Thank you for submitting your sighting.

The Lincolnshire Bird Club wishes to protect rare birds breeding in our county and its sad we have to repeat this on our website Some breeding species are still targeted by egg collectors, poisoners and shooters who may check sites such as this for information. Sadly some breeding birds are also plagued by birders playing taped calls to them and over intrusive photographers, who don't always put the interests of the bird first. Therefore there may be occasions when we have to act to protect a vulnerable species/site if we have experience or intelligence to suggest that a post could put successful breeding at risk.

We therefore urge caution whenever you post information about rare breeding species in the county and ask that you follow the guidelines below.

If we remove a post in relation to breeding bird information we will contact the person responsible for the post to explain the reasoning behind our actions. We sincerely hope you understand and approve of this policy.

We have particular concerns about the reporting of Red Kite, Marsh Harrier, Peregrine, Bittern, Little Egret, Montagu's Harrier, Black necked Grebe, Mediterannean Gull, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Barn Owl records on any Lincolnshire Bird Club platform. All advice is subject to change. If you have any doubts about posting, questions or suggestions please contact me direct at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If in doubt about posting please contact me first. We do not want to lose your valuable records so if you don't post, please send them direct to the County Recorders whose contact details are below.

Red Kite

Please do not post any Red Kite sightings between March to July from anywhere south and west of Sleaford (or anywhere else if suspected to be breeding), ALL records should be submitted direct to the relevant County Recorder Phil Hyde in South Lincs and John Clarkson in North Lincs. Records of passage birds on the coast, at sites such as at Frampton Marsh, Gibraltar Point or along the Humber Estuary are fine to appear on the forum.

Peregrine

Records for Peregrine except at monitored 'safe' sites such as Lincoln, Grantham, Boston and Louth should be sent direct to the county bird recorder as soon as possible after the sighting to enable the prospects of breeding to be evaluated. Records of passage birds on the coast, are fine to appear on the forum.

Marsh Harrier

Posting records from reserves with full time wardens such as Frampton RSPB, Gibraltar Point and Far Ings is not a problem. Records away from these sites should be sent direct to the county bird recorder. When posting, please do not pinpoint breeding sites, for examples “males carrying nesting material seen over the Sea Bank Pits”

Barn Owl

For more ‘commoner' Schedule 1 birds such as Barn Owl, there is not a problem reporting sightings, but you still shouldn't mention anything that would pinpoint a breeding site, for example 'seen regularly taking food into the black barn half way down Little Fen Lane' etc...

Little Egret

Please do not publish any records of breeding Little Egrets, at or near Heronries. Records of birds away from possible nesting sites are fine. Please send all breeding records to the relevant county recorder.

Montagu's Harrier, Black necked Grebe, Mediterranean Gull, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Other Species

A list of the scarcer UK breeding species which are monitored by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP) is at this link: http://www.rbbp.org.uk. A number of these species breed in Lincolnshire and reporting their presence generally is not a problem but please do not pinpoint suspected breeding sites. You should suspect breeding whenever you see a bird holding territory (present for more than 1 week) from March to end of July or if a pair of birds is present away from a usual migration site.

If you see a potentially rare breeding bird that has not been previously reported and it is on a wardened nature reserve, please inform the warden and check with him first before posting any details on this site or through other media.

Any information on all rare breeding species should be sent to the county recorder along with any details which might confirm breeding. This advice is subject to change and all updates will be posted on the LBC Forum.

COUNTY RECORDERS CONTACT:

North Lincolnshire: John Clarkson
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South Lincolnshire: Phil Hyde
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Lincolnshire Bird Club Rare Breeding Bird Panel Representative: Phil Espin
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The latest Lincolnshire Bird News can be seen at https://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/site/index.php/sightings/latest-news.

Why record birds?

Keeping a record of the birds we see is one of the most useful aspects of our birdwatching. Although you may not think your own personal records are very significant, when you combine them with records from other birdwatchers in the county they provide a valuable historical record. Over time, records can be compared and will give between year changes in the patterns of occurrence of common species as well as details of breeding, distribution and movements.

Recording birds regularly from the same site can contribute to a greater understanding of the ornithological value of the site and may provide important information for site safeguarding and to evaluate the effects of site management. This gives real conservation value to your records.

To report news of a recent bird sighting or records of all your sightings, there are a number of ways you can do this.

Lincolnshire Latest News:

The latest Lincolnshire Bird News can be seen at https://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/site/index.php/sightings/latest-news. This page will be updated on a regular basis, to provide a convenient news service to scarce & rare birds found within Lincolnshire. This is a free service and members wishing to get more up to the minute information should check commercial news services. A copy of Archive news can be found at https://lincsbirdclub.co.uk/site/index.php/sightings/lbc-archived-sightings.

WhatsApp Rare & Scarce Bird News (Members ONLY)

A group dedicated to informing Lincolnshire Bird Club members of rare birds in the county. The group is for news of rare birds (LBRC/BBRC rarities). 

The rules are simple

1) Reporting new LBRC/BBRC rarities in Lincolnshire
2) BBRC rarities heading toward Lincolnshire e.g Cliff Swallow south at Spurn
3) No chit chat

Admins reserve the right to remove any member deviating from the rules. By joining the group you accept that your mobile number is being shared with others in this group with your agreement. For more information click here.

Twitter:

For short messages to get the news out to other club members, it's best to use the Lincs Bird Club Twitter Feed. Anyone who follows Lincs Birding on Twitter will get the news and those who are not Twitter members can view our Twitter feed on the home page of this website.
Its important that when you do your tweet you Include the text @Lincsbirding to ensure the message is retweeted increasing the chances of the news spreading more quickly.

The LBC Forum:

Only Members have access to our forum and its here they post what they have seen around the county. Simply post what you have seen, where and when you saw them, and post an image if you have one (however poor, often still of value!). These records are picked up every month and added to the county records database.

Use the LBC Records Template:

Both Twitter and the Forum records have to be sorted and transfered to the county records database by volunteers and this can take a lot of time.
The best way to send in records is to download our microsoft Excel Spreadsheet template and fill it in. We will check the data format and make any necessary changes and then import the records into the LBC records database. This is the easiest and most productive way of submitting your records. Most recording software packages can export to a .csv or .xls format and these exports take very little time to sort out. Once you have your template filled in, simply email it to the Database controllers.

Download the LBC Template HERE

Rare birds to the County

Those species that are scarce or rare in Lincolnshire, and that are rare nationally, have to be recorded in a different way.  In these cases, please send a description to the area county recorder along with any images taken. The simplest way to do this is by using our online form by clicking on the green "Submit a record click here" button below, and entering all the details requested.

These are then checked and adjudicated on by the Lincolnshire Rare Birds Committee (LBRC) and those accepted are entered in the Lincolnshire Bird Report for that year. The LBRC  review each record and make the final decision. If a record is not accepted, the verdict will always be "Not proven" rather then "Rejected" and this usually means the details of the description on paper were inadequate to prove the identity beyong doubt. A list of the birds reviewed by the LBRC can be found on this site by viewing the "Lincs List" when "LBRC" appears after the species name. 

National Rare Birds

Nationally Rare Bird records have to be sent to the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) following their procedure which can be found on their website.