Midlands Minileague - December

The midlands has a large number of competitors for whom 2014 was their first year in the competition. So the final scores this year will be the comparative for next. Ian Cowgill at Lound wins the Midlands title for 2014. Lound is a place quite close to my heart as it was my local patch in the early 90's so it is great to see it breaking the 200 points mark for the year. John Hopper has pulled away in second whilst Andy Mackay makes up the top 3 at Eyebrook. It has been a very competitive league this year as the scores testify with a number of sites running each other very close.

It is good to see a number of competitors submitting to BirdTrack, with Andy Sims in particular putting in an impressive 9621 records and 261 complete lists. It is very straightforward to do and really adds to the patch birding experience.

December saw a number of birds of note appearing at midlands sites. Perhaps most of all was a Reed Warbler on the last day of the year at Marston Sewage Works. Only worth one point but perhaps as rare as almost any bird found in December. A more likely winter warbler is the Cetti's which was recorded at 2 patches in the month, including Lound where it was a first for the site. A Scaup was also a addition towards the end of the patch year for Espen at Wellington GP.

NB. Rhys Dandy and Steve Lyons scores have been amended.

There were only 5 patches that competed in the 2013 competition. It should be a very competitive comparative league next year, but this year Matt Griffiths at Earlswood takes the title, breaking the 100% barrier with 103%. Congratulations to Matt. Nick Crouch fell just short of beating his previous year score, but given his Pied Wheatear in 2013 it was always going to be a tough ask.