The Lincolnshire Bird Club

There were 4 Dotterels (1 female) in a large pea field near Grasby Top yesterday (30th April) morning at approx TA093063. There were also 20 Golden Plovers in the field, which is fairly easily viewed (though against the light in the morning) from Owmby Wold Lane. Given the longish stay of the Tetney birds, I'd think there was a chance these too will stay a while.

I found them while spending a day in TA00 trying to add to the Atlas totals for that square, which turned out to be quite possible, with about 12 additional species from Little Grebe and Woodcock to Curlew and Nuthatch, and several confirmed as breeding for the first time. Well worth doing if you fancy a useful day in the field - and always the chance of finding something interesting.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

The location is about a mile from where I live!
This is the first time for about 12 years that Dotterel have occurred in this field.
The 4 birds were still there mid-morning yesterday but had gone when I checked at 7.30 last night.
I also looked again early this morning and they were not there so must have moved on.


Roy

No, they were hiding from you! I was passing yesterday 3rd May at 1630-1700 and found the four Dotterels again in the pea field, together with about 12 Golden Plovers including at least one smartly plumaged male Northern. They were quite hard to find at first when they were all sitting down between pea rows. (I did report these to BirdGuides & had it acknowledged but it doesn't appear to have been used.)

On my way back past the area today at about 1400, I could not find them and there were only 3 Golden Plovers. My guess is that the eventual dropping of that strong NE wind last night allowed quite a few stalled migrants to move on.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I have made three unsuccessful visits since you first found them and checked really carefully, seeing the Goldies each time.
The other explanation might be that the Dotterel have been moving around as there are several other pea fields in the area.

Roy

Thanks, Roy, and I wonder if it's worth continuing to look? Yesterday, I did also try a few recently planted fields up the Cat and Potato roads but it's a big area and the topography makes it difficult on a large scale, let alone the small scale of potato fields which, from previous experience, make a dotterel appear like a curious sort of jack-in-the-box!

Andrew