Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis
Lorand and Atkin (1989) documented several of the early records as follows: a pair attempted to breed at Normanby Park, Scunthorpe in 1864 but the female was shot and the male left the area; one shot near Tathwell May 23rd, 1871; another shot near Bourne in March 1889; one was seen catching Pheasant poults near Louth, April 29th, 1910; one at Santon Warren, Normanby, October 5th 1919; one at Miningsby, September 14th 1935, which caught an almost fully grown Pheasant. In all, there were around 25 county records to the late 1980s but some of these may of course have referred to escaped birds.
The first modern record of a breeding attempt was of a pair thought to have bred at Burwell Woods during 2009-2011 but no nest was seen. In 2019 breeding was reported from two areas of the county. In one area a nest was present and recently fledged young were seen but no adults were seen by experienced observers - it was thought that the adults may have been of captive origin. Elsewhere a pair fledged two young; this pair were both 2CY birds, an unusual occurrence in this species. At the same breeding site in 2020 the same pair (now in their 3CY) were present and again fledged two young that flew in early July; in addition, a second male and a 2CY female were seen in spring.
Most non-breeding records are coastal and a bird ringed as a nestling at Gauslandskogen in Norway on June 26th, 1994 was trapped by a ringer at Theddlethorpe on October 18th 1994, 682km SSW of the ringing site. Immature birds tend to range widely and can easily be missed. This was well illustrated by the occurrence of two satellite-tracked birds ringed and tagged as nestlings in the Brecks, Norfolk. One of these birds turned up briefly in the county in 2018 and the second in 2019, both immature females. The brief excursion that into the county on the March 31st and April 1st, by a wandering immature female Northern Goshawk was tracked by it's satellite tag (see picture, below)). This seems to be a well-described pattern in these unattached females who explore outside the natal area towards the end of March/early April. This one returned to the Brecks after an overnight roost. Neither this bird nor the one in 2018 was seen by a birdwatcher.
Satellite-tracked female Northern Goshawk, March 31st-April 1st 2019 (image © British Trust for Ornithology)
(Account as per new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021), and revised September 2022)