The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Met with Dave Roberts today, who took me to a rather wet, sodden Belton Woods this afternoon. Rail Replacement buses are operating between Sleaford and Grantham as the track between the two railway stations is being completely re-laid.

Dave picked me up from Sleaford and we headed off to Belton Woods. Before we'd even got there, we saw 1 Kestrel and came to a halt by a field seeing a flock of what was about 50 Yellowhammers flying from one hedge to another, accompanied by a few finches and about 100 Fieldfare.

At Belton Woods, we saw:

Rainbow - 1 superb. Complete main arch with complete secondary outer arch.

Kestrel - 1
Buzzard - 2
Raven - 2
Song Thrush - 1
Blackbird - many continental birds joining the resident British ones.
Green Woodpecker - 1
Jay - 2
Chaffinch - many
Long-tailed Tit - 20
Goldcrest - about 5
Treecreeper - at least 3
Great Tit - many
Blue Tit - many
Coal Tit - many
Goldfinch - medium flock
Wren - few

We then headed off for Marston Sewage Works to add Gadwall, Mallard, Teal, Greylag Goose, Grey Wagtail and Water Rail to the day’s list.

There may be a few more additions, if I can remember what they were! Oh yes – we saw a simply enormous corvid roost close to Marston with what must have been 10,000 Jackdaws and Rooks!

1 Male Sparrowhawk seen on way back to Sleaford Railway station.

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How can you be sure that they were continental birds?

John

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Contact: recorder_north@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

Dave remarked that there were a lot of continental birds in the area, and this Blackbird did seem slightly more wary of us than would be expected of a resident Blackbird, more flighty, which may be a sign of a continental bird. I remember Chris Packham saying something about this on Autumnwatch.

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There is some thought that "Continental" Blackbirds can be loosely identified by subtle plumage differences - coastal ringers have found the main difference between incoming continental birds and native ones is size. The mean average of male Blackbird wing lengths in the UK is 132.9mm +/- 3.9mm. (Per BTO 2005). Male "Contintental" Blackbirds regularly have wing lengths in excess of 139mm. In essence, it is very difficult to distinguish continental Blackbirds at an inland site like Belton despite what Chris Packham says.