The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Is it just me,or is there larger numbers of early returning northern breeding waders than normal?there seems to be a lot of Wood Sands,Green Sands,Ruff and Spotshanks being reported,perhaps there has been a poor breeding season in the arctic as most of these birds seem to be adults.



Regards



Steve.

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Steve
i have been thinking exactely the same and it seems that the early return is countrywide. Surely bad news from the breeding grounds in northern areas,

terry whalin

The number of wood sands in particular seems exceptional and I would be surprised if the count of 11 at Manby recently was not a June record for the county.

Cheers

Kev

Hi Kev,it certainly is the most Wood Sands i have heard of in the county while i have been birding(The past 24 years)and it certainly is the most i have heard of in June.If they are all adults,something has certainly gone wrong up north.



Steve

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Steve,

I've asked around about this observation and some are stating its about [i]normal[i]. Experts from other counties that I asked proposed early breeders from not as North as the Arctic.

Shed any light for anyone else to contribute to the debate.

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JH Birding
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Have just checked 'Birds of Linconshire' Atkin and Lorand do not mention to any June records up to 1988 although there was one at Gib on 24 Jun the following year. Have there been big numbers of returning adults in other counties?

Probably not linked but there seemed to be an above average number of spring birds eg three at Frampton on one date.

Cheers

Kev

Greenshank Grey plover, and Golden plover all seen or heard at Saltfleetby nnr this week, albeit in small numbers. John.

Certainly not normal for June in the UK! We were up in Finnish Lapland from June 4th - 13th this year; there had been gale force northerlies out of the Arctic a week previous and many of the birds expected were not even on territory. During June 4th - 8th the temperature never rose above 4C in the day and there were frequent snow showers. In Finnish Lapland Wood Sands were still displaying not even started nesting and up on the tundra the ice was only just disappearing so there is no chance these are birds that have bred and then moved south more likely they are birds that never made it north or just gave up en route. The highest counts of Wood Sands in Lincs usually come in the last week of July or the first 2 weeks of August when juveniles sometimes appear in big numbers after a good season in the north typically on light easterly winds. I can recall a flock of 8 birds at Killingholme one August but without looking up the archives have no additional peak numbers at hand; Wisbech SF of course used to have big numbers and the info from there was for a long time in the LBR

Interesting to hear the perspective from the breeding grounds. Although ironic if these birds have struggled this year due to extreme cold when the general concerns are how they will be affected by temperature increase on the tundra due to climate change.

As for autumn juveniles returning - 12 juvenile wood sands together on the Mere at Gib (19 Aug 96) was a very memorable sight, particularly with other waders present at the time.

Cheers

Kev

I stand corrected then Graham - thanks for the information - again always learning!

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