Goldcrest Regulus regulus
Common resident, passage migrant and winter visitor.
Although Goldcrest is fairly widespread as a breeder across Lincolnshire it does not breed in large numbers. It is probably limited by the low proportion of coniferous tree cover throughout much of the county particularly in the Wolds, Fens and Marsh. The Atlas put the population in the late 1980s towards the lower end of 3,000-12,000 pairs. Since then the BTO Atlas 2007-2011 showed that it had spread a little more widely into the Fens and along the coast. The APEP4 adjusted estimate in 2016 was 4,000 pairs. The sample size it too small to produce a Lincs BBS index but the long-term BBS index for England is up 33%. The population is boosted each autumn by a large-scale migration from northern Europe. Sometimes spectacular falls can occur. In the five years to 2018 LBR reports the largest such fall was on October 11th, 2015 when 3,000 were estimated present at Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe NNR. A year earlier the same site had 2,000 on October 14th, 2014. In 2016-2018 there were no such large falls reported though Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe NNR had 500 on October 8th, 2016. Ringing recoveries show that these birds are coming from, and returning to, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, among others.
(Account as per new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021), included December 2022)