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;
- tawny owl
- little owl
- blackbird
- robin
- rook
- jackdaw
- woodpigeon
- great tit
- wren
- blue tit
- dunnock
- whitethroat
- buzzard
- yellowhammer
- song thrush
- linnet
- blackcap
- mallard
- carrion crow
- mute swan
- cormorant
- greylag
- magpie
- chaffinch
- chiffchaff
- goldfinch
- skylark
- red-legged partridge
- swallow
- greenfinch
- house sparrow
- starling
- collared dove
- tufted duck
- great-crested grebe
- teal
- canada
- coot
- long-tailed tit
- bullfinch
- nightingale
- willow warbler
- lesser whitethroat
- kestrel
- garden warbler
- jay
- oystercatcher
- green woodpecker
- gt sp woodpecker
- moorhen
- stock dove
- lapwing
- feral pigeon
- common gull
- herring gull
- gt black-backed gull
- little grebe
- Egyptian goose
- grey heron
- lesser black-backed gull
- gadwall
- shelduck
- little ringed plover
- avocet
- shoveler
- common tern
- little egret
- reed bunting
- sand martin
- mistle thrush
- pied wagtail
- cuckoo
- redshank
- dunlin
- snipe
- meadow pipit
- house martin
- sedge warbler
- sparrowhawk
- tree sparrow
- common sandpiper
- wigeon
- brent goose
- barnacle goose
- ruff
- med. gull
- ringed plover
- turnstone
- spotted redshank
- golden plover
- black-tailed godwit
- reed warbler
- pochard
- whimbrel
- barn owl
Also, white wagtail.
Ton-up day falls short. http://t.co/aFNvTQlwjW