The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A friend told me today that yesterday he had 2 Twite (sexes of birds unsure) in his back garden in with a small flock of Goldfinches in Barrowby, Grantham. They were there for around 5 minutes before moving off.

So far this is the only sighting of the birds but he is keeping his eyes open for their return.

Am I correct in thinking this is a rare occurrance?

_________________
Regards
Steve



http://www.stevenesbitt.co.uk

Hi Steve,
Not only a rare occurrence but highly unlikely!! Twite winter on coastal saltmarshes and return to their breeding grounds in upland Britain at this time of year. Barrowby is not part of either habitat and I suspect your friend is much more likely to have seen a pair of Linnets - hope that helps.
Stuart

11 twite calling ,north along Rimac foreshore 13 04, regards John.

As they were with Goldfinches could well have been redpolls but as noted Twite is pretty unlikely

Stuart,

Thanks for that mate and to be honest the first thing I said to my mate was "are you sure?" He wrote down the look of the birds and noted the pink rump and he is 100% sure they were Twite. He is aware of what a Linnet looks like.

I also said I thought they were coastal but my mate is a bird keeper (a canary man and has a good knowledge of british birds in this field) and he called one of his own mates, a british bird man, and he too confirmed this sighting as Twite.

They have not been back.

So who knows? My mate says he does

_________________
Regards
Steve



http://www.stevenesbitt.co.uk