The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Late afternoon today Linda and I were birding the foreshore of Rimac when Linda spotted a smaller, pale plover mixed loosely with the Ringed Plovers. After studying the bird I considered the possibility of it being a juvenile Kentish, although I have not previously seen a juvenile. On arrival home I was able to study my photo's which left little doubt about the identity of the bird, which is believed to be the first sighting of a juvenile Kentish Plover in Lincs.
The flock of Plovers, including the Kentish, were flushed by a Merlin at 5.10 p.m and then flew South into the heat haze and were not seen to land.

Roy

Still present early afternoon at least, with a small flock of Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Knot.
Great find - thanks!
Rob

We went again late morning but got wet in the persistent rain and then abandoned the visit at lunchtime.

With this being the first Kentish Plover sighting for us in Lincolnshire it was particularly pleasing to have found it.

Roy

great find by you both, it was getting wet though, can you arrange a bit of sun next time

terry whalin

Nice find Linda and Roy The Birds of Lincolnshire , Lorand and Atkin, state a pair
reared 2 young at a coastal site 1979, regards John.

I remember my surprise when Monica and I found the Kentish's nest at Gib. I didn't know about the breeding, having just returned from some years in Peru. Dick and his gang at Gib were, of course, fully aware of it. Remarkably, I think it was successful despite being in a very public spot. Perhaps Kev knows more, but impossible as it might seem, it may have even been before his time at Gib began!!

Kentish showing well this pm after going missing for a couple of hours around lunchtime. Unfortunately, was then flushed by 3 photographers and a birder. Considering the bird was walking towards the group of gathered admirers, there was no need to approach it, block the view of others and ultimately flush it.

Also:
Curlew sandpiper 1 juv
Ruff 1
Arctic skua 2

Kev would have been a schoolboy in short trousers then ???, i remember Dick was pretty chuffed with the nesting, and young fledged, regards John.

The KP had moved a little to the north from about 4pm and had crossed the haven to the Saltfleet side. It returned to the south of the Great Eau but then flew off with other waders back north at about 4.45pm. I don't know if it was seen subsequently.

James

You lucky man James - that means you've now got Kentish over me for Donna Nook!

Chris

No sign of the KP today as far as I am aware and after several hours of searching up to 4pm at least.
Other birds:
Curlew Sand 3 Ad + 9 juvs at least
Whimbrel 15
Hobby 1

Other disappointed punters included Barry Clarkson, Mike Tarrant, Russell Hayes and family.
See Russell's picture of The Black Bug - any ideas anyone ?

Phil

Bad luck with the KP, could be that "the black bug" is some kind of Hymenopteran of the Ichneumonid family?

I think you are right Phil. There are several which are close to this one at :
http://www.commanster.eu/commanster/Ins ... nidae.html

Phil

Kentish Plover in a Lincolnshire context:

It is probably worth including the text from the original Birds of Lincolnshire, Smith and Cornwallis as a precursor to the more recent records of this rare species in the county;

A Very rare vagrant. The only recent record is of three at Gibraltar Point on April 13th 1950.
Between 1902 and 1905 one or more pairs nested on the shore at Humberston on the north-east coast and at least four clutches of eggs are known to have been taken. One of these is now in the possession of the City and County Museum at Lincoln and its identity has recently been confirmed at the British Museum. It was taken from a nest on June 1st 1903 by B A Pye of Cleethorpes who has made these facts known in correspondence. Three other clutches, said to have been taken by other collectors between 1902 and 1905, have not been traced. Pye did not see the birds himself, though he did not specially look for them being more interested at that time in the finding of the eggs. Apart from these, the only record is of one shot near Friskney on October 8th 1881.

The full facts of the 1902 – 1905 occurrences seem rather obscure, how you would find a birds nest without even seeing the birds seems a mystery and this and other questions presumably led to the records being dismissed by Atkin and Lorand with the comment: the species is alleged to have bred annually at Humberston between 1902 and 1905 but the evidence is not convincing.

The 2011 bird becomes the 31st Lincolnshire record but the first for 15 years; is this due to huge declines or do the Lincolnshire outer beaches not receive the birding attention in the late spring and early summer that they did 1970’s and 1980’s?
The full list of accepted Lincolnshire records therefore is as follows:

1881 Near Friskney one shot (no age given)
1950 Gibraltar Point 3 April 13th with one on 14th
1959 Wisbech Sewage Farm May 21st 1959
1964 Wisbech Sewage Farm May 26th
1966 Wisbech Sewage Farm August 10th
1967 Gibraltar Point August 9th
1972 Saltfleetby NR June 15th
1977 North Killingholme pits female May 29th – 30th
1978 Bardney male May 16th
Gibraltar Point female May 21st
1979 Gibraltar Point a female was found incubating two eggs on June 30th; Later the pair and two small young were seen, but it is not known if they were reared successfully. In addition a male was at Gibraltar Point in June and July.
1980 Gibraltar Point pair May 17th with male to 18th
Saltfleetby female June 15th
1981 Saltfleetby male May 29th – 30th
Gibraltar Point male June 17th – 20th
Saltfleetby male July 5th
1982 North Killingholme pits male June 6th
1983 Gibraltar Point May 7th – 8th
1984 Donna Nook May 7th
Saltfleetby male June 2nd
1986 Tetney female May 24th
1987 Gibraltar Point female May 7th
1989 -1990 Read’s island to Barrow Haven first-winter male December 24th – April 1st was almost certainly recorded on Read’s Island on November 19th - fed with up to 200 Ringed Plovers (an exceptional winter total) roosting at high tide on Read's Island and moving to Barton foreshore to feed at low water
1995 Gibraltar Point female April 25th
1996 Saltfleetby female June 5th – 6th

The 1979 breeding record was the last such occurrence in Britain since the loss of the south coast colonies in the early 20th century. It seems somewhat odd that at a Bird Observatory no one actually followed up the record to assess whether the birds fledged successfully or not but the details above, published in the 1979 Lincolnshire report, are all that seems to have emerged; maybe if there is more available then 32 years on it is time to publish the full details of the record. With the huge amount of coastal disturbance in the breeding season and recent drastic losses in breeding Ringed Plovers it seems highly unlikely that Kentish Plover will ever attempt to breed again in the county. Declines have occurred widely throughout northern European populations since the mid 1990’s with the causes of these declines again often being attributed to disturbance of coastal breeding sites by the rapidly growing human populations and their expanding leisure activities.

I have spent many hours researching such issues !! The details I found on the nesting KP's appears below - a summary appears in the recentoly published 'Bird Observatories of Britain and Ireland' second edition (Poyser).

''Gibraltar Point is one of few sites where the three species of small Plover have nested in the UK. In the year 1979, there was an extraordinary occurrence. A pair of Kentish Plovers arrived and settled down to nest in an area of saltings and shingle slightly north of the main beach area, but nonetheless in an area where visitor access was unrestricted. A female was confirmed to be incubating two eggs on 30th June. The late date and the number of eggs involved may suggest that it was an inexperienced pair or that one or two earlier nesting attempts had been unsuccessful (my assumption). Mindful of the significance of this event and the birds vulnerability to egg collectors the whole episode was kept so confidential by the wardens at the time that it is possible that only 2 – 3 people knew of the occurrence. There was not even any documentation in the log for that year other than occasional references to a male during June and July. In reality, there were three birds: the pair and a second male that was in attendance through much of the summer. Inevitably, the birds were discovered independently by a birdwatcher from Sheffield(Mr Leslie Cornthwaite) who wrote to the Observatory to report that he had identified a female Kentish Plover attending a clutch of 2 eggs on 8th July. He too was quickly encouraged into suppressing the information. It is known that the two eggs hatched but the resulting chicks were seen away from the nest on only one occasion before being lost – presumably predated by a local magpie. This was the first nesting of Kentish Plovers in Lincolnshire and the last time that the species nested in the UK. An article in the Observer appeared on 18 Jan 1980, breaking the news of breeding by this pair of Kentish Plovers but the location information given was limited to ‘somewhere on the Lincolnshire/South Humberside coast’. The following year, a pair again appeared on 17 May, but only the female remained the next day.