The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Continuing with the monthly review of Lincolnshire firsts we now move on to the month of June. With spring migration starting to tail off as mid-summer approaches, June can often be a quiet month and the list of firsts seen perhaps reflects this. However, it still includes some top quality sightings and interesting records connected with several of those species listed. And a re-visit from some of the below wouldn't go a miss…………

2012 - WESTERN BLACK-EARED WHEATEAR
A female wheatear present for just 20 minutes at Frampton Marsh RSPB on 12th June raised some nagging doubts with its finder about its identity. Thankfully, photographs were obtained enabling it to be identified retrospectively as a first-summer female Western Black-eared Wheatear – the first for Lincolnshire. Identification of short staying rarities from photographs seems to be an increasingly familiar scenario. With the advent of the digital age this has made obtaining images of birds much easier and thankfully this observer was well prepared and obtained some excellent images to ensure that another Lincolnshire first did not get away! Occurrences of Black-eared Wheatear in the UK are erratic and unpredictable, with sightings being widely dispersed around the country and often well away from traditional migration hotspots. There were 62 records in Britain and Ireland up to 2010, the majority of which were in spring. Interestingly, however, they have become much rarer this century, with only three spring records since 2000. As might be expected, only 5 spring birds were females. Not all these records are assigned specifically to Eastern or Western but of those identified to form, there is an even split of 12 Westerns and 12 Easterns.

1998 – LITTLE SWIFT
A swift with a striking white rump was located feeding amongst Common Swifts over the Humber Embankment adjacent to Barrow Haven reedbed at 14:30hrs on 26th June. Good views enabled the bird to be identified as Lincolnshire's first Little Swift, where it then continued to show well, over the sailing pit until lost to view at 16:04. It was relocated later in the evening in the Barrow Haven area where it was watched almost continually, (and successfully twitched) by a small group of birders, until last seen at 19:15hrs. This was only the 15th British record of this distinctive small swift. The second (and only other county record) came just 4 years after the first (remarkably almost to the day), when a bird was seen for 5 minutes over the Mere at Gibraltar Point early morning on 25th June 2002.

1993 – LESSER CRESTED TERN
A bird, with two Sandwich Terns, was located on the foreshore in the area of Rimac during the afternoon of 20th June. It showed well on the ground and during three short flights due to the incoming tide. It was clearly mated to a colour-ringed Sandwich Tern, mating of which was noted several times. The rising tide pushed all of the birds onto a higher sand bar and it was then successfully twitched by a handful of local observers before the bird flew north at 6.10pm never to be seen again. This particular bird was rather famous and very much a star of the British birding seen during a good part of the 1980s and 1990s. This Lesser Crested Tern was Elsie (affectionally christened by birders – from LC for Lesser Crested!), an adult female which visited a sandwich tern colony on the Farne Islands, Northumberland every year from 1984 to 1997. Paired to a male Sandwich Tern, fledged hybrid young were raised in 1989, 1992 and 1996. The colour ringed Sandwich Tern she was seen with in 1993 was the same bird she had been paired with for the previous 2 years on the Farnes. Prior to the Rimac sighting Elsie had also erratically been visiting nearby Beacon Lane Ponds, Kinsea, E Yorks between 15th and 20th June 1993, so a much hoped for flight south into Lincs was inevitable, and thankfully she obliged. Although this is still the only county record of this species, a 'Lesser Crested Tern' which flew past Gibraltar Point on 30th June 1989 was accepted as large orange billed tern only. As Elsie was present in the Farnes colony between 7th May and 1st July that year, this record presumably involved a different bird wandering the North Sea.

1987 – WHISKERED TERN
A 'marsh tern' seen in flight and resting on a large buoy in the north eastern corner of Covenham reservoir during the evening of 10th June flew off north just before dusk and prior to its identification being clinched. The same bird was relocated at 0800 the next morning roosting on a buoy in the north east corner of the reservoir and it was confirmed as Lincolnshire's first Whiskered Tern. The bird remained, with several long absences, until 15th June. It was 17 years before this species graced the County again when an adult was seen at Gibraltar Point on 8th August 2004. This was the start of a remarkable set of records which involved four birds in five years, although unfortunately all were fairly brief stayers. The others (all adults) were at Gibraltar Point from 20th to 21st June 2006, Barton-upon-Humber Pits on 7th June 2008 and Fiskerton Fen on 2nd August 2009.

1984 – DARTFORD WARBLER
A small, slightly built Sylvia warbler was flushed from hawthorn scrub along the sea embankment at Tetney during the afternoon of 2nd June. Due to its extremely secretive behaviour and brief view a mist net was erected and the bird was subsequently trapped. It proved to be Lincolnshire's first Dartford Warbler, probably a first year male, and due to this bird showing a very characteristic grey mantle, it was assigned to the nominate subspecies which breeds on the continent. The bird remained within the vicinity of the capture area until the following day (3rd June), and although remaining elusive, it was seen to make a short flight out onto the saltmarsh giving some open views. There have been 3 subsequent records, all remarkably involving wintering individuals at Gibraltar Point, where birds were seen in the area of Rock ridge over the winter of 2004/05 and (the same bird?) from 29th November 2007 to 27th January 2008 and then, most recently, from the extreme northern end of the reserve when a female/immature was present from 28th November 2009 to 17th February 2010.

1979 – SARDINIAN WARBLER
The first record was a male trapped in the East Dunes at Gibraltar Point on 30th June and which was only the 7th British record at the time. It was re-trapped on 28th July when it was in full moult, and was therefore evidently well settled in this impenetrable area of dune scrub. It was again retrapped some 40 days later on 6th September, and had remained undetected in these intervening periods being extremely skulking. From this latter date, it was however, seen and heard singing by several observers until last noted on 15th September. Remarkably the second county record also involved a long staying, extremely skulking, bird in the dune scrub at Gibraltar Point. This male, was trapped on 6th July 1986 and then retrapped on 24th August during one of the BTO trainee ringing courses and was then seen for the last time on 31st August. This was only the 14th British record and the first time that a single locality had hosted the species on more than one occasion. Present for 77 days and 56 days respectively, the length of stay for these birds is notable, but not unprecedented amongst UK sightings of this species. However, due to their skulking behaviour and discovery in a mist net, one can only speculate as to the true arrival date of these birds. There have been just two further records for the County. A male was present at Skegness from 2nd October 2003 to 11th January 2004 and was remarkably joined by a female from 10th November 2003 to 4th January 2004. This was the first multiple occurrence of this species in the UK and an almost unique winter sighting. All four county records have been within just a 4 mile stretch of Lincolnshire coastline.

1979 – RING-NECKED DUCK
Donovan 1809 first described this American species from a specimen found in Leadenhall Market, London which was said to have been taken in Lincolnshire in January 1801. The record, the first for Europe, was admitted into the BOU list of British birds in 1915. However, this record is not currently recognised, as unfortunately the location and origin of the type specimen was not known. Therefore, the first occurrence of this species in Britain was of a drake observed at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire between 12th and 14th March 1955. This record also has a (tenuous!) Lincolnshire connection as it was witnessed by non-other than the late Sir Peter Scott, and indeed first observed by his wife. Lincolnshire finally claimed its first Ring-necked Duck in 1979 when a drake was present at Messingham Sand Quarries from 3rd to 23rd June. It is presumed that this bird related to a returning bird first seen at Tophill Low Reservoirs, Humberside (E Yorks) in December 1977 and was then seen intermittently both at this site and Hornsea Mere (Humbs/E Yorks) until making it to the opposite side of the Humber when it appeared at Messingham. This same bird was then seen on several occasions in the county over the next 2 years, at Messingham (again) from 6th to 20th October and Barrow Haven between 24th October and 3rd November 1979, briefly at Nettleton on 17th February and again at Messingham on 23rd February and from 10th to 24th April 1980 and then finally again at Messingham between 25th May and 6th June 1981. In the intervening periods this bird (or perhaps a second drake which had arrived) was seen back across the Humber where it was last seen at Hornsea Mere from 1st to 4th October 1986. The second county record occurred in 1988 when a male was in the Barton-on-Humber and Barrow Haven area on 17th and 18th June with then presumably the same bird at New Holland from 24th November to 3rd December. With a distinct feeling a deja vu it was presumed that this was the same bird that had first been seen at Tophill Low Reservoirs across the Humber in Yorkshire in early June 1988. Since these first birds, there have been another 17 records, although the stats are somewhat clouded by possible returning birds and mobile individuals moving around the county. The Humber Bank pits and inland water bodies account for most birds, the exception being a 1st-winter male present at Gibraltar Point from 28th December 2006 to 25th April 2007, with what could possibly have been the same bird seen again on 5th October 2007. In line with the national trend, drakes predominate in the Lincolnshire sightings, however, a female was present at Far Ings on 5th and 6th November 2000 (accompanied by a 1st-winter male on the 5th constituting the only county occurrence of two birds together) with the only other sighting of a female a bird at Bagmoor Floods on 1st February 2003.

1960 – WOODCHAT SHRIKE
The migration hotspot of Gibraltar Point claimed the first record of this attractive southern shrike when a bird was present on 7th June 1960. The second record also came from this locality with another spring bird on 26th May 1968 and occurring during a period which produced exceptional numbers of Woodchat Shrikes in Britain. The next 3 records all involved fairly brief visits of immature birds in the autumn, at Skidbrooke north end, near Saltfleet on 21st September 1974, Saltfleetby from 21st to 22nd August 1977 and Donna Nook on 6th August 1978. It was then another 14 years before another bird graced the county when a female was seen at Gibraltar Point on 16th May 1992. Since then the species has seen somewhat of a resurgence with a further 7 birds seen up to and including 2012. Although most were short stayers on the north-east coast, a female made an extended stay in the Frampton Marsh/Witham Mouth area from 30th July to 13th September 1994, and in a strikingly similar occurrence on the Wash another long stayer and widely twitched bird involved an adult present at Friskney from 29th July to 23rd August 2006. Of the 13 county records, the only other bird away from the Wash or Coastal areas was a female/first-summer male present at Far Ings on the Humber on 1st May 1994. Interestingly a bird seen at Saltfleet Haven on 30th June 2008 was considered to be possibly of the Balearic race L S badius, but this was not confirmed. There have only been a handful of records of this form in the UK.

1861 – SQUACCO HERON
There is a claim of a Lincolnshire specimen of this species prior to 1850, but no details are available. Therefore the first documented county record of this attractive southern heron was that of a bird shot by the lake at Fillingham, near Gainsborough in June 1861. The next bird unfortunately suffered the same fate, being shot on the Humber bank at Great Coates on 29th September 1910. It was 89 years before the next arrived - an adult summer-plumaged bird at Messingham from 3rd-11th June 1999. Despite an increase in UK sightings over the last two decades, this remains an extreme vagrant in the County with the Messingham individual the only modern day record. Now 14 years on, we await the next with some anticipation………….

1832 – WHITE STORK
The first White Stork recorded in Lincolnshire concerned a bird shot on the coast at Marshchapel in June 1832. The second county record also occurred at Marshchapel, almost 135 years later, when a party of 3 birds appeared on 21st May 1967, during a spring which brought an influx of White Storks to the UK. This species remained a very rare bird in the county, with only a further 5 records (of 6 birds), up to 1994. However, since then, there have been at least a further 14 records, although most have been brief stayers or just fly overs. Due to wandering individuals the exact number of birds seen is difficult to determine whilst some of the more recent records may involve birds of suspect origin which have toured the UK. A clear demonstration of the difficulty in predicting the number of birds involved were the 7 records in 2008 which on assessment may have involved only two individuals, whilst a bird seen in spring 2007 had been tracked up and down the UK between Essex and Durham since 2006 and was from the Dutch reintroduction programme. Some of the birds seen in the county have made more protracted stays, such as the individual which frequented fields along the Wash coast of Bennington, Freiston and Frampton from 27th November to mid-December 1968, a bird in the Stickney area from 29th April to 12th June 1971 and a bird in fields at Algarkirk, near Boston in October 2005. This latter bird, which had previously been seen at various sites in Cambridgeshire, was unfortunately later found dead, presumably after having flown into overhead power lines. The most recent record involved a popular adult bird which, having been first seen at Conisholme between 29th January and 1st February, Scrivelsby on 5th February and Wilksey on 7th February then took up temporary residence at Kirkby on Bain between 9th February and 3rd March 2012 where it mainly frequented the landfill site (the preferred winter habitat for this species!). Study of plumage detail from photographs reveal this was possibly the same bird seen in Scotland towards the end of 2011/early 2012, Northumberland in January and then Fraisthorpe, East Yorkshire on 26-28th January 2012 before making an appearance in Lincs. The timing and habits of this bird were not unusual for this species. Just across the North Sea, good numbers of White Storks are successfully wintering in the Netherlands, although it is virtually impossible these days to distinguish between wild and introduced stock. In 1995, the majority of the 500 birds that wintered there were associated with reintroduction schemes, whilst in the same year 7,500 White Storks wintered in Spain. By 2004 that figure had risen to 32,000 and thanks due to a combination of mild winters and local stock this numbers has been rising ever since. In Spain and Morocco (where many white storks also winter), rubbish dumps are the premier winter habitat, so the fact the Kirkby bird found the local landfill site so much to its liking is perhaps not unusual. Whatever the origin of birds occurring in Lincolnshire, this remains a spectacular species to catch up with in the County.


Matthew