Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator
Scarce passage migrant and winter visitor, mainly coastal and especially in The Wash. Scarce inland and in summer.
Red-breasted Merganser: left, male at Gibraltar Point on May 20th 2013 (Russell Hayes), and right, females at Barton Pits, November 13th 2011 (Graham Catley).
Another declining wintering duck, Red-breasted Merganser was added to the list of species considered by RBBP from 2018 onwards. Though it has bred in neighbouring Yorkshire there is no record of it ever breeding in Lincolnshire. WeBS data indicates the rolling mean 5-year wintering population of Lincolnshire to 2018-19 was 84 (The Wash 81, Humber 3) while in the previous 5-year period to 2013-14 it was 166 (The Wash 159, Humber 7). Clear evidence of a recent fall in line with the 25-year long term trend for England which is down 43% according to the 2018-19 WeBS report. Peak winter flocks on the sea in recent years have come from Gibraltar Point with 87 in February 2014, 31 in November 2015, 47 in February 2016, 59 in January 2017 and 27 in January 2018. Birds can occur in all months of the year but are very scarce from June-August.
(Account as per new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021), included September 2022)