I received a phone call last night from a colleague who has been "informed" of an upsurge in A.gentilis records for the London area, circa 20+ records in 2014 alone! Whether these translate into accepted records, only time will tell, thus the 2014 LBR should prove to be a "must have read".
Regarding scepticism of the said taxa- Thirty years ago I belonged to a local running club, where I met a fellow birder who did voluntary work for the RSPB.
One day he took me into his confidence and told me about a breeding pair on the Essex/Herts border, although I acknowledged the "news" with apparent acceptance, Inwardly I was somewhat disbelieving! Prior to this, my only sightings had been in Norfolk and Derbyshire during the '70's.
Having suspected their occurence in my local area from 2008 onwards, I was rewarded on March 3rd 2009, when after stopping the car on an unnamed road, with a "blizzard" of Corvids, Thrushes and Woodpigeons preceding an oncoming female Goshawk, flap flap gliding, about 20m up. This was the only time that I
have had unequivocal sustained views in open countryside. My description of the bird.....like a small Llammergeir! I didn't submit it for obvious reasons.
Take the "bones" out of that Rother! It's interesting to note that all the sceptical dissent, seems to emanate from outside the capital :eek!:....FWIW the UK list is currently 600 species....of which 60% have occurred within a 20 mile radius of St.Pauls.
