The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Its the BTO/LBC Lincolnshire winter bird race this weekend. We hope to add as many missing wintering species as possible to each 10 km square in Lincolnshire. Its mainly for fun and many squares are still available. If you'd like to take part check out the BTO Lincs blog here on the LBC website at this link http://btolincs.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to the post on 26 November 2010 which has full details of the event.

Phil,

I've started but won't be winning any "rarity" prize!

John (Taff) Harry

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JH Birding
http://jhbirding.blogspot.com

I'm just waiting for it to stop raining then I'm out today in TF29 (Binbrook/North Thoresby) which is missing alot of water birds mainly because there is very little water there. Main targets are Canada Goose, Greylag Goose and Herring Gull.

As you can see this is not a rarity hunt, there are still alot of common birds to be found. The winner adds as many species as possible to the square. Only in the event of a tie, does the rarest bird added count as a tiebreaker.

Will report back on the outcome and hope every one else will too under this thread.

It turned into a beautiful day but I didn't get any of the species I was after. Most of the water bodies were still fully or partially frozen so very few waterfowl about.

My best stop was Grainsby where I got my only new bird for the square, Nuthatch. At the same spot near the church I had c20 Waxwing in a flock flying NW towards Barnoldby. Also Jay there, a total of 4 Buzzards through the day, 3 Kestrels and 1 Sparrowhawk. Over 400 Common Gulls and not a sniff of a Herring Gull!

No dead birds but 2 separate flocks of up to 15 Long tailed Tits which is encouraging.

This is from Andrew Henderson

I did the race in TA00 (Brigg in the top left corner) on Friday, preferring calmer conditions but not realising how heavily overcast and at times wet it would be. It was horrible. But it didn’t seem to matter too much. I started before dawn, trying for LEO and Little Owl but with no luck (though got one Tawny). As the light came up just before 8, I tried Big Wood, where several of my targets were possible and it surpassed expectations. In an hour I had added Bullfinch, Jay, Treecreeper, Woodcock and Coal Tit and by complete fluke a Med Gull feeding in an adjoining field.

I went back to get my scope to check other distant gulls but they’d all gone when I returned – but there was a Green Sandpiper in a ditch. Seven extras and it was still before 9 a.m. Next I went to the bit of the R Ancholme in my square, knowing it was ice-free, and quickly added Goldeneye, Teal and Canada Goose.

From this point, with heavy rain soaking me, things went downhill. I went up to Barnetby where a pumped gravel pit has a little open water jammed with birds but the Gadwall I’d seen (but not submitted!) a few days earlier were missing. I tried lots of places that should have Snipe but they have clearly moved away because of the cold, and I could not find any finch flocks with Brambling or with Siskin/Redpoll. The rain almost stopped but then it was so gloomy that I doubt I’d have seen Merlin or Peregrine at more than 100 yds! The day’s total was 55 species – pretty useless really for a varied mix of habitats, though of course I didn’t bother to search for Goldcrest once I’d found Coal Tit, and so on.

I know I was lucky in that first hour. In the conditions it would have been easy to miss the ‘difficult’ woodland birds like Treecreeper. My success was due less to field skills than to choosing a square with good potential reasonably close to home. Despite the weather, a good day and I am now keen to get a few more there and elsewhere. Earlier this winter, I'd already looked at the lists of 'missing species' in the Priority Squares page of the BTO Atlas website, and picked off a few species here & there. Very easy to do by matching species with available habitats - but for waterbirds, wait until the water unfreezes!

I have had a good weekend's birding in TF58, which is the Mablethorpe to Sandilands coastal strip.
A nice surprise was a very close view of a Little Egret on the side of a minor road in Trusthorpe.
Another good one was a Barnacle Goose with the Canadas in Queen's Park.
Also 2 big flocks of Common Scoters offshore at Trusthorpe.
We also saw our resident Winter Blackcap in Mablethorpe dunes.
This was my first bird race and was good fun!

I chose TF23 in South Lincs for my birdrace today. Teal, Redshank, Snipe and Herring Gull had not been recorded and were high on my target list but as always when searching for the expected you find the unexpected instead. TF has a short stretch of the tidal River Welland in the South-East corner. I had done TTVs here before but thought there was more to find, so this was where I concentrated my efforts.

After an unsuccessful search for Coal Tit around the only 3 pine trees in the square, I went to the River Welland. It was high tide and I soon got some new ducks for the square, 2 female Goldeneye, 6 Gadwall, 9 Wigeon and a pair of Goosanders which flew upriver (I was later to see them swimming downriver). 2 loose flocks of Lapwing totalling 60 birds flew North - the first I have seen since November and maybe a sign of better weather. A nearby drain held 5 Teal, my 5th new bird for the square and all ducks!

I searched farmland and country lanes during the middle of the day with limited success. Calling Domesticated Mallard a new species for the square is a bit of a cheat but it had been recorded in 2 neighbouring squares so it went in the book. Things looked up at Sutterton where I found 2 Waxwings (new to the square) in a tree.

Back at the River Welland in the afternoon the tide was much lower and ripe for waders on the exposed mud. I soon found several Redshank (new to the square) but that was it. Walking back in the gloom a Barn Owl hunted along the river bank.

8 new species for TF23 and still no Snipe, (I think Herring Gull is pretty scarce in inland Lincs away from pits and landfill sites). Total of 55 species for the day which will go on Birdtrack.

Hugh Dorrington

With only a few hours free on Saturday pm got only 1 new species for SK92 - 2 drake wigeon on the lake at Stoke Rochford which I have visited many times over the Atlas period. Other species there included 6 little grebe and 10 gadwall, 1 cormorant (only my 2nd record for the square!) plus more common wildfowl. Still more species to get tho with total on 81 spp.

Only other highlight of the day for the square, 12 red kites and 1 buzzard at the Colsterworth landfill site (aka the tip at Stainby)

Vin