Inland East Anglia Minileague - October 2015

A further four species added to Ben Moyes Mid-North Gripping Valley patch sees him remain at the top of the comparative minileague. At UEA, Nick Robinson holds on to 2nd place without any further additions this month, however, with Ben Rackstraw gaining another three species for Downham Market and moving into 3rd place and Mike McCarthy at Taverham & Ringland not far behind, he may have some competition for the 2nd tier soon.

Steve Swinney massively advanced his score for October as he jumped from 13th to 7th position with an impressive twenty-nine species ticked at Linford Birding. If he carries on in this way, he'll soon break the 100% barrier! In addition, this month also saw Ben Lewis rise up the comparative ranks with a further fourteen species seen at his Mid Yare RSPB patch, earning him 12th position and leaving him 17% from the coveted patch score. Finally, Nick Moran hit the 100% mark this month with the addition of Cetti's Warlber at Thetford.

Yet again, pole position for the points minileague was a battle between Ben Lewis and Jamie Wells, however, with Ben gaining an extra 29 points at his Mid Yare RSPB patch with the help of bonus points for Great Grey Shrike, Jamie simply couldn't hold onto his title. However, with only 2 points separating them, it's still all to play for in November!

Further down the league table, Nick Moran lost his 3rd position and dropped down into 5th place as his only additional species for the month was Cetti's Warbler (lovely all the same!). Although, a five day quest to read a Cormorant's ring kept him busy and produced a nice record for only the 8th ever German-ringed in the UK.

German-ringed Cormorant, Thetford - Nick Moran

Taking Nick's place in 3rd, is Steve Swinney at Linnford Birding who managed to add 41 points to his score with the addition of the first Gannet in two years and the first patch record of Short-eared Owl, now giving him a full set of British owls for his patch.