Coastal Scotland Minileague - January

Two of the Coastal Scotland big hitters from 2013 head up the table for January with Paul Higson at Quoyangry holding a single point lead over last years winner John Bowler on Tiree on 105 and 104 points respectively. Another islander, Peter Donnelly on North Ronaldsay comes in third. The highest placed mainland patch is Dan Brown's at Dunnet Head in Caithness with 94 points in fourth. There were some decent birds in this Minileague with perhaps the highest quotient of scarce but without any real rarities. White-billed Diver on South Ronaldsay made it on to a couple of patch lists and a Green-winged Teal was on Tiree for John Bowler. 3 Glossy Ibis were at Balivanich for Stuart Taylor and there were a scattering of Little Auks for several patchers. Bits of patch gold included a Kingfisher in Caithness for Dan Brown - the third record in the last 20 years apparently and John Bowlers first winter record of Ruff at Balephuil.

Chris Hill at Burntisland leads the way in the comparative table but with 0.6% covering the podium places. Bryan Rains in South-west Mull is in second with Yvonne B at Askernish in third place. With plenty of entrants in the comparative table this is one that will be interesting throughout, especially when spring gets going and the big hitters start accruing some serious points.