Quail Coturnix coturnix
Scarce summer visitor April to September; rare in winter. Probably much under-recorded.
Common Quail in north Lincolnshire: left June 2005; centre, June 4th 2006; right, on the exceptionally late date of October 27th 2005.
Up to four birds were seen there on this date, presumed to have been a family party (Graham Catley).
This species is a scarce and fairly local summer visitor that occurs in Lincolnshire annually. The unique breeding strategy of Quail in which the young of the year are able to migrate north and themselves breed in the same year probably accounts for “Quail years”. During 2013-2017 an average of 8 singing males per year were reported. Good data is available for Lincolnshire from 1996 onwards and since that year “Quail years” and the number of singing birds reported have occurred as follows: 2011 (65), 2005 (64), 1997 (39), 2019 (28), 2020 (36). The worst years have been 2002 (0), 2001 (4) and 2018 (5). The average per year over the 25 years from 1996 to 2021 was 20.
(Account from Birds of Lincolnshire, included September 2022)