Abstract

This paper provides the background for the recently concluded BBRC review of records of ‘Little Shearwater’ Puffinus assimilis senu lato in Britain. It sets out the rationale and contexts for the review, describes the review process itself and summarises its conclusions.Introduction‘Little Shearwater’ was for many years treated as a polytypic species with multiple subspecies, most inhabiting the Southern Oceans, though four subspecies breed in the North Atlantic. A number of taxonomic changes have since taken place. In the North Atlantic, the four taxa were split into two polytypic species in 2005: Audubon’s Shearwater P. lherminieri, breeding in the Caribbean and Bahamas and with two subspecies (P. l. lherminieri and P. l. loyemilleri) and ‘Macaronesian Shearwater’ P. baroli sensu lato (named ‘North Atlantic Little Shearwater’ by British Birds), breeding on the islands of Macaronesia in the Northeast Atlantic and consisting of two subspecies (P. b. baroli and P. b. boydi) (Sangster et al. 2005).