page_title: British avifauna
section_title: Rarities
hierarchical_section_title: British avifauna / Visiting species / Rarities
caption_attribution_description: English: Wilson's Warbler
context_page_description: The British avifauna is the birds that have occurred in Great Britain. A full species list can be found at List of birds of Great Britain.
  In general, the avifauna of Britain is similar to that of Europe, consisting largely of Palaearctic species. As an island, it has fewer breeding species than continental Europe, with some species, like crested lark, breeding as close as northern France, yet unable to colonise Britain.
  The mild winters mean that many species that cannot cope with harsher conditions can winter in Britain, and also that there is a large influx of wintering birds from the continent or beyond.
  There are about 250 species regularly recorded in Great Britain, and another 350 that occur with varying degrees of rarity.
context_section_description: One of the fascinations of the British list is the number of rarities. Because of its position on the western fringes of Europe, Britain receives a number of vagrants from North America. Some American gulls, ducks and waders are regular enough to not be considered rare. These include ring-billed gull, surf scoter and pectoral sandpiper. Rare American passerines include red-eyed vireo and blackpoll warbler.
  Some rarities breed in Europe, but are short-distance migrants which rarely make it to Great Britain. Examples are crested lark and Marmora's warbler.
  Siberian species such as yellow-browed warbler and Pechora pipit also occur much more regularly in Britain than further east in Europe. This is because migrating birds are likely to rest on the well-watched eastern coast after crossing the North Sea.
  Only one exclusively sub-Saharan breeder has reached Britain, although it has done so twice. This is Allen's gallinule.
  Seabird rarities can of course reach Britain from great distances. Amongst the more improbable wanderers to Britain, perhaps the most surprising is the ancient murrelet from the Pacific.
caption: Wilson's warbler
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