The Lincolnshire Bird Club

5 male & 2 female Goosanders at Boultham mere this morning. The birds were actively displaying, females prostrate on the water with males swimming round them. 1 pair were seen mating. This is the first time I have seen Goosanders mating in Lincolnshire.

_________________
Regards,

Andy.

While I am not suggesting that mating in February is a likely prelude to breeding at Boultham Mere, it is not impossible that Goosander could breed in Lincolnshire. I saw a pair hanging about on a woodland pond, in the atlas years in late April, that made me wonder. A look at the atlas change map shows how far they've spread since the 1970s, with outlying pairs now in such wild and remote places as Northamptonshire and Hampshire.