CBDC Publications
From time to time, CBDC publishes short reports from the local recording community on various topics related to biodiversity and recording in Cumbria. If you wish to contribute a document to be considered for publication on the CBDC website please contact our Recording Officer.
Two New Publications for 2021:
No 6. Checklist of Cumbrian Coleoptera
No 7. A List of Birds in Cumbria
Updated September 2021:
No 1. Inventory of Urban Gull Colonies in Cumbria
No 1. Inventory of Urban Gull Colonies in Cumbria (Issue 3.)
The past fifty or so years have seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls breeding in urban areas in Cumbria. Great Black-backed Gulls have also taken to breeding in built-up areas but in much smaller numbers. To the end of the 2015 breeding season a total of 45 urban gull colonies had been identified in the county. This short report provides an inventory of these colonies, together with an indication of their current size, nesting habitat, and, where known, their date of formation. Issue 3 – published September 2021
Download (PDF):No 1. Inventory of Urban Gull Colonies in Cumbria
No. 2 Pug Moths of Lancashire and Cumbria
Brian Hancock provides an extremely useful guide to the locally resident species of a group of moths that can provide some identification challenges to recorders; the pug moths. With the helpful aid of annotated images, maps and graphs, each of the 42 species is given an individual account detailing identification, distribution, status, flight period and food plants. There are also tips on how and where a recorder might find the more uncommon species and references to some of the most significant records.
Download (PDF):
No. 2 Pug Moths of Lancashire and Cumbria
No 3. Ornithology in Cumbria in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries: A Bibliography.
This document presents a list with full bibliographic details of publications relating to birds in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands published between the 16th and 19th centuries, together with details of where copies of the documents can be found (if known).
Download (PDF):
No 3. Ornithology in Cumbria in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries: A Bibliography.
No 3b. Bibliography of Ornithology in Cumbria, Part B, 1900-1949.
This report is a compilation of material published between 1900 and 1949 inclusive on the ornithology of Cumbria. It has been drawn up partly on the basis of four previous bibliographies, those by Mullens et al (1920), Shackleton (2010), and Armsby (2015), together with additional material identified during the preparation of this document.
Download (PDF): No 5. Transcripts of the Annual Reports of the Natural History Record Bureau, Carlisle, 1902-1912
No 4. Birds in Cumberland in the 18th Century
J. Heysham’s ‘A Catalogue of Cumberland Animals’ published in 1794 includes the first serious attempt to list the birds found in Cumberland.
Robin Sellers, a local ornithologist, has transcribed, annotated and edited the section listing the Cumberland birds.
Download (PDF):No 4. Birds in Cumberland in the 18th Century
No 5. Transcripts of the Annual Reports of the Natural History Record Bureau, Carlisle, 1902-1912.
In 1902 Carlisle Museum established a special unit called the Natural History Record Bureau to act as a focus for the collection of records about natural history in the area around Carlisle and Lakeland generally, and in so doing, created what was in effect Britain’s first biological records centre. In the twelve years of its existence the Natural History Record Bureau’s principal output was its annual report, published initially in the Carlisle Journal, the city’s twice weekly newspaper, and later in The Zoologist. This document presents a transcription of these annual reports.
Download (PDF): No 5. Transcripts of the Annual Reports of the Natural History Record Bureau, Carlisle, 1902-1912
No 6. Checklist of Cumbrian Coleoptera
This checklist by John Read covers all the valid names of 2,388 species of Coleoptera from 90 families known to occur in Cumbria, England, UK (vice counties 69 Westmorland and 70 Cumberland), along with their author(s) names and year of description using the most recent classification framework.
Download (PDF): Checklist of Cumbrian Coleoptera, including VC69 & VC 70
No 7. A List of the Birds of Cumbria
This publication presents a new and authoritative list of the species of bird known to have occurred in Cumbria since 1800. Amongst other things it explains the criteria used to determine which species are included (and which excluded), shows which subspecies occur in the county, indicates the conservation status of the species and provides a brief summary of the status of the species in the county.
Download (PDF): A List of Birds of Cumbria
