The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Having done a couple of ttv's in TF55 this morning and after topping up with fish and chips and a pint of XB I decided to go to the above site in TF56 to see if I could confirm breeding for a a few species missing in that square.

I first went to this site in April. It is an area of 170 acres of grazing marsh which is being managed under the Natural England HLS scheme to provide habitat for breeding waders. There are 3 hides, 3.5km of paths and lots of breeding lapwings. The site has had very little publicity but has good public access from Middle Marsh Rd just over half a mile south from the A158 between Burgh le Marsh and Skegness. It has a small carpark with a white sign "Wetland project Parking", it can be easily missed and is at 523638.

Its a 7 k walk from west to east and back. From the west hide I was enjoying excellent views of Lapwings and Oystercatchers with chicks and a superb breeding plumage Little Egret which deeply resented being bombarded by a Lapwing concerned for its sole chick. It was erecting its crest and breeding plumes on its back in a most threatening way. Suddenly about 20 Lapwings got up to mob something and a superb adult male Montagu's Harrier flew in from the South and headed off North without stopping.

Also had Ringed Plover, Redshank, Mute Swan and Shelduck all of which breed according to the site owners Simon and Jim Dodsworth who stopped and had a chat with me. The project commenced in 2007 and they've had some good birds like Crane and Great White Egret and in winter get up to 2,000 Teal, Peregrine and Hen Harrier, but the place is massively under watched and is worth a visit.

Interestingly from the atlas point of view its probably the best tetrad (56 G) in TF56 and nobody has requested it so its still available for this breeding season if anyone would like it. Ideally an early (pre31 May) visit and a late visist during June July should be done but it is acceptable to do a single breeding visit in any tetrad as long as its for 2 hours.

It sounds like a superb site and I look forward to visiting it.

I forgot to mention that many of the gulls from the Skegness tip loaf on the lagoons at the eastern end of the site and are well worth a look as they are very close and can be viewed from a hide.

It's a site Monica and I regularly visit, as it is on our way home from Gib, although there is rarely very much to see - combine it with a visit to Gib perhaps!? There was a 2 cal year Yellow-legged Gull there this afternoon - the first I have seen in the Skeggy Tip area.

Phil thanks very much for this information. Gib Point is one of my main sites and I go past this Project to get to it. I find it amazing that I was totally unaware of its existence. None of the birders I regularly see at Gib have obviously mentioned it. I am going this week and I will stop off first at this site. Having looked at it on google earth I can only see the main pool and the car park. I assume the site has changed since the photograph was taken. It just goes to show what a great place for birding the Lincolnshire coastline is. Once again many thanks.

Hi Stephen

You are right, there is much more water on the site than Google Earths old pictures show. There has been a great deal of excavation of long muddy edged ditches which are good for waders. It would be good to watch it regularly to see what turns up and as its a relatively "virgin" site it should be interesting.

Have now booked the B & B and will be having my first views this Thursday morning. We are looking forward to it immensely