Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis
Scarce passage migrant and winter visitor, rare in summer and inland.
Long-tailed Ducks: left at Covenham Reservoir November 2008 (Michael Tarrant) and centre, October 22nd 2010 (Neil Smith);
right, Gibraltar Point on 17th October 2010 (Russell Hayes).
The Atlas reported up to 50 at Witham Mouth in the 1980s and 1990s but nothing like that number has been seen in the 5 years to 2018. Total annual counts inferred from LBR reports range from 10 (2015) to 43 (2016). The largest flocks reported were in November 2016 with 17 at Witham Mouth on November 7th and 13 at Sutton on Sea on November 16th. Coastal records split between 33 from January-May and 83 from September-December. Birds reported inland ranged from 5 in 2014, 4 in 2016, 2 in 2017 and 1 in 2015 and 2016. Covenham Reservoir is a regular inland location. This is another species whose offshore wintering pattern makes it difficult to monitor long term trends using shore-based counts.
(Account as per new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021), included September 2022)