The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A colleague mentioned this record to me yesterday and I did not recall ever having seen any mention of the record in any Lincolnshire avifaunas -- although clearly not a real Lincs record it should presumably have deserved mention somewhere?

Copied from British Birds where the original report was printed in 1952

Fifty years ago:
‘Black-browed Albatross in Derbyshire.–On August 21st, 1952, Mr Morton H. Edmunds, the Editor of The Derbyshire Times, sent to the British Museum for identification a photograph of a bird (see Brit. Birds 46: plate 13) that had been captured a few days previ- ously (the exact date was unfortunately not recorded) at Stavely, Derbyshire, where it had become entangled with telegraph wires, although without sustaining any serious injury. The bird seemed to be in an exhausted
condition and Inspector G. A. Lloyd, of the R.S.P.C.A., took the sympathetic course of sending it by rail to Skegness, Lincolnshire, where it was released. It is much to be regretted that the bird was not examined by a competent ornithologist, but the excellent photo- graph... seems to show fairly clearly the main charac- teristics of an immature Black-browed Albatross (Diomedea melanophyrs)... J. D. MACDONALD.’ (Brit. Birds 46: 110-111, March 1953)

Someone has a bit of a memory don't they ?! An August record too. Don't tell me it was on its way from Unst to the Atlantic and tried to take the direct route ?!!

Phil

I remember writing a short article on Albatross records in Lincolnshire for an edition of the Lincolnshire Bird News about 10 or 15 years ago and made reference to this record then, although nothing was taken further. As well as BB it is also referenced in an early edition of The Birds of Derbyshire by Roy Frost and The Status of Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990 by Lee Evans to name two.

As an aside, when researching the 'Looking Back' series I wrote in the Lincs Bird Chat section there were a few species records or historical details which I discovered have not been previously documented in published Lincolnshire avifaunas, so perhaps an update is required?

How much time have you got Matthew?