Had a big day out with Ben Ward, undeniably the keenest birder in Lincolnshire-if not the planet. The target was to see/hear as many species as possible. We were inspired by Richard Doan’s 95 sp. count at Gib. a couple of days earlier. He regularly records more than 100.

Anyway, we matched Richard’s score exactly, brilliant! Only trouble was we visited seven different venues, including Gib! and some of Lincs’ other major reserves. Jeepers!, we should have got more than that. I picked Ben up at 04:45 and got home at 22:00, totally knackered. In hindsight I reckon we got the logistics wrong. Ironically it was Gib where it went a bit titsup. It was a bad move not arriving there til’ midday.

It was a thoroughly  enjoyable day with some good birds and ace moments, like a whimbrel feeding confidently just metres away at dusk, like spotted redshanks in summer plumage at close range, like a garden warbler that popped up at almost touching distance to perform a song for us, like the amount of quality food and ginger beer Ben brought along. (He’s a bit of a chef master on the quiet, you know). The time spent consuming his goodies probably cost us a few birds.

We visited South Hykham, Whisby, Swanholme, Kirkby, Gib, Frampton, Freiston. We’re going to give it another go at a later date, with some better planning-target 120!!. I’ll keep you posted.

Birds identified;

1. tawny owl
2. little owl
3. blackbird
4. robin
5. rook
6. jackdaw
7. woodpigeon
8. great tit
9. wren
10. blue tit
11. dunnock
12. whitethroat
13. buzzard
14. yellowhammer
15. song thrush
16. linnet
17. blackcap
18. mallard
19. carrion crow
20. mute swan
21. cormorant
22. greylag
23. magpie
24. chaffinch
25. chiffchaff
26. goldfinch
27. skylark
28. red-legged partridge
29. swallow
30. greenfinch
31. house sparrow
32. starling
33. collared dove
34. tufted duck
35. great-crested grebe
36. teal
37. canada
38. coot
39. long-tailed tit
40. bullfinch
41. nightingale
42. willow warbler
43. lesser whitethroat
44. kestrel
45. garden warbler
46. jay
47. oystercatcher
48. green woodpecker
49. gt sp woodpecker
50. moorhen
51. stock dove
52. lapwing
53. feral pigeon
54. common gull
55. herring gull
56. gt black-backed gull
57. little grebe
58. Egyptian goose
59. grey heron
60. lesser black-backed gull
61. gadwall
62. shelduck
63. little ringed plover
64. avocet
65. shoveler
66. common tern
67. little egret
68. reed bunting
69. sand martin
70. mistle thrush
71. pied wagtail
72. cuckoo
73. redshank
74. dunlin
75. snipe
76. meadow pipit
77. house martin
78. sedge warbler
79. sparrowhawk
80. tree sparrow
81. common sandpiper
82. wigeon
83. brent goose
84. barnacle goose
85. ruff
86. med. gull
87. ringed plover
88. turnstone
89. spotted redshank
90. golden plover
91. black-tailed godwit
92. reed warbler
93. pochard
94. whimbrel
95. barn owl

Also, white wagtail.