The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Appleby Carrs: 1530 - 1930

Osprey juv seen near Pipe bridge and Birdhouse Clough [see OS map], this was my first Osprey! The new scope has just earnt it's money, was scanning the ploughed field when I spotted an unusual bird perched at top of one of the small trees alongside Birdhouse Clough, I just knew it was an Osprey and shouted Dave to come and see, he was busy taking shots of dragons etc. He looked through scope and said well done! It was last seen about 1715.

Other sightings:

Wheatear - 2 [Dave]
Marsh Harrier - 6
Hobby - 1
Kestrel - 3
Sprawk - 1
Lapwing - c150
Common Buzzard - 1
Mixed flock of Chaffinch and Yellowhammer on ploughed field.
Cormorant - 1
Red-leg Partridge - 2
Swallow - 3
Robin - 1
Kingfisher - 1 [Dave]
Linnet - 190 [Dave]
Green Sand - 2 [over Ancholme]
Moorhen - 1 [in tree]
Tufted Duck - 1

Regards

John and Dave

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Well done Jt Goy,good record and great feeling your first one,in my mind osprey is the best,thou Red Kite is a good contender too,well done Max!! and dave!!
Roger.

Rog,

I'm waiting for the doubters to reply, as they have with the Honey.

After reading what GPC had to say it crossed my mind if the likes of Simon King, Chris Packham and other well known professional birdwatchers have their sightings cross-examined, personally I doubt it.

I can understand GPC and others doubting my word as I only have the last ten years plus those when I was a kid birdwatching in the 'field' but Dave has fifty years experience! And he is particularly good with raptors, finding the Rough-legged Buzzard at Worlaby a few year back was his as I have been told by quite a few of the birding fraternity.

Thanks. My fave raptor has to be Marsh Harrier, although when I see my first Eagle I dare say I'll change my mind.

John

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Hi,
Yes i agree dj is very good on Raptors,I have a private mssge for you.
Rog.

I have to take issue with what is being suggested here. I think ALL records have to be looked at on merit. It's not a matter of personality but a lot of birds which are sometimes difficult to ID are presented as fact on this site when they should come with at least a brief description which has the merit of ruling out similar species. Length of service is irrelevant here as are reputations and the illuminatae that you mention below will have their records of rarities cross-examined if they present them to their county and national recorders. There has to be a mechanism for sifting out the rubbish. A decade ago or more the county recorder received a record of a party of Black Grouse near Mablethorpe. There can be few birds easier to ID but the last record in Lincs was in 1935. So the evidence must be looked at and that may include some knowledge of the ability of the observer along with his/her description and experience of the species. We all have to submit our rare and semi-rare sightings to inspection if published reports are to have any value and sometimes our records are rejected and sometimes we make cock-ups and it's embarrassing and humbling. Hands up anyone who hasn't made a cock-up or had a record rejected...So report what you see as accurately as you can and if your ego takes a bashing in the process so what. It's all part of growing and learning

John

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Lincolnshire Birds https://www.flickr.com/photos/120340949 ... 8078912016
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Contact: recorder_north@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

well said john hmmm!!!! black grouse ? a good record even in 1935 ish. anyway being a relative newcomer to the county i have on all other previous occasions in other counties had the county recorder contact me for a description not being clear about which species require a description in the county. EG i had a honey buzzard while visiting my daughter when she lived in shrops when steve whithouse whom i have known for a few years contacted me i duely submitted and had the record accepted but if i was at the clumber park watchpoint or even wykham forest i probably would not need one so while birds considered a national rarity need a description as a matter of cause locally that might not be the case. EG at dungerness you need to submit a full description for treecreeper but not for short toed treecreeper or so i am led to believe, so consequentely i have personally submitted no field descriptions of any sighting i have made eg
gt white egret grainthorpe or 4 sightings of monties in 3 yrs or the dotterels at tetney etc.

yours terry whalin

Nice one John. Appleby and Broughton seems to be an excellent area for raptors. This afternoon i had a female marsh harrier soaring over the garden and a couple of weeks ago a peregrine.

Colin.

what is perhaps more amazing is how you could be birding for 10 years and not bump into an Osprey!

The Ancholme Valley / Broughton area is actually no better or worse for raptors than many other parts of the county it is just where people choose to stand and look that makes the difference; Buzzard is now a common breeding bird with a county population that must exceed 200 pairs and it is not unusual to see groups of up to 10 over any breeding site as territorial adults and passing immatures along with the years juveniles converge in the early autumn; Hobby is also widespread and there may well be 80 pairs+ but it is a much more elusive species and can easily evade detection even when nesting close to areas visited by lots of birders and even Peregrines can be missed when nesting in unusual places.

And I think I would have to correct the statement on Treecreepers at Dung -- Short-toed Treecreeper is of course a UK mega rarity and needs a full BBRC description wherever it is claimed;

thanks graham it is only what i was led to believe but the records of short toed at dung are more common no matter how rare than treecreeper or so i am led to believe, anyway excellent summary by john, let the birder whom has not made a mistake stick his hand up and there goes a liar.

terry whalin

Hi John Clarkson
yes i agree with most of your thesis,but not all of it,if you are known,to the rarities people you a lot more chance of acceptance,if you are not ,yet still present a good description-forget it.
as for JT Goy,hey GPC,took me more than 10 years to get my first osprey,thou they were scarce then in the 1780s,or 1680s cant remember now,Hey the guys Chuffed-Dont knock It!!
Roger.

John,

So length of service means nothing in your book. I would have thought that someone with one years service is hardly likely to be as knowledgeable as someone with decades of service. I'll readily admit that just before I started watching birds [in the field] in 1999 doing a Goose and Swan survey for the BTO I couldn't tell a Canada goose from a Greylag or a Pink-footed goose! And my first visit to Blacktoft in 2002 with another pal I didn't know a Moorhen from a Coot. Over the years I have gained a vast amount of knowledge about all types of wildlife and made loads of mistakes which I have admitted to on the forum. This year I have taken an interest in moths and finding it very difficult to ID them, but as the years pass I will get better.

Isn't it better for me or others to report what we think is a rarity or semi-rarity, than keep the sighting to ourselves, then someone else can check it out. I've already seen a few Honey Buzz this year before the one at Keb.

Anyway I'll take on board what you have said.


GPC,

On a number of occasions over the years I've tried to get the Osprey but always missed out. Tried the one at Black Bank and a few years back at Johnson's Pond's but it never appeared, luck of the draw isn't it. While at Lake Vyrnwy in May one appeared then but I missed that as well. Everything comes to those who wait long enough and I don't think ten years is that long.

I didn't think you would pass on your good wishes


Colin,

Thanks for the good wishes. Wow wish I could get the Marsh Harrier over I'd never need to go birding elsewhere

Regards

John

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Again, this seems like a timely place to remind people that there IS a list of what species require descriptions in the county. It is found at http://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/lbc_recordsrequired.htm and can also be found on the LBC home page.

Note that the list will be updated in the very near future, but this one is close enough. Needless to say, Honey Buzzard is a description species (please ignore the brackets on this list - in the updated version it is full LBRC), so looking forward to receiving descriptions of the few HB's that have already been seen.

The status of Treecreeper at Dungeness is no excuse for not submitting descriptions from Lincolnshire!! The list is available to view on here of what requires descriptions, and before the internet was around it was published in the annual reports. Plus until very recently, Great White Egret was a BBRC description species - a national rarity!

As an addition, BBRC see loads of descriptions by people we have never heard of. They are all treated on their own merits. A description by a little old lady will be accepted if it clearly describes the bird. Any records that are treated as not proven have not been described or seen well enough. This is the fault of the observer, not BBRC. We also find records not proven from observers who are very well known and respected. Everyone makes mistakes.

thanks for the info paul i can see i have been quite remiss and consider my botty well and truely spanked but that is quite a list and the assumption made by most birders is that the original finder submits the required info. the great white egret was the one that was at the fitties that myself and 2 others saw go past horseshoe point and go into a ditch near grainthorpe, the pager then reported someone else then had it a couple of days later towards saltfleet, also at the same time the fitties bird went missing. so the assumption. me thinks the best thing to do is draw a line in the sand and go from now because retrograde records do not carry the same weight unless prodigeous field notes are kept. just to give an example of the rarities i have seen over the years in lincs and submitted nothing based on the original finder comments,
green heron msq caspian tern near lincoln grav pits, pied wheatear gib, bluetail gib, thrush nightingale gib,red kite long bennington etc but if every viewer of those birds put in a report you would be upto your neck in paperwork, eg step grey last year but that is no excuse, line in the sand but i was only trying to show that confusion about what to do reigns supreme and i am pretty sure that graham with his expertise does not submit written descriptions of every honey buzzard sighting because seeing them over many years everyone becomes a little complacent and i wasn't trying to critisise graham or anyone else terry whalin