Gannet Morus bassanus
Regular offshore visitor/ passage migrant most of the year. Fairly common/common July - November, but scarce at other times and rare inland.
The British Isles are home to 55% of the world population of M. bassanus and the nearest colony, Bempton Cliffs 40 miles north of the Humber mouth, grew from 3,940 pairs in 2003 to 13,392 in 2015 and is probably still growing, so there are lots of Gannets breeding on our doorstep. They take 5 years to reach maturity and move large distances on foraging flights, so this is one sea bird we see plenty of. In the five years to 2018 LBR reported total monthly peak counts by site averaging at 3,700 per year ranging from 2,000 in 2014 to 4,800 in 2016. It is recorded in every month of the year but 96% of the peak counts come in the main passage period from August-November. The largest counts included a massive 1,500 at Gibraltar Point on October 2nd 2016 with over 900 there on October 2nd-3rd 2018 and 500 at Witham Mouth on September 5th 2015. Apart from the coast and The Wash birds, are also regularly recorded up the Humber past the Humber Bridge and sometimes inland. Four were recorded in different Wolds villages in October 2015. Birds ringed in Scotland (16) make up the bulk of those birds found dead or moribund over the years and foreign-ringed birds found in the county have come from Norway (2) and the Channel Islands (1), the latter an adult which was at least 25 years old.
(Account as per new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021), included September 2022)