Birds in Lincolnshire

Local Patch Listing

Local Patch listing by Graham Catley

Since 1993 I have kept a regular check on the number of species that I have encountered on my local patch at Barton in each year. I include records from the whole of the parish which includes the clay pits, the Humber estuary and areas inland on the lower areas of the Wolds. Although the habitats are fairly varied and the estuary is a major advantage in that it not only provides feeding for waders and wildfowl but also acts as a migratory highway for cross-country migrants, some types of habitat are distinctly limited. The only mature woodland is in Baysgarth Park, where ritual management removes all dead timber and any sign of an understorey. Mature trees are thinly spread and grassland is now very limited in extent. There is no doubt though that the site is good for birds. I am sure that if there were more active birders more rare birds would be found on an annual basis.

Willow Tit Far ings still a regular local bird with several pairs in spring. © Graham Catley

During an average year I should think that I spend part of at least 280 days a year on the patch. Birding activities vary with the time of year but surveys figure prominently. The winter months involve regular wildfowl monitoring and checking on Bittern presence. From March to September I undertake a breeding census of all the waterfowl and a variety of other species along the clay pits. This involves locating all pairs, checking on production of young and fledging success and takes a lot of hours! The Barton-Barrow Haven clay pits, I cover the whole area for breeding birds, cover almost 150ha and accessing them all is difficult. In recent years I have also spent many hours monitoring breeding Marsh Harriers and Bitterns, Bearded Tits and Water Rails. Even doing a census of Willow Tits is very time consuming but every hour in the field has the potential to produce something unexpected. Autumn often includes many hours watching from the Humber bridge view point counting migrant flocks of wildfowl, waders and passerines and in the right weather looking for skuas and displaced seabirds. Although Barton is 18 miles from the open sea it produces a good selection of seabirds in most years but exceptional occurrences need exceptional weather conditions which are infrequent. The best weather for the bridge is a gale force south-easterly with rain preferably having blown all night prior to a rising tide in the morning. The best blow of the 90's for variety occurred on September 13th 1993 and brought in a juvenile Sabine's Gull, Manx Shearwater, 28 Bonxies together, 60 Arctic and 3 juvenile Long-tailed Skuas and Leach's Petrel. Other days have had less variety but greater numbers of some species; on September 20th 2001 there were 107 Gannets flying around within half a mile of the bridge at one time a most amazing sight.

But what of patch listing? Well it adds a little spice to the year and reveals trends that may well not occur to most birders. During the nine years that I have done a Barton year list I have recorded a total of 227 species ranging in any one year from a low of 167 in 1998 to the all time high of 184 in 1996. The latter year was remarkable for several things but in essence combined some excellent northerly and easterly gales both in the early winter and autumn producing all the scarce grebes, Black-throated Diver and most of the expected auks and all three redpolls but some strange misses like Garganey!

Black-throated Diver Barton March 1993 recorded in just two of the nine years. © Graham Catley

A total of 25 species have occurred in just a single year, 12 in two, 9 in three, 7 in four, 12 in five, 9 in six and 19 in seven. Only 158 species have been recorded in all nine years, 58% of the total. The range of species recorded has been quite wide. Out of the all time total of 240 species that have been recorded in the parish I have connected with an amazing 94% during the last nine years. Some species, such as the rarer grebes, Glaucous and Iceland Gull and Little Owl, have become harder to see while others like Avocet, Hobby and Marsh Harrier are now expected. Rarities are just that but some good birds have come my way in the nine years not necessarily through looking for them though. The Little Swift passed through my scope view while I was checking on the welfare of a pair of nesting Common Terns, a moral for all in survey work there. Lesser Scaup, Green-winged Teal, Ferruginous and three Ring-necked Ducks were down to daily scrutiny of the wildfowl on the clay pits. My only White-winged Black Tern was down to trying to get fit by riding a bike while Pectoral Sandpiper and Richard's Pipit were found during routine survey work and the 1992 Marsh Warbler was heard singing while playing football with my son. Entertaining the family can be productive, it all depends on where you take them for the entertainment. Even the back garden can produce good birds if you keep alert. Another football knock-about produced my first garden tick Mediterranean Gull hawking insects and while watching it I picked up a Peregrine, two ticks in a day. Washing the car one November afternoon revealed a Firecrest in the neighbour's hedge and I have even managed fly over Bearded Tit and Ring Ouzel from my garden which is roughly in the centre of the town.
2001 turned out to be my second best year ever at Barton with 181 species recorded.

Firecrest Far Ings Barton April 1994 a difficult patch species recorded only four years out of nine at Barton. © Graham Catley

Lapland Bunting Barton October 1996 noted in three out of nine years surprisingly as common as Black-throated Diver and Nightingale and only exceeded by one by Common Buzzard. © Graham Catley

In most years I don't miss many species that other locals record but in 2001 there were another eleven species that I missed due to a variety of circumstances. The most galling were the first Barton Wryneck, Spoonbill, which I am still missing on the patch, and a spring Honey Buzzard. The latter occurred when as usual there were only two of us covering the site so we split up to produce better coverage and stand more chance of locating something good. Steve Routledge got the Honey Buzzard I got not a lot!

There are always more birds to aim for on your patch. There has never been a record of Temminck's Stint at Barton which seems incredible and there are a number of scarce and rare birds associated with reedbeds, of which we have plenty, that have never been found rather than never occurred. Savi's, Great Reed and Cetti's Warblers, Night Heron, Great White Egret and White-spotted Bluethroat are all overdue but with recent additions including Woodlark, Common Crane and Richard's Pipit anything is possible.

The above listing totals do not include all the recent splits advocated by parts of the British listing groups such as Pale-bellied Brent and Hooded Crow; but since the last Hooded Crow at Barton was on April 16th 1984 that proposed species would be a pretty tricky addition to any list nowadays.

Obviously a local patch on the coast is going to produce more species per annum than one inland but there is always a greater achievement in seeing a bird on your patch than elsewhere. Try it and see; patch listing can add a whole new dimension to your birding routine.

Graham Catley

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