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A second dip into the history books looking back at those species which have made a first time appearance in the county during the month of May. Rather unsurprisingly for one of the peak migration months in the avian year, May boasts an impressive list of species, so much so that for ease of reference I have split this down into two reviews. This first part includes those species recorded pre 1969 and includes a British first (although unfortunately still not formally recognised as such) and one which has seen a dramatic change in fortunes with its Lincolnshire status, plus some species that, despite the passage of time, remain extreme rarities in the County. So, on with Part 1…….
1967 – SAVI’S WARBLER
The first authenticated record in the County was a bird trapped at Pyewipe Marsh near Lincoln on 9th May and which remained until 11th. Savi’s Warbler was a regular summer visitor in small numbers to the fens of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdon up to 1856 and it is probable that this species nested in the fens of Lincolnshire before drainage took place but there seems to be no records in existence. One was supposed to have been seen at Great Coates by Cordeaux on 24th May 1897. An extreme vagrant in the County there have been only 6 records in total and none for 21 years since the last, a singing male, at Chapel Pit from 16th to 17th May 1992. The first modern day breeding record in the UK since its extinction in the 19th Century came from Kent in 1960 with the population reaching a peak level in 1978-80 with a possible maximum of 28-30 pairs. However, despite its best efforts at recolonisation, especially in south-east England, this never really got going, numbers declined and the species is once again back on the list of birds considered by the BBRC. Despite a moderate range expansion on the continent, there have also been significant localised declines largely attributed to habitat destruction although to what extent sub-Saharan droughts have an effect on migration is not known.
1964 – ROSEATE TERN
Two birds seen at Gibraltar Point on 30th May were the first County record of this elegant Sterna. Four birds were also seen at Gibraltar Point on 1st September of the same year whilst this site claimed all of the county records of this species in the 1960s with singles in July 1965, August 1967 and an exceptional 15 on 15th September 1968. The bird remained very rare with 8 records (of 13 birds) between 1970 and 1979, 4 records (of 5 birds) between 1980 and 1989 and just 6 records between 1990 and 1999. However, more recent years seem to have seen a change in fortune with for example 11 records of 19 birds and 7 records of 22 birds in 2008 and 2009 respectively (although just 2 records in 2010 seemed to be a return to normal form). The population in the UK has fluctuated over the years and this is now a very rare breeding bird with Coquet Island off the Northumberland coast now the only regular UK colony. Unusually for a tern, the Roseate Tern shows some kleptoparasitic behaviour, stealing fish from other seabirds, which at British colonies has most often been Puffins.
1961 – SERIN
The first record was a bird seen at Gibraltar Point on 16th May. There are a very wide spread of seasonal records in the County with birds being seen in all months from April to November but with the majority concentrated in the spring period from April to June. An unusual summer record involves a bird at Donna Nook on 30th July 1970. Gibraltar Point takes the lion's share of the Lincolnshire records with the NE coast between Cleethorpes and Saltfleetby claiming the majority of the others. Inland records are exceptional and include a bird trapped at Brumby Common near Scunthorpe on 12 August 1976 and a singing male at Riseholme near Lincoln present from 24 May to 2 June 1996 which was not only the longest staying individual but also the last truly twitchable bird. Serin remains a very rare bird in Lincs with almost all recent records involving briefly seen birds flying along the coast. Breeding across much of mainland Europe south of the Baltic, the European Serin was dropped from the BBRC rarities list in 1982 following an increase in the number of birds reaching UK shores. With 70 records prior to 1958, 492 were recorded in 1958-85 (with an average of 18 per year) and then an increase to an average of 46 per year during 1986-92 with then a record 99 seen in 1993. They first bred in the UK in Dorset in 1967 and have bred sporadically since the 1970s in Devon, Dorset, Sussex and East Anglia but no more than one or two pairs a year. The species has experienced a dramatic increase on the continent. At the beginning of the 19th Century the species was confined to the Mediterranean, but from the middle of that century there was a northward spread through Germany and west through France. By 1942 it had reached Sweden and by 1950 it had reached the channel coast of France.
1959 – BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER
The former County wader magnet of Wisbech Sewage farm hosted the first county record of this species when an adult was present on 18th and 19th May. There have been a further 8 records since this bird all along the coast between North Coates and Gibraltar Point or in the Humber Estuary. Records have occurred in May (4), June (1), July (2) and August (1) with none for almost 13 years since the last at Read's Island/South Ferriby from 29th-31st May 2000. BBS was very rare in the UK prior to 1972, largely due to a poor understanding of its identification features, as at the time it was assumed that winter plumaged birds were occurring and consequently there was much confusion with Dunlin. In more recent years it has proved to be a regular spring migrant and, inevitably spring birds in summer plumage solved the Dunlin problem. Autumn records are much fewer and juveniles are surprisingly rare. With a basically south-east-north-west spring migration route, UK records presumably involve birds which have flown too far to the west and have been deflected by easterly winds across the North Sea.
1952 – COLLARED DOVE
With a current British population estimated to be about 280,000 territories, it seems strange that this species had not even been recorded in Europe prior to the 19th Century. The species then undertook a rapid range expansion from its homeland in Central Asia north-west across Europe from about 1930 with the first Lincolnshire record concerning a singing male holding territory at Manton, near Brigg from early May to September 1952. It is also worth noting this was the first British record of the species; however this has never been formally recognised. Norfolk is credited with this accolade following the arrival of a pair at Overstrand in April 1955. Following the colonisation of this and the Cromer area of Norfolk over the next year, requests were made for information on the origin of these birds to determine the status of escape birds. It was concluded they had probably arrived from the continent and were considered wild birds. From the results of this investigation the Lincolnshire record came to light. The Manton bird reappeared during late April in 1953 and remained until October and was then recorded again for the next 5 years with an additional pair breeding (for the first time in Lincolnshire) in Manton in 1957. The initial bird was almost certainly the first pioneer to visit Britain but despite these sightings the Norfolk Collared Doves remain the first acceptable records for Britain. Colonisation of towns and villages across Lincolnshire took place in earnest from the early 1960s and the species was well established by 1970 to become the familiar species with which we have become so accustomed.
1902 – RED-FOOTED FALCON
Doubtful circumstances surrounding an adult female reputedly shot from a vessel at the mouth of the Humber in early November 1864 means that the first authenticated County record of this attractive little falcon was that of a bird shot by a keeper at Panton, near Wragby on 15th May 1902. There have been a total of 27 birds seen in the County with most seen in the expected 'spring window' for this species, but with 7 records during the period July to November. Extreme dates are 30th April (1996, an adult male at South Witham NR) to 2nd November (1979, an immature at Donna Nook which is also one of the latest ever UK sightings). Most of the sightings have been brief, but some birds have made protracted stays and/or been rather confiding making them particularly popular amongst birders. Gibraltar Point had the monopoly on the Counties long stayers for many years which included birds from 8th-14th October 1967, 25th July to 5th August 1969, 30th May to 4th June 1989 and 4th-15th June 1990. Since then it is birds which have appeared inland which have proved to be most obliging, starting with the 2nd summer female which frequented Kirkby Moor between 14th-19th May 1994 and then a 1st-summer male (with the longest stay of any bird) around the Baston and Deeping Fen area between 12th June and 2nd September 2003 and another first-summer male seen in the Barton-on Humber area on 25th to 26th July, which although having a much shorter stay proved very popular. Incidentally, there has not been a bird in the County since these last two 10 years ago. A typical spring in the UK may produce between 5 and 15 records, but there were 42 in 1973 and 37 in 1989. However, these totals were eclipsed by a major influx in spring 1992 which produced 120 records. This influx was mirrored on the continent with the Netherlands experiencing its largest ever influx between April and June when at least 1111 individuals were reported with a maximum of 160 on 30th May whilst in Denmark 760 were observed between late May and early June. Interestingly there was not a single record in Lincs during spring 1992! This species was removed from the BBRC list of rarities from 2006.
1883 – ORTOLAN BUNTING
The first of the 31 records for the County concerned a bird seen at North Coates on 3rd May, with the remaining records, all since 1963, mainly concentrated in the coastal strip between Tetney and Theddlethorpe. The exceptions were a single bird at Gibraltar Point in August 1973 and exceptionally, four birds seen inland at Covenham Reservoir. It has now been almost 21 years since an Ortolan Bunting has been seen in the County with the last an immature, seen and heard at Donna Nook on 19th September 1992. From being a scarce passage migrant in Britain, this species has almost reached rare vagrant status in recent years. This is no doubt linked to the fact the species has undergone the second most pronounced decline of any bird species in temperate western Europe with an estimated population reduction of 82% between 1980 and 2008 and which has now been lost as a breeding species from Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland in the last decade. Habitat loss and degradation and subsequent reduction in prey items are cited as the main reasons for decline, although illegal captures during migration, particularly in France, surely cannot be helping. Eastern European and Mediterranean populations do seem to be stable however.
1870 – LITTLE BITTERN
The first fully documented record for the County was of an adult male shot by a gamekeeper near Gainsborough on 20th May. There is a record pre dating this which concerned a bird shot in the County some years before 1872 which was recorded by Cordeaux, but there was no mention of date or locality. With just a total of 10 County records of this notoriously skulking reedbed denizen, this is still an extreme rarity in the County. The last bird was a male seen at Messingham Sand Quarries from 1st-2nd June 2004 (which incidentally was the only bird seen in the UK in that year) and which was also the first in the County for 26 years when a well watched male made an extended stay at East Halton from 19th-29th April 1978. Although still a very rare bird in the UK this diminutive heron has of course bred successfully on two occasions. In 1984 a pair raised 3 young at Potteric Carr in Yorkshire and in 2010 a pair raised a single youngster at Ham Wall RSPB in Somerset.
1853 – CASPIAN TERN
The first record concerned a bird in summer plumage shot on 17th May at Caythorpe “many miles from the sea”. It was noted as being a fine example in very good condition and threw up three or four fish upon being shot. There have been a further 9 records of this huge tern in the county which has its closest breeding colonies situated around the Baltic. Remarkably, seven of the subsequent records come from inland localities, three of which are from the north-west rarity hotspot of Messingham Sand Quarries. With most sightings involving very short stayers, this remains a much desired bird for County birders and we are getting long overdue for another visit. Only two have lingered long enough to be enjoyed by anyone other than there finders. A bird at South Ferriby on 15th-16th June 1981 (which was first seen at Messingham on 14th June) and an adult first seen briefly at Boultham Mere on 10th August 2002 which was soon relocated at Apex Pit, North Hykeham where it gave stunning views for the rest of the afternoon patrolling the south shore and resting on a sand spit on the island. This is also the last bird to be seen in the County.
Part 2 - 1970-2012 to follow soon.............
Matthew
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