Full Issue

Abstract

Chairman's Message Welcome to the new online open-access journal. As you will have seen, we are publishing Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. during 2017 on the BOC's website, moving in 2018 to the umbrella of BioOne. We hope that you will let us know your thoughts concerning the new format either at the meeting on 12 June or directly by e-mail. We begin 2017 in our new charitable structure: we are now a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with a board of trustees and a new constitution. The Charity Commission has endorsed our 'charitable objects' with confirmation that the work of the charity will be for the public benefit. Details of our new office address, bank account, the names of the trustees and their terms of office, together with the new constitution, have been posted on the website. The fundamental decision to move the Bulletin to open-access and online was taken bearing in mind the realities of current trends in academic journal publication, the slow decline in the readership of the hard copy Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. and our public benefit charitable responsibilities. Nevertheless, in moving to its new online-only format, the Bulletin's commitment to being fully Code compliant remains in place. We have considered several possible online sites for Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl., including our own. In the end, we have entered discussions with an American online publisher, BioOne. They have an impressive list of open-access ornithological journals, are enthusiastic about adding Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. to their list and offer attractive services, including ensuring the journal will be fully searchable and accessible on all devices. Their website is: http://www.bioone.org. However, we cannot take Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. to the BioOne site until January 2018. This means that for the current year we are placing Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. in .pdf format on our own website, where you are now reading the first issue of Vol. 137. In making this transition, we are beholden to Guy Kirwan, our Hon. Editor, and Eng-Li Green, our very capable designer and webmaster. I should add that our agreement with the Biodiversity Heritage Library stands and we will be integrating the BioOne arrangements with BHL in due course. In another initiative, to reduce our costs we have removed our stock of books (the Occasional Publications plus the Uganda checklist) from Peterborough and they are now being stored by Richard Malin, our Hon. Treasurer. We propose to enable members / friends to purchase copies of individual titles for a nominal sum inclusive of postage, and details of these will shortly be issued and also placed on the website. In respect of the JPC checklists published jointly with the BOU, the current plan is that they will be sent to the Natural History Book Service for purchase in the normal way. The meetings at the Barley Mow continue, but owing to changes in the Barley Mow's diary we have had to move our meetings to Mondays. I trust that this shift will fit in with your own arrangements. At the meeting on Monday 12 June, Alex Bond will talk on Gough...