October’s British Birds has traditionally been the issue containing the BBRC’s report on rarities in Great Britain; this year, that publication is delayed until December, but we’ve stuck with the theme of rarities and identification in this month’s issue. As all of this month’s papers demonstrate, there is still a lot to learn about the distribution, vagrancy and identification of many species and subspecies. Indeed, in the case of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire’s grey egret, we still don’t totally know what it was. In other cases, such as Switzerland’s first (and only) Band-rumped Storm-petrel, DNA analysis and a more thorough understanding of cryptic species and populations are helping us to piece together vagrancy patterns; it was DNA that allowed confirmation of Britain’s second ‘American Red-necked Grebe’, too. Closer to home for many of us, ‘Icelandic Redwing’ is likely an overlooked albeit scarce visitor to many areas of southern and eastern Britain; armed with the information presented in this month’s paper, finding your own Icelandic Redwing might make for an instructive birding c hallenge through the winter months.

Stephen Menzie, Editor