Winter records of Arctic Tern

[Frenchy]

Hi

I'm after a bit of a favour really. Saw a 1st win Arctic Tern yesterday in Lincolnshire, and was wondering how many December records there have been of this species in Britain. I guess there must be some, maybe in the far south especially, but this is apparently the first for Lincs.

Anyone have any ideas?

Cheers,

Paul.

[AStevenson]

Had a quick look through a pile of Scottish Bird reports - didn't find anything later than about 23 Nov, but odd November records occur fairly regularly. (Thom's Birds of Scoitland covering up to 1980s doesn't mention any winter records)

Olsen & Larson's Terns book has a pic of 1st w bird taken in Holland on 20 Nov, and I recall, a hotly debated at the time, midwinter tern from Anglesey (I think) in the 1990s which I think turned out to be Arctic.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Bubbs]

"stragglers often linger into October and one bird was found at Benacre, Suffolk, on 16th December 1982"....(Birds In England)

[Tim Allwood]

Dec 8th was Norfolk's first ever winter bird Paul, in 2005

before that, the latest date was, I think, 23rd or 24th Nov... in 1997

atb
Tim

[Frenchy]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Rarer than Forster's in December then. Bugger!!!

[Marcus Lawson]

Hi Paul,
I saw a first winter bird on New Years Day at Dunge a few years ago, I'll check the exact dates for you tomorrow night and see if it was there in December.

Cheers
Marcus

[Marcus Lawson]

My memory ain't what it used to be, the bird was an adult. It was present offshore at Dunge on the 26th and 27th of December 1999 and 1st January 2000. Looking back through the KBR's until 1990 there were several mid-late November records.

In a blatant plug you can buy a disk with all the KBRs up until 2002 for only £10 as a member or £20 for non-members. Here's the link: http://www.kentos.org.uk/Membership/KBRDisk.htm
What a great stocking filler :t:

[Woodchatshrike]

There was one in the Forth in the last week of November.