Siskin Spinus spinus
Common passage migrant and winter visitor. Scarce in summer but may breed in some years
Siskins: left, Donna Nook October 2010 (Michael Tarrant); centre and right, Waters Edge CP, March 17th 2019 and February 1st 2022 (Graham Catley).
Siskin was first proved to breed in Lincolnshire in 1973 at Hartsholme Park, Lincoln. During the Atlas period of the 1980s the only site with confirmed breeding was Snipe Dales to the east of Horncastle 1985-86. During the BTO Atlas 2007-11 it was confirmed to have bred in five 10km squares. From LBR reports for the five years to 2018 it probably breeds in most years in very small numbers. Sites like Laughton Forest, the forests around Market Rasen, Bardney Forest and the Scunthorpe area usually have probable breeders. There is pronounced autumn passage that varies tremendously from year to year. The largest day passage of the period 2009-2018 was noted at Gibraltar Point in 2015 when 1,447 birds flew south at Gibraltar Point on November 10th. An even bigger passage occurred there in 2008, when on September 12th 3,200 birds flew south. Wintering flocks rarely exceed 100 and winter numbers are thought to have declined to some degree in recent years. In the five years to 2018 the largest flocks reported were from the Lincoln area and included 100 at Bracebridge in January 2016 and 100 at Hartsholme Park in Jan 2018.
BTO ringing data for Lincolnshire shows that Siskins ringed in the county in October or February-March have been recovered in Finland, Slovakia, Sweden, and The Netherlands. Conversely, foreign-ringed birds have come from Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. UK recoveries of birds ringed in the same periods have mainly come from Scotland.
(Updated with reference to the new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021) January 2023)