Only 10 days left for winter atlasing

We're now in the final straight with only 2 weekends left to complete our ttvs and get in as many roving records as possible. There are still many common species to be found in most squares which have recorded less than 85 species so why not look at the map below and visit one of them if you get the chance. I'm down to my last 2 ttvs now, both in TF57 and doing a beached bird survey there on 26 Feb. Hopefully I'll find some roving records of missing common waders while walking the tide wrack.

But where did I see the bird above?

I have to confess I sloped off this last few days down to the Dordogne area of south west France with Rob Carr and Andy Sims. The starbirds were 2 Wallcreepers but for me the most memorable birds were the Hawfinches. I've seen small flocks of less than 10 Hawfinches twice in Lincs at Scunthorpe Crematorium in 1986 and Scawby in 2005. They are now very scarce and apart from coastal migrants I'm only aware of 1 record in the winter and summer periods in Lincs from 2007 onwards.

In France we had flocks of up to several hundred in the oaks above our head and I was amazed to hear how like an excited murmuration of starlings they sounded with their metallic ringing tick calls multiplied by many (large) beaks. I'd forgotten how chunky and tail less they look in flight and the whiteness of their tails tips which varies consideably in extent from bird to bird. It was fascinating to see them interacting and feeding and their amazing ability to pick an invisible perching position in leafless trees, which Andy's digiscoped image above clearly shows. When you can only see a couple of birds in a tree its always amazing when 10 fly out!

They are hard to find if you are not familiar with the call and especially when trees are in leaf but it seems Hawfinches are genuinely in big trouble in the UK while stable or increasing in Netherlands and France. The current atlas will reveal more about the position in England and if anyone can add records to the atlas please submit them as roving records. Are they still around in the NW Lincs/Scunthorpe area and why aren't they in the better woodlands in the SW of the county?

How many species are missing in each square?

This is a complementary graphic to the one in the previous post. It shows the number of species missing from each square. A species is counted as missing for a square if it has been found in more than 50% of adjacent squares.

It is noticeable that some squares have excellent coverage with 0 species needed while ones immediately next door have poor coverage. A good example is TF05 at Scopwick where 28 species could be added while TF16, Martin, next door has 0 species to be added.

So if your local square is saturated why not get out and about and look next door?

Current Winter Atlas Progress

Hi atlasers

Here is an update showing species richness by 10 km square for the county. The red squares are those where most input is needed to boost the list. If you look at "Winter Priority Squares" in the Atlas Data Home options menu you can see what common species are missing from your local square based on a count of in how many adjacent squares each species has been found.

Starting from the top the red squares are:

TA10 Caistor to Laceby where 18 common species are missing

TF05 Scopwick just north of Sleaford where 28 species are missing (the most)

TF31 Gedney Hill, 18 species

TF32 Holbeach, 15 species

The yellow squares need to be boosted to 80 plus. If your patch is in one of these squares and you can add roving records please do so. All records from 1 November to 28 February are acceptable for years 2007 to 2011.

I'd like to thank Tim Bagworth at Gib Point for going through the logs and adding missing records to TF55. Gib, with 193, is now where it should be, ranking as one of the best squares on the east coast. Thanks also to Keith Robinson, a stalwart at Covenham Reservoir who has added many missing species to TF39 in the last week.

We now have only 5.5 weeks left to find missing species and complete our winter ttvs so keep on birding. Remember if you need any guidance on using the Atlas website please contact your Regional Organiser, contact details above.

Winter Bird Race Winner

Hope everyone who took part last weekend enjoyed it and thank you for your contribution.

Altogether 106 records were added in 36 squares and commiserations to those who scored none at all or even only 1, like me!

The clear winner was Andrew Henderson who was way ahead of the rest of the field with 11 species added in the Brigg square TA00, ranging from Canada Goose to Med Gull. Andrew shrewdly selected a squares with one of the lowest species counts in the county and hit a range of habitats in it to maximise his chances.

Andrew will be presented with his prize, a pair of bins, at our conference at Whisby on April 16.

There are still over 500 missing species across Lincs and only 6 weeks to find them. We'll publish more details about where to look for them in the next week.

Common Repolls

Hi

I understand that there are a lot of Common Redpolls around in Lincolnshire. What is interesting is that I have only had one report in North Lincs. Therefore if you have seen any please could you enter a Roving Record or add it to Bird Track?

Thanks

Chris

Winter bird race: please get your data submitted

Thank you to everyone who took part in the winter bird race and hopefully you had alot of fun and enjoyment in finding missing birds. We now need to identify our winner so please ensure your data is entered by midnight on 16 January.

Early indications are that many missing species have been added and we will use the updated data to identify the squares in Lincs that need the most roving input in the final 5 or 6 weeks of the winter atlas.

The winner will be announced through here on 22 Jan and the prize of a pair of bins, generously donated by BTO will be awarded at our conference on 16 April.

Winter Bird Race this Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Well looks like we picked an appalling weekend weatherwise for the winter bird race but good luck to all the participators. Its still not too late to register a square if you want to take part over the next 3 days.

There was an interesting article on the UK winter atlas this week by Andy Musgrove of BTO on Birdguides http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=2475. It shows a UK wide species richness map and unsurprisingly the best square in England is Titchwell, Norfolk with 207 species.

The Lincs coast comes out well and the best squares in Lincs so far is TF49 Donna Nook/Rimac with 160 species closely followed by TF55 Gibraltar Point with 147. The best inland square with 129 species is SK96 which covers SW Lincoln and Whisby Pits. SE92 Far Ings is the best square in Humberside (which includes Spurn Point) with 130 species and further up on the Yorkshire coast TA09 Filey Brig has 164 species.

Good luck in getting out and finding those missing birds.

Phil