Heading from the 1992 update on the Rare Breeding Birds Panel from BB 85: 117-122.

Panel History

Notice of the formation of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel was given in British Birds in April 1973. The Panel was formed in December 1972 as an autonomous body separate from the RSPB, financed jointly [at that time] by the British Trust for Ornithology, the RSPB and British Birds, and including a representative of the Nature Conservancy. You can read the full article here.

A further update was published in March 1992. Our annual reports provide regular updates to changes in personnel and the species on our list.

RBBP Secretaries

To date, there have been five secretaries of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel:

Tim Sharrock 1973-1983

Bob Spencer 1983-1992

Malcolm Ogilvie January 1993 – April 2006

Mark Holling May 2006 – April 2020

Mark Eaton April 2020 – present.

RBBP Chairs

In the first 20 years of the Panel’s history, chairing of the Panel rotated on a roughly annual basis. During this period, the following members served as Chairs:

James Ferguson-Lees, Ian Prestt, Richard Porter, Colin Bibby and Leo Batten.

Since then there have been four chairs:

Ken Smith January 1993 – February 2008

David Stroud March 2008 – March 2012

Mark Eaton April 2012 – March 2020

Dawn Balmer April 2020 – present.

Panel membership

Since establishment in 1973, the following people have served on the Rare Breeding Birds Panel:

Helen Baker
Dawn Balmer
Leo Batten
Colin Bibby
Paul Castle
Humphrey Crick
Roy Dennis
Mark Eaton
James Ferguson-Lees
Ian Francis
Simon Gillings
Jeremy Greenwood
Mark Holling
Andrew King
David Norman
Malcolm Ogivlie
Richard Porter
Ian Prestt
Tim Sharrock
Ken Smith
Judith Smith
Robert Spencer
Andy Stanbury
David Stroud
Ron Summers
Katy Westerberg.