The Lincolnshire Bird Club

James Siddle found a Tawny Pipit at Tetney Lock early this morning and watched it for 45 mins before it went missing around 8 am. It was relocated over 3 hours later by Neil Drinkall on the east bank of the final sea gate within 100m of the pillbox on the old seawall.

It was still showing at 1.30 pm when I left. Hopefully there will be some good photos.

6 Dotterel also these this morning showing very well in the final cultivated field next to the track on the west side of the canal.

for the interested:

the first Lincolnshire record was not found until 1970 when Steve Lorand located one at Donna Nook on May 24th in the same year one was at Wisbech Sewage Farm (Lincs/Norfolk) on September 25th
In 1975 another was at Donna Nook on May 8th and 17th considered to be the same individual with again a subsequent autumn record at Tetney Haven (only a few 100m from the present bird) on October 15th
Donna Nook again produced a bird in spring 1980 on May 10th
another autumn bird was on the outer developing dunes at Rimac from September 20th - 21st and in the following year the most exceptional Lincs record was as far west in the county as is possible at Garthorpe from September 30th to October 2nd - the latter bird was in open arable fields

So the Tetney Lock bird becomes only the 8th Lincs record but with 4 now in spring and 4 in autumn it has evened up the seasonal split

Is there anyone available to take me to see it? Aside from a VERY quick visit to Chapel Six Marshes, I've never been further north along the coast than Gibraltar Point, and Tetney / Somercotes / Saltfleet / Grainthorpe /Donna Nook area is somewhere I'd like to go see, but the area has very few buses, which don't connect with any services out of Skegness..... in other words, I'm stuck!

I can go tomorrow.

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Nice find James - sounds like a lot of people owe you a pint!

John

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Contact: recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

To add to Graham's list, there have been two at Gibraltar Point NNR;

13 May 1990
29 May 1993

Kev

Thanks for that John. It’s been nearly 24 years since I last found a Tawny Pipit in the UK – that bird stayed about an hour and was never seen again. At least this bird has stayed a little longer to be enjoyed!

Interesting to note from the records above that this is the earliest Lincs record by nearly two weeks – in line with the early spring records of many species this year.

Some idle and possibly inaccurate speculation regarding the ageing of this bird - Tawny Pipits in spring are rarely going to be easy to age, even in the hand, but there seems no harm trying...

Looking at some of the very good pics that have now been published, it may be just to my eye but some features may indicate the bird is a first-summer.

The primary coverts, both in the field and in some photos, appear to be rather pale tipped (although this is hard to confirm and the exact shape of these is impossible to see) suggesting a first-summer. The central alula feather is also somewhat pale edged. To my mind some of the median coverts (particularly one outer feather) also appear to me to be rather pale, whitish (and appearing, to me at least, to be less squared than buff-fringed adult-type feathers).

Interestingly, the large pipits can do some funny, non-sequential, mouting of the median coverts – for example I once saw a Blyth’s Pipit in India which had only moulted the central feathers (very usefully from an ID perspective as it’s only the central feathers which are reliably Blyth’s-shaped ). The outer and innermost were still retained juv feathers.

Very circumstantially, the underparts of the Tetney bird also have very indistinct streaking on the breast sides. The tail appears to be quite worn but it is very had to ascertain the extent of this. My guess would be that this is a first-summer bird. But it is only a guess.

James