoter
Smew (added 2018)
Ruddy Duck (added 2017)
Balearic Shearwater
Continental Cormorant (ssp sinensis)
Bittern
Great White Egret
White Stork
Glossy Ibis (added 2017)
Spoonbill
Red-necked Grebe
Black-necked Grebe
Honey Buzzard
Rough-legged Buzzard
Hobby
Ring-necked Parakeet (added 2017)
Spotted Crake
Common Crane
Avocet
American Golden Plover
Little Ringed Plover
Temminck’s Stint
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Grey Phalarope
Spotted Redshank (added 2017)

​Long-tailed Skua (juveniles and immatures)
Sabine’s Gull (amended 2018: east coast records only - Whiteness to Helmsdale)
Kumlien's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Roseate Tern
Black Tern (amended 2018: all records not just juvs)
Little Owl
Nightjar
Bee-eater
Wryneck
Shorelark
Scandinavian Rock Pipit (ssp. littoralis)
Richard’s Pipit
Water Pipit
Yellow Wagtail (all races)
Reed Warbler
Icterine Warbler
Barred Warbler
Siberian Chiffchaff (ssp. tristis)
Pallas’s Warbler
Firecrest
Bluethroat (added 2017)
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Bearded Tit
Marsh Tit
Willow Tit
Nuthatch
Golden Oriole
Red-backed Shrike
Nordic Jackdaw (ssp. monedula)
Chough
Rose-coloured Starling
Common Rosefinch
Scottish Crossbill (SBRC species in Skye and the small isles)
Parrot Crossbill (SBRC species in Sutherland, Lochaber, Skye and Lochalsh)