In photos: 2024 captured in Lincolnshire

From animal mishaps to Christmas tree catastrophes, 2024 has treated Lincolnshire residents to many memorable moments.

The region became an election battleground over the summer with visits from high-profile politicians, while its sporting heroes celebrated Olympic success.

The region became the focus of attention when plans to house asylum seekers at the RAF Scampton site were scrapped, and there were also celebrated appearances from historic planes and regal displays from the Red Arrows.

Scroll through the photos below to relive some of the most striking moments of the year.

In January, a muntjac deer had to be rescued after it wedged itself upside down in a tiny gap between two houses.

The RSPCA and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue worked together to save the stricken animal in Louth.

Animal rescue officer Karen Nix said it was "such a relief" to free the deer and see it run free into nearby undergrowth.

In February, Grantham's Freya Colbert claimed a stunning gold in the women's 400m medley on the final day of the World Aquatics Championships in Doha.

Colbert, 19, produced a strong final freestyle leg to earn her first global title.

After this success, she went on to compete for Team GB at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games.

In March, residents in one Lincolnshire village described a natural phenomenon as a "nightmare".

Tens of thousands of starlings formed murmurations at sunset over Great Gonerby for weeks, but there was one unfortunate drawback.

Resident Katie Emmett said: "Even just going out the front door you end up with poo on your hands because it's all over the handles."

Jonathan Brown added: "They're [the birds ] a thick black cloud, and you can hear them and you can hear the showers of poo coming down."

In April, it was announced a mysterious Roman artefact was going on public display in Lincolnshire for the first time.

The object is one of only 33 dodecahedrons found in Britain, and the first to have been discovered in the Midlands.

It was found during an amateur archaeological dig in Norton Disney, near Lincoln, in the summer of 2023.

Lincoln Museum said visitor numbers increased by over a quarter after the object went on display.

Spalding Flower Parade saw plenty of people visit the town in May.

More than a million tulips were picked by an army of volunteers for the event, that otherwise would have gone to waste.

The flowers, which are a by-product of producing tulip bulbs, are classed as waste.

The annual parade began in 1959 to celebrate the area's flower growing success, but only returned last year after a 10-year break.

In June, General Election campaigning was in full swing with politicians of all colours visiting Lincolnshire on the campaign trail.

On 17 June, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak helped children feed the goats during a visit to Great Wood Farm Early Years Centre in Grantham.

Though the Conservative Party kept some constituencies in Lincolnshire, they also lost several seats to Labour and Reform UK.

Read the results and analysis here.

In July and August many Olympic hopefuls from Lincolnshire competed in the 2024 Paris Olympic Summer Games.

Equestrian Ros Canter, 38, from Hallington, near Louth, helped Team GB win an early gold medal in team eventing.

After returning home, Ms Canter said she was enjoying getting back to "life as normal" in Lincolnshire.

People in her village were delighted for their gold medal winning neighbour.

In August, a Lincoln man got more than he bargained for after mistakenly purchasing a RAF Scampton sign bigger than his house.

Steve Jollands, who worked on the former RAF site from 1994 to 1995, initially thought he had bagged a "little memento" when he found the sign on Facebook Marketplace.

However, when he went to collect it, Mr Jollands, who lives in a bungalow, was shocked to discover it was 9ft (2.7m) long.

"Stupidly, I didn't ask for the dimensions and I have bought a sign that is far too large for my house," he said.

In September, the Red Arrows were captured making a colourful flypast of Niagara Falls.

The display was part of the five-week Maple Hawk tour, marking the Royal Canadian Air Force's centenary.

Susannah Goshko, the UK's high commissioner to Canada, said: "It's fantastic that on the 100th anniversary of the RCAF, the Red Arrows have chosen to come to Canada to celebrate our shared military ties."

Based at RAF Waddington, the Red Arrows also celebrated their Diamond 60th season.

In October, a tortoise was lucky to live to see another day after it arrived in a waste lorry and went through an entire sorting process at a recycling centre.

It was found by Paul Frost, 41, who works at Mid-UK Recycling Centre in Grantham, who went on to adopt the tortoise, now called Pee-Wee.

Sara Marchant, 55, practice manager at Kirks Vets in Sleaford, said they received calls from across the country from people enquiring about the tortoise, and the animal was "having a ball" while being looked after.

Seal sightings are common on beaches around Cleethorpes in November, as the winter pups begin to move from their breeding ground at Donna Nook, near North Somercotes, to the coast.

However, North East Lincolnshire Council said disturbing seals could be dangerous and sometimes even fatal for the animals.

The authority asked people to leave seals alone to rest until they were ready to return to sea by themselves.

In December, a vicar at a church in Grantham needed an army of volunteers to help get a 23ft (7m) Christmas tree back into position after it fell over during gales.

Father Stuart Cradduck, Rector at St Wulfram's, said the tree had toppled over after a gust of wind blew through the church.

Volunteers from schools and local business used ladders and a cherry picker to restore the tree to its upright position for the festive period.

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