Below is a list of species seen in the county (the Lincs List). Each name forms a link to more details about the species, including its status, records of rarities and images. Names preceded by dashes (- -) are distinctive subspecies for which separate details are available. Some of this information is available only to members who are logged in.

Download the latest Lincolnshire Bird Checklist (excel format)

In line with the BOU and BBRC, we are following IOC taxonomy and species order. BOU recently published the 9th edition of the British List in IOC order and with full revised common and latin names. Details can be seen here http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.12536/full.

Records for species with (LBRC) after the displayed name are rare/scarce in the county and details should be submitted to the Lincolnshire Bird Records Committee  for confirmation. Records of sightings of species with (BBRC) after the displayed name are national rarities, of which records are assessed by the British Birds Rarities Committee  to whom details should be sent (https://www.bbrc.org.uk/submit-a-sighting). A copy of these records should be sent to the LBRC for information only. Once accepted, these sightings will appear in the Lincolnshire Bird Report.

Species categorised as rare breeding birds are coded with the acronym RBBP. Please report these confidentially as usual to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

There are over 400 species and sub-species on the list and we will be adding details gradually, when time allows. We would welcome constructive comments, including errors in the material provided; please contact one of the county recorders  or use the contact form  on the home page. Accounts have been prepared up to the year specified under the individual species. Note that all of the photographs are of birds in Lincolnshire, and are illustrative of birds in a county setting. Especially for older records when cameras were less capable and digiscoping hadn't been invented, some shots are what would be termed "record shots". They are all solid Lincolnshire though! 

It is apparent that there are some species for which we have been unable to source photographs at the moment, historical records for instance, and other where it will always be difficult (e.g. seabirds). In due course, we will post a list of these in the eNewsletters we will be publishing regularly, hoping that some of these may come out of the woodwork.

Species recorded in Lincolnshire only as escapes or of other suspect origin are listed here.

Certain key references are abbreviated as follows:

• BBRC  The annual reports of the British Birds Rarities Committee, published in British Birds.
• L&A      Lorand, A. and Atkin, K. (1989) The Birds of Lincolnshire and South Humberside. Leading Edge Press, Hawes.
• BTOA   Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann R.L., Downie, I.S., & Fuller, R.J. 2013. Bird Atlas 2007-11: the breeding and wintering birds of Britain and Ireland. BTO Bppks, Thetford.

References to other individual supporting documents are provided where necessary in each species entry. Liberal reference has been made to all of the annual "Report on scarce migrant birds in Britain" publications in British Birds, the sister publication to the BBRC reports, and to BTO data from the Ringing Scheme and the Breeding BIrd Survey.

Finally, some of the published data including charts and histograms have been taken from previously published species accounts and articles in Lincolnshire BIrd Report, updated where necessary. Much of the pre-2017 work was prepared by Andrew Henderson, to whom grateful thanks are due.

All text and data in the Lincs List are © Lincolnshire Bird Club, and images are © of the photographers.