The Lincolnshire Bird Club

found a 2cy Bonaparte's this evening on Chowder Ness west of Far Ings roosting with other gulls -- amazingly as the light faded at one point the Bony was stood next to a 2cy Ring-billed Gull; both birds were present until 21:55 when they flew off towards Redcliffe Middle Sand where all the local gulls roost; also in the last 3 days 10+ Med Gulls and 6+ Yellow-legged Gulls amongst the LBBGulls and Common Gulls -- the birds are feeding on organic waste being spread on stubble fields on the Wolds and commute to the Humber to bathe and roost; Pursuits pit is being used frequently and Chowder; tomorrows high tides are about 08:40 and 21:20 with all of Chowder covered on the morning tide --

No sign of either Bonaparte's or Ring-billed Gull at Chowder Ness from 05:45 to 09:30 this morning. Very few gulls present and even fewer birders, I was the only one there for a 1st for Lincs!
Tide covered all mud by about 08:45.
Will try again this evening.

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Regards,

Andy.

As Andy says there was an amazing lack of interest in these gulls from Lincs birders which seems to be becoming typical of the recent state of birding; now had one of us located the bird this morning and put the word out how many birders would have suddenly materialised? It seems symptomatic that people just want to wait for news then arrive without the effort of searching for a bird; these gulls are part of a huge population that comes and goes from the Humber and to stand a chance of finding them you would need to put in many hours but is this too much for most people now? birding has changed dramatically with the easy supply of information with huge numbers of people travelling to see rare birds but it sadly remains a fact that the number of people actually looking for birds has not increased and has most probably decreased; in fact the number of rare birds seen in the county annually seems at odds with the search effort; some of course are due to the Patagonia picnic table effect, eg last night's Ring-billed Gull (explanation Patagonia a famous rest stop in southern Arizona where rare birds often occur and it was quickly noticed that birders travelling to see a bird soon found other rarities snowballing the search effort and subsequent finding results) but other finds are becoming more concentrated on honeypot reserves like Frampton where people go on spec and typically it seems the best birds are often found by casual visitors.

An at the end of this very few gulls present around Barton today possibly as a result of the overnight rain and cooler weather --
the 12+ Meds seen in the last week included just one colour ringed 2cy bird with Green right and AJJJ in white ---

Just to correct the status of this bird in Lincs:

The first Lincolnshire record was recorded below:

1979 Lincolnshire Grimsby Docks, probably first-winter, 17th March (G P Catley, M Mellor). M. J. Rogers and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 73: 512 M. J. Rogers and the Rarities Committee,

There was a subsequent comment in the 1982 BBRC report British Birds 82: 528; M. J. Rogers and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 86: 489

Several authorities have since assumed that the record was subsequently removed due to the note in the 1992 BBRC report the text of which is given below:
The text in the above states "1979 Lincolnshire ; Grimsby Docks probably first-winter 17th March (BB73:512) identification no longer supported by G P Catley.

I was not wholly happy with the record after the event but my co-observer Mick Mellor and excellent birder who many people will know in recent years from Shetland was still happy with the record and it thus remained accepted.
Thus the bird that I found yesterday becomes the second Lincs record

It is therefore somewhat bizarre that having removed the bird from my Lincs list myself I have now replaced it with another one!

There have only been 3 previous county records of Ring-billed Gull as far as I know:

Bagmoor 2cy July 24th & August 3rd 1988 (Catley LBR 1988)
Whisby pits adult April 28th - 29th 1990
Whisby pits 2cy April 18th - 19th 1992

Computers & Pagers the way of Birding now, sit on ya back side & wait

_________________
Regards
Dean Eades



Take nothing but photos - Leave nothing but footprints - Waste nothing but time

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The above three posts serve only to substantiate that L.B.C. is a twitchers platform, with sparse interest in the important and absorbing pastime of birdwatching. As a county forum let's salute the occasional rare species, but it's the grassroot recording of common species that remains paramount. [/b]

Thank you Richard - I hope this is a sentiment shared by more than the two of us!

Can I just say, Well Done Graham for another good find.

I would like to add that this forum caters for a wide range of birding type people from the sit at home and just enjoy other's finds to the very dedicated birders like Graham who spend hours in the field. I do not think that a few sweeping statements should tar everyone with the same brush. Many people on this forum have full time jobs and have families and other commitments that make it impossible to spend hours in the field and they have to choose the birds that they see in the spare time allowed. It is no surprise that they would choose to see a rare bird over a common bird if time was at a premium. But I am sure that the same people do spend some time on their home ground looking for that rare find and would love to share their finds with others on here. Some birders have the luxury of being able to spend all day in the field and the majority on here are thankful for the birds that they turn up. I am sure that most of us would like to spend longer in the field looking for birds but not everyone is able to for one reason or another.
The timing of the news meant that a lot of birders could not get down on the night or had commitments the following day but I am sure they would have loved to have been there.
Keep up the good work Graham and others and one day us lesser mortals will hopefully be able to repay you with their own rare bird.

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Yep - although I am sure some of the twitcher stuff comes from the primeval 'hunter-gatherer' instinct too...

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Stuart and Richard have convinced me, I am now only going to look at Blue Tits and Sparrows.
(Or perhaps not?).

Having just read Mr Catley's comments here is my five pennorth.

He has the advantage of living on the doorstep so to speak and we all know what great finds have been seen at Barton by both him and others. Correct me if I'm wrong but he is a full time ornithologist so spending hours in the field is what is expected like other professionals do.

Could it be that June is the time when most have their holidays, so it isn't possible for everyone to go running down to Chowder. Others like myself are not in good health so it's asking a lot to expect us to spend all day looking for that elusive bird, and even if I did would I be taken seriously especially if I didn't have photographic evidence, no I wouldn't by certain members but yes I would by others!

Not sure if the cost of petrol has anything to do with the lack of birders visiting Chowder for the gulls, but quite a few of the members of this forum are retired etc and money is tight.

There we are said my bit.

Cheers

Max

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

forgive my obvious dyslexia but the title of this part of the Forum is Rare Bird News which clearly seemed to be the place to put the post -- taking some strange moral high ground is somewhat unnecessary when certainly the 5 regular observes present at the Bonaparte's Gull between them probably contribute 90% of all the breeding bird survey records and observations of common birds that reach the LBR from North Lincolnshire -- watching the odd rare bird is the icing on the cake for regular patch workers what we actually need are more people contributing more records rather than just following the pager trail week on week but as has been said people have different priorities and each to their own --

Either you have dyslexia Graham or I do, at the top of my page it says the tile of this forum is Lincs Bird Reports. I agree with your comments and those of Russell above. Birding covers all types and there is room for all of us, even photographers!

More importantly what are the prospects for this evening, should I do a ttv or come and have a look for Ring billed Gull?

I'd just like to add from the twitching point of view that my Birdguides text alert service failed me on the Bonapartes on Monday night. Did anybody else have this problem with Birdguides? Does it help account for the lack of attendence on Tuesday.

The webmaster there is looking into it and the initial thought seems to have been a failure in transmission through the network.

and if you think this topic os of any relevance read this and think on

http://www.bto2.org/downloads/home/s_sa ... _small.pdf