Patchwork Challenge

The Bresser & Forest Optics Best Find Competition  is the highlight of the  Patchwork Challenge year. This is the best find of the whole patchbirding year as voted for by you, the competitors.  For the winner of the competition, those fine folk at Bresser &Forest Optics are very generously furnishing the winner of this esteemed competition with a prize tbc, hopefully next month we will be able to reveal all February had been a somewhat mixed month weather-wise, starting off with colder than average temperatures before ending the month with them being slightly higher than average. This seems to have had a knock-on effect with the birding world. The only rare of the month was the Bonaparte's Gull found at Llanelli WWT by Laurie Allnatt, well done that man! Not only finding the bird but getting a decent photo of it as well. Bonaparte's Gull - Laurie Allnatt  There were lots of scarce birds during ...

A quiet month in the Estuarine league as everyone seems to be waiting for Spring to be sprung. Mark Nowers at Stutton leads the way in a comparative league which has some pretty impressive scoring, principally due to an excellent start in January. The Maldon due are close behind however with Russell Neave taking the honours in that patch battle. Bird of the month goes to the Ring-Billed Gull which Paul Freestone finally caught up with at Hayle. There was some good seabird fare at Frampton / Freiston with Little Auk and Puffin putting in a showing along with a Velvet Scoter. Great White Egret was recorded on both east and west side of the country, whilst an Iceland Gull at Hale and Pickerings helped Dave Craven to pick up points. In a strong scoring league, Frampton / Freiston dominate the top of the scoring charts with John Badley outpointing Anthony Bentley after two months. Dave Craven is representing the west in third place but a lot of runners and riders are waiting in...

Despite a quiet month in Wales, both Alun John at Pennard Golf Course and Henry Cook at Conwy RSPB have reached the 70% mark in the comparative league already which is a great achievement. It is Alun who leads the way at the end of February with an impressive 73%. There are a lot of new competitors in Wales in PWC2015, and it is one of these newcomers, Laurie Allnatt, who leads the points league. A self-found Bonaparte's Gull at Llanelli secures the top spot. Other highlights were few and far between, but a Great Northern Diver in Cardiff Bay, a Goshawk at Ogmore and a Yellow-Legged Gull were all notable. Interestingly, two patchers reported Pheasant as a highlight, emphasizing how every patch has its own individual #patchgold. In the Welsh green league, Marc Hughes at Penrhyn Bay tops the list with Peter Howlett and Trevor Fletcher making up the top three. Many patchers are BirdTracking with some impressive numbers reported, Alistair Flannagan has already topped 100 li...

Paul Higson at Quoyangry consolidates his lead at the top of the comparative league after an outstanding January. His highlights might not make outstanding reading for mainland birders, but Blue Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker are far from easy points for the Scottish islands. David Wood on Islay is pushing Paul all the way however, as 5 birders have scored over 50% with the exciting spring season almost upon us. In the points John Bowler has edged Paul Higson into second with just two points between them. Paul has by far more species, the only patcher in the islands league to exceed the 100 marker so far, but it is the impressive 1.465 points per bird on Tiree that helps John take top spot. Barrie Hamill makes up the top three. Bird of the month fell to Stuart Taylor at Balivanich. An opportunistic scan of the Teal flock on the 7th produced a Green-Winged Teal (I have been following Stuart's methodology myself but not his success). Both Iceland and Glaucous Gulls put...

A great seawatch on the 1st February helps Stewart Sexton to the top of the comparative league. The day added 8 new patch ticks including Velvet Scoter, Long-Tailed Duck and Little Auk. Ash Baines is keeping the pressure on for the west coast with a Great White Egret and a Red-Throated Diver on the lake. Our own James Spencer makes up the top three places with Red-Necked Grebe his February highlight. The top three all have a score in excess of 50% after just two months of the year, impressive for coastal sites whose annual totals are undoubtedly boosted by spring and autumn. In the points league, the Long Nab duo sandwich Martin Garner in a Yorkshire top three. Nick Addey is in top spot thanks to his first three pointer of the year, a Surf Scoter along with handy additions such as Little Auk and Waxwing. Meanwhile both Chris Bradshaw and Martin Garner had White-Fronted Goose. In fact Martin at Flamborough had both Eurasian and Greenland Whitefronts which controversially does no...

An American Wigeon at Holme Pierrepont helps Tom Shield take top spot in the comparative league at the end of February with a healthy 67%. The field is bunched close behind however with just 3.5% splitting the top 4. February is always a hard month with most winter species falling in January and spring still waiting in the wings, so a Great Grey Shrike was a nice 6 point find for Benjamin Ward at Aubourn. A couple of patches recorded Bittern, whilst a Great White Egret was a welcome points boost at Eyebrook Reservoir. Carsington Water is always a good inland site in winter for Grebes or Divers, and a Great-Northern Diver was an excellent find for Matthew Dick who also scored two shades of grey at his Darley Dale patch with a male Hen Harrier and Great Grey Shrike. Matthew Bruce at his patch affectionately named The Puddle scored with a double patch first of Raven and that ugly brute the Egyptian Goose. Meanwhile Caspian Gulls seem to be more frequently recorded and a bird at Earlsw...

February was generally a quiet month for most patchers in the Inland North. Top additions for the month were American Wigeon for Jonny Fisk at Nosterfield - presumably the the bird that was at North Duffield in January. Putting the whole patch thing into perspective was the 2nd ever record of Moorhen at Stobswood for James Common. Best finds included a trio of gulls (Iceland, Med' and Caspian) for Mark Reeder at Orgreave, a Scaup for Garry Taylor at Hornsea, a Nuthatch for Jonny at Pugneys and Med Gull and Long-eared Owl at Stobswood. As is now the fashion the cumaltive league 1st. Despite no visits during the month Keith Dickinson is still holding on to top spot, though Nick Tongue is desperately close. The points Yorkshire sites dominate the top ten with 8 sites, split only by the 2 Lancashire sites of Martin Mere and Brockholes. Darren Starkey sits comfortably at the top with an 18 point lead over Jonny Holliday. Mark Reeder and Garry Taylor are level on species ...

Last months leader in the comparative league, Dan Chaney, hasnt added any further score so he slips off the podium into fourth place. Taking over at the top if Paul Freestone at Gwithian, Cornwall with a healthy 68.5% - 12% clear of Andy Rhodes in second place. Peter Hazelwood is in third place at Oldbury Power Station. Peter has also racked up 45 complete lists and 2015 records already! Joe Stockwell added 8 points in February which was enough to keep him clear on his Ferrybridge and Weymouth patch. Kev Rylands at Dawlish Warren is only 5 points behind with Ilya Maclean in third place on 108 points. Sean Foote on Portland tumbles to 7th after a quiet February adding only 2 points but this may be the lowest position he finds himself in. Joe Stockwell added the only bonus points of the month and even then it was just the extra 2 for a Siberian Chiffchaff. There were plenty of two pointers with Red-necked Grebe, Long-tailed Duck, Spoonbill, Glaucous Gull and Goshawk all added to...

Tom Stevenson has overtaken himself with Ewelme Watercress Beds moving into first place from third whilst his Battle Farm patch drops to second with a mere 1.5% between the two. Roger Hicks is the closest challenger with 67% in third with Neil Burt hot on his heels. Adam Bassett moves up three spots into first at Little Marlow with 90 points while January's leader in the points table, Marek Walford slips to second a point back. Blagdon Lake's resident patcher, Nigel Milbourne, is in third on 88 points and with a posse of five further patches in the 80s it really is all to play for, There were no bonus points added in March although I fully support Roger Hicks' suggestion that an Otter on patch must be worth something! In terms of highlights it was typical seasonal stuff with Scaup, Mediterranean Gull, Woodcock and Yellow-legged Gull featuring in dispatches.

With just six patches in the Coastal Scotland Comparative Minileague, each contestant is sure to be keeping a close eye the others fortunes. This could become hotly contested! Both Chris Hill and Stephen Welch added another 10% onto their comp scores from January and remain in first and second place respectively through February. Jim Dickson popped up this month to displace Mark Lewis from third, sending him down to sixth. Both of Andrew Whitehouse's patches remain as they were in fourth and fifth place. On the points table its Jim Dickson at Crinan Canal Corridor that leads the way with an impressive 94 species and 115 points, aided by some quality species such as the 1st-winter Caspian Gull at Lochgilphead (mega in West Scotland) and White-tailed Eagle. Chris Rodger at Musselburgh and Mike Hodgkin at Aberlady Bay are tied with 109 points each but Mike has the higher species total (92, including five species of auk in one day) while Chris has the higher points per b...

Alastair Forsyth rises back to top spot on the Inland Scotland Comparative Minileague table in February with  an extra 12 species added at Old Nisthouse leaving him on 68.45% and over 100 points with an impressive points per bird score of 1.417. All in all not a bad comp score to be on by the end of the second month. The Blue-winged Teal on his patch continued to show throughout the month. Andy Cage moves from first to second at Kilmany whilst Chris Pendlebury clears right through third to fifth in his attempt to swamp the league with as many of his patches as possible! The top five rankings on the points table sees little change other than Andy Cage losing third place to Pete Antrobus at Lochmaben where a trio of Scaup was his best find of the month. Both Pete and David Douglas (Loch Leven) are newcomers to the league but ones to watch out for as they represent some excellent patch birding sites with great potential.

The majority of the Ireland Minileague stalwarts have reached 60% or higher on the comparative table by the end of February and as such are well placed to receive a flood of Spring migrants in the coming weeks. Niall Keogh remains in first place at his South Dublin Parks patch while Eamonn O'Donnell and Alan Lauder claim second and third place with their Ninch/Laytown and Carrick Mountain patches respectively. Eamonn has had a fantastic run during the first part of 2015, adding 12 new species in February, now well ahead of himself compared to previous years. Will he score big this year? Tom Moore added an impressive 19 species at Kilmore Quay since last month taking him to 60%. Neal Warnock at Larne Lough takes poll position on the points table with Eamonn now in second knocking Niall Keogh at Kilcoole back down to third (yet he still claims the highest species total of 94). Gerard Murray at the Boyne Estuary made a dramatic jump from 16th to 4th place thanks to s...