Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus
Lorand and Atkin (1989) considered that the earliest reliable record of Golden Oriole in the county was one killed after flying into telegraph wires near Gainsborough in August 1908 and since then they note that there have been around 40 records. In the ensuing decades the number of records (birds) has increased slightly: 1990-1999, 20 (21); 2000-2009, 23 (23); 2010-2019, 33 (36). This brings the total records to around 116 up to 2019. Whether this is better detection or an increased number coming through is unknown; certainly, the latter reason looks less likely given the annual toll taken on them by hunters in the Mediterranean. The majority of birds found are males, typically just heard in song. Many of those actually seen prove to be immature birds yet to attain full adult black-and-yellow plumage. Spring records predominate, peaking in the last 10 days of May. The earliest spring record was April 27th, 1996 with a long tail-off into early July. Records in August-September are rare but in the successive years 2001-2002 there were three records in each year, all juveniles, between August 17th-September 28th, the latter date being the latest ever. There was a record on August 28th in 2003, but since then there have been no August or September records with the latest being one on July 15th, 2013.
(Account as per new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021), included October 2022)