The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A surprise visitor, at this time of the year in my garden at Saltfleetby on Sunday June-17, was a Eurasian Siskin feeding with the Goldfinches on the Niger seed feeders.
The interesting question is where has it come from and why? Is it a local breeder (perhaps failed) or a non-breeder as a result of a poor spruce crop. Its status in Lincolnshire, according to my sources, is an occasional breeder or summering bird - in a forested area it would perhaps be more appropriate but on the COAST in summer?
Has anyone got any instructive information on the subject? (Photos in the album).
Mike Tarrant

like Crossbills they occasionally move in June-July:
my local records include

1998 Barton 2 May 23rd, 1 flew east June 4th
2001 Movement of 5 west July 9th
2005 1 west July 23rd

Whilst walking in the wolds near Louth late may 2001 i found a singing male in a stand of conifer. John.

surely crossbills are more prone to midsummer movements due to their breeding antics.... it is well known that they move at this time.

possibly/probably an immature/subadult bird which wont be breeding(?).

Migration never stops, its just that the vast majority takes place at the "normal" times of year. However, individuals of all species will sometimes just start to migrate at whatever time of year. This could be due to one of many factors. Lack of food, breeding failure, severe weather etc etc. Even this early in the season, Lapwings are starting to flock up, and yesterday i had a singing Chiffchaff in the garden - the first record since April.

in most years there is a westerly passage of flocks of juvenile Starlings up the Humber somewhere between June 18th and 25th (always pretty precise) with day counts of up to 3000 birds in past years--where these flocks of fledglings are going is anyone's guess;

as Paul mentioned failed breeders or males which never got a mate are now wandering all over the place and having a last ditch attempt at singing in places where they have not been all spring; the atrocious weather of late may also have had the effect of wiping out a lot of nesting attempts and moving birds around

Without giving away locations, does anyone know of the breeding status of the Eurasian Siskin in Lincolnshire? Has it ever bred in the county and does it breed now? In Keith Atkin's Status Of Lincolnshire's Birds, he remarks that the Eurasian Siskin has been proved to breed a few times. It appears to breed in Scotland and there is a breeding population as close as Norfolk, but as the species is not included on the list of the BB Rare Breeding Birds Panel, its breeding numbers must be fairly significant in Britain.
Like John Walker, I have come across a singing male in late winter at a central Lincolnshire site but have never seen a breeding pair in the county nor have I ever seen a juvenile Eurasian Siskin in Lincolnshire. BWP seems to suggest that the juvenile is separable from first-winter birds.
One glaring anecdote from these ramblings seems to be how little information there is in the public domain about the breeding status of birds in Lincolnshire. Do we really know what we have in our county?
Mike Tarrant

It's not a rare breeder at all. Rather common the further north and/or west you go, in ideal habitat.

Lots of birds sing communally in late winter before they depart wintering grounds. When there were Siskins everywhere in winter 05/06 this was especially prominent.

Mike

Your questions will be answered when the Status of Breeding Birds in Lincs is published which is due any time now (and has been for 20 years!0

John

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