DITCH-LOVING YELLOW WAGTAILS STILL THOUGHT TO BE THRIVING IN LINCOLNSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE

Find me a ditch! Yellow wagtail pauses temporarily in a ploughed field

THE Yellow Wagtail emerged as one of the star species in an informative and entertaining presentation on Lincolnshire's birds, past, present (and future).

Across Britain, many farmland specialists have been in steady decline over the past 75 years, but, in this county, the "yellowbelly" has been holding its own.

Lincolnshire is currently believed to accommodate almost one in five of Britain's breeding pairs.

In an illustrated talk, co-delivered with county recorder Phil Hyde, Lincolnshire Bird Club chairman Phil Espin commended  Motacilla Flava for its ability to find insects in the sort of arable habitats where many other species have struggled .

He attributed this to its partiality to the ditches and dykes that  are a feature of many parts of Lincolnshire's rural landscape and which provide an important source for its prey.

Other (unsung) avian heroes of the county include Grey Partridge which, though in decline, is still reckoned to represent 12 per cent of the British breeding population - the same percentage as  the ever-cheerful Reed Bunting.

Also performing remarkably well  is the Sedge Warbler whose county population (8 per cent of the British total)  may actually be on the increase.

On the other side of the coin, the sad loss to Lincolnshire of the Whinchat, Hawfinch and Redstart over the past 30 years has been well documented.

In most parts of the county, breeding Corncrake, Turtle Dove, Spotted Flycatcher, Willow Tit and even Cuckoo are now but distant memories. 

And, in retrospect, was not the Europe-wide culling, almost to the point of extirpation, of the Ruddy Duck, both  heartless and inappropriate? This drastic measure was, according to Phil Espin, by edict of a EU directive to prevent it from cross-breeding in Spain with the rare White-headed Duck.

Whether any of the above four species will ever return to breed in our county seems doubtful, but, notwithstanding, there was a prevailingly upbeat note to the talk given by the two Phils.

The Common Crane has recently returned to breed at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's reserve at Willow Tree Fen, near Spalding, while the installation of nesting platforms at its  Frampton Marsh reserve, near Boston, is an indication of the RSPB's determination to achieve similar succes with Spoonbills.

What else might we get back in the county? A lot of research and habitat creation (plus safeguarding measures) would be necessary, but Phil Espin reckons Stone Curlew and even Great Bustard are possibilities.

Phil Hyde paid tribute to ornithologists of yesteryear such as the Rev Francis Blathwayt, Caton Haigh and John Cordeaux, plus contributors over many years to the Transactions journal of  the Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union whose combined chronicling of the birdlife of Lincolnshire had paved the way for the  invaluable species-recording activities carried out by many  subsequent commentators including, over the past 40-plus years, members of the Lincolnshire Bird Club. 

Phil Hyde  went on to highlight some of the rare species that, over many years, have provided a  showreel of magic memories for those birders who, through luck or fieldcraft (or both), have struck gold in Lincolnshire.

These include the likes of Pallas Sandgrouse, Lanceolated Warbler, White-billed Diver, Northern Waterthrush, White-throated Sparrow,  American Buff-bellied Pipit, Pacific Swift and Bobolink, not  forgetting the Rufous Scrub-tailed Bush Robin which, in 1963, turned up at Butlins holiday camp at Ingoldmells, near Skegness.

Happily such ornithological surprises are by no means confined to the past.

Just prior to the first Covid-enforced lockdown in 2020, the campus of Grimsby Institute was graced by the three-week presence of a Black-throated Thush which seemed relatively unperturbed by the to-ing and fro-ing of students and their lecturers, plus the admiring attentions of numerous birders who had came from all parts of the UK and even a few from further afield.

Even more recent has been the long-staying presence of another Asian species, a White-tailed Lapwing with an evident  penchant for RSPB reserves - firstly the one one just over the county border at Blacktoft Sands in Yorkshire and subsequently the one at at Frampton Marsh.

What could be the next rare bird to make its Lincolnshire debut and lift the List above the 405-mark  where it stands at present?

Melodious Warbler and Surf Scoter are reckoned to be among the front-runners, but, Phil Hyde reckons some of the speculative money should go on  a rank outsider - the Spectacled Eider.

However, for these three species and for other 'exotics', patience is the watchword. 

* The talk by Phil Espin and Phil Hyde was held prior to the annual meeting of the Lincolnshire Bird Club at the Golf Hotel in Woodhall Spa on March 22. It was partly based on the book Birds of Lincolnshire (published last year) of which they are co-authors with John Clarkson and the late Colin Casey. 

                                    

The book, published last year, that was partly authored by the two speakers