Patchwork Challenge

Welcome to the February update for the Bresser and Forest Optics   Best Find Competition! This is the competition open to anyone who finds a fantastically rare bird on patch and as always its prestige is backed up by a truly  excellent prize. Last year Bresser and Forest Optics    donated a pair of Bresser Montana 8.5 x 45 binoculars worth a grand total of £665! This years prize is still to be confirmed but will again be a pair of binoculars. For the lucky winner, a prize definitely worth competing for so get yourself out there, you have to be in it to win it. In the meantime, for those looking to upgrade their optics, take a look a their website for the great products they have on offer. After the 'everything counts again' bonanza of January, February can sometimes be a hard slog. Invariably the best find highlights are made up of wildfowl and gulls in the shortest month as everyone waits for spring....

Another month gone and Titchfield Haven is still the patch to beat. Amy Robjohns added a further two species - Merlin and Black-throated Diver - which helped her remain as the top of the Coastal South Comparative Minileague. She may be top of the league but she'll be getting no awards for records shots... Cracking ;-) Elsewhere, Dick Best moves his Steart patch into second place with a tidy haul of 17 species. However, at 57% on the board to Amy's 66%, he's still got some catching up to do if he wants to challenge for first place. While dropping into third position, Mark Lawlor at Guernsey: Hommet to Rousse is only 5% short of second place and could regain ground next month. There's been a bit of a shakeup in the points league this month. Joe Cockram at Steart Marshes WWT managed to steal pole position, with an eight point lead over Amy Robjohns in second. With the help of an unexpected Kittiwake,  he made the leap from fourth and ending the mon...

Noel Keogh furthers his lead on the Coastal Ireland Comparative Minileague table by adding seven points during February, taking him to 86.8% at South Dublin Bay. Gaining finders points for a second adult Ring-billed Gull was followed up by a wintering Common Sandpiper and most importantly, a Velvet Scoter (the first here since 2002) which hung around for some time and was twitched widely by Dublin county birders. Eamonn O’Donnell continues his excellent start to the year at Ninch/Laytown with Glaucous Gull, Long-tailed Duck and Velvet Scoter taking him to second place with 75% on the dot. Looks like he’s on track for another good year of PWC effort. Neal Warnock bags an adult Ring-billed Gull at Larne Lough, placing him in third with 67.68%, just ahead of Derek Polley at Banger West in fourth. The best rarity finds of the month can be found further down the table however. Julian Wyllie sits in eleventh place on 55.9% but boasts an impressive duo of Black Duck (12 points fo...

An 11% gain since January for Alastair Flannagan sees him take first place in the Wales Comparative Minileague during February with Yellow-legged Gull, Red Kite and his first Willow Tit since 2002 helping him rocket up to 67.6% at Swansea Vale to Fendrod Lake. His contribution to BirdTrack a testament to solid patch birding efforts, up from 46 complete lists in January to 123 by the end of February. Cetti's Warbler at RSPB Conwy  © Henry Cook ( flickr page ) We see plenty of other movers and shakers on the table, taking up positions in the top five after a productive months birding. A Glaucous Gull spent two days at Peter Howlett’s Cardiff Bay patch where he is now in third. Henry Cook connected with Merlin, Chough and Barnacle at RSPB Conwy, putting him in fourth and just 0.3% ahead of Julian Hughes who is also patching from the same site. A Water Pipit there was Julian’s first record for the reserve.  The top five in the Wales Points Minileague are all no...

February was an excellent month all round in the Inland Ireland Minileague. Niall Keogh added no less than six year ticks at his South Dublin local parks patch, keeping him in first place on the comparative table with 87.6%. A #patchgold Redshank at Kilbogget Park was his first there since 2009. Other additions included two showy Water Rails on the wetland and two Jack Snipe with 7 Common Snipe on the waterlogged football pitches at night! A singing Stock Dove and the first flyover Lesser Black-backed Gull of the spring were further additions at Cabinteely Park. Des Higgins has been embracing the spirit of PWC in his first year of competitive scoring at UCD where some good effort in February was rewarded with Little Egret, Teal and Treecreeper (all nice species to see on campus). Des shifts down to third place with just over 70% while second place is claimed by Michael John O’Mahony on 73.4% at Upper Rathduff. Also in his first comp scoring year, Michael saw three Hen Harrier...

A big change round in February as Steve Chapman, January's leader slips to 6th spot. Adam Nicholls of Thorpe St Andrew climbs to 78% moving up from second place last month. His highlights are Firecrest and Medtierranean Gull this month. Great birds on a relatively low scoring patch. Tim Phillips at Hethersett is in second place on 72% moves up from 4th to second is a reflection of hard work, illustrated by his 30 complete lists. #BeatNick takes a knock this month as Nick Moran finds himself in third spot in the comparative league on 70%. Highlights at Thetford in February included Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Woodlark and a wintering Blackcap. Ben Rackstraw's incredible find on his first visit to patch. Ben Lewis holds on at the top of the points league despite no news for February. Luke Wake at Fen Drayton closes the gap to 1% with Iceland Gull a great February boost. Nick M takes third place and alongside his great score he has also added 57 birdtrack lists and over 2...

There's no change at the top of the Islands Comparative Minileague, however, with less then 1% between the top two positions, Paul Higson at Quoyangry is holding on by the skin of his teeth. Will the March results see David Wood at RSPB Oa, Islay knock Paul from the top of the podium? He's already managed to displace IanT and his Askernish patch from second place by adding a further nine species to his tally and increasing his comparative score by fourteen percent. His Richardson's Goose find wasn't too shabby either... Richardson's Goose, Oa (Credit: David Wood) Looking further down the table more patches have broken (or will soon) the midway milestone this month, reaching fifty percent territory. There's no real major percentage difference across the board, and with the Spring migrants soon to be gracing us again, the league could see another shakeup as species are snatched here and there by the patchers. Moving on to the all importan...

The 'Inland North' is perhaps one of Patchwork Challenge's most popular and competitive leagues, something highlighted during February with great birds, high scores and (arguably more importantly) a good number of Birdtrack submissions. Looking first at the comparative minileague and David Franklin claims both first and second place with scores of 91% and 81% at Campsall and Askern respectively. Ryan McClarence secures third place with an impressive 73% followed by a host of PWC stalwarts nipping at his heels. Among these; David Franklin (again), Duncan Bye, Nick Morgan and Hilary Milburn.  Duncan Bye heads up with points league with an impressive 108 points and 97 species at Wheldrake Ings, a patch-tick Great Skua featuring amid a host of other goodies. Chris Bradshaw comes in at second, a mere four points behind the frontrunner followed by John Law at Old Moor. Further down the table a number of other competitors have notched similarly impressive scores, among...

Rob Hall was omitted by accident from the January comparative minileague and so despite no additions this month he slots in straight away on top of the league. Craig Fulcher is in second place on 57% after a superb start to the year, February saw Craig add Great White Egret to his patch list plus patch ticking Glaucous Gull and also his first Shag for three years. Scott Mayson is in third place on 55% at Thorpeness and in February there were four Spoonbills gracing his patch. James Brown is over 150 points already! He adds seven points in February with nothing of note added which makes the monster haul more remarkable. Craig Fulchere is in second place on 142 points at Southwold, moving up a spot from January as Paul Eele slips into third place at Titchwell on 132 points. Last years winner, Nige Lound is in fourth place with Black Brant his highlight. Justin Zantboer is on Nige's coattails and it looks like there will be a serious fight for Nige to keep his crown. There was a...

Another month passes in the Inland Scotland league with Chris Pendlebury dominating the Comparative minileague throughout February; securing first, second and third place! With 72% of his 2015 score notched already at Blairdrummond, Chris appears well on his way to setting a new record during 2016. Further down the table Graeme Garner takes fourth place at Cambus followed by David Douglas at Loch Leven. Will the onset of Spring migration help these competitors break into the upper echelons of this, thus far, one sided league? Only time will tell. To the points minileague now and David Douglas finds himself rooted in the top spot with a high score of 89 points at Loch Leven; followed by Gareme Garner in second place and Chris Pendlebury in third - I am sensing a theme here! Alastair Forsyth takes fourth place while Alex Ash rounds off the top five. Thus fair things remain fairly neck and neck between many competitors in 2016, it will be interesting to see how the situation develo...

A Short-Eared Owl was the highlight for Joost Brandsma who has hit the 75% mark after just two months of the year. His 87 points is 14 higher than his total at the same time last year putting him well on the way to challenging his highest patch score to date. Paul Freestone is pushing him hard however, less than one percent adrift with an Iceland Gull his February highlight. Martin Elcoate makes up the top three, with bonus points for his self-found Siberian Chiffchaff a perfect birthday present. In the points league Dave Craven continues an excellent start to the year and has a 5 point gap at this early stage. Whilst his points per bird is lower than that of Howard Vaughan and Daniel Newton in second and third, 121 species is a distance ahead of the opposition and one ahead of where John Badley was in top spot in 2015. Dave had a Firecrest early in the month before a gull takeover resulted in four Iceland and two Glaucous on patch. In second place, Howard Vaughan at ...

The coastal north is undoubtedly one of Patchwork Challenge's most competitive leagues and thus far in 2016, things appear to be progressing rather nicely. Indeed, prior to the excitement and multi-point scoring species that so often coincide with Spring migration, many competitors have already wracked up some impressive comparative scores and points totals.  Looking first at the comparative league and Stewart Sexton reigns supreme at Howick with 59% of his 2015 score, adding a pair of scarcities in the form of Twite and Great Northern Diver. Another Northumbrian contestant, Jonathan Farooqi comes in at second, boasting a similarly impressive score of 54% derived from 110 species and 136 points at Hadston to Hemscott Hill. John Chapman takes third place at Whitburn South, adding his first Barn Owl in quite some time while further down the table things remain close between Damian Money, James Spencer, Seaumus Eaves and Iain Robson. To the points league now and PWC newcom...

The leader of the Coastal Scotland Comparative Minileague (now there's a mouthful!) for February is Chris Rodger at Musselburgh. Remaining firmly planted at the top with an extra ten species for the month sees his lead over Andrew Whitehouse at Northeast Aberdeen and Donmouth increase to five percent. Andrew himself only managed to add one extra to his species total for the month, however, he didn't have to sweat for 2nd position as Stephen Welch's score remained unchanged at his Gosford Bay patch this month. Further down the leader board, little change is seen, with only Jim Dickson  managing to knock our very own Mark Lewis down into seventh place. Although, Mark did manage cracking views of Slavonian Grebe at Girdle Ness which may slightly take the sting out of dropping a place on the board! Slav Grebe at Girdle Ness (Credit: Mark Lewis) With the majority having already broken the 50% milestone in February, there could be a bit of a shakeup for positio...

In the Midlands the leading trio from January remain in situ for February and in the same order. Andrew Chick adds six species but can't as yet get that first two pointer. Phil Hyde made similar progress at East Keal in second place although early migrants were in evidence with Blackcap and Chiffchaff both notched. Andy Sims is in third spot ensuring the top three all break the 70% mark. Seven new species and 11 points this month for Andy with his third Short-eared Owl at Boultham Mere in 33 years. Other highlights for him included a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Marsh Harrier. Its now a Rutland Water 1-2 with Erik Ansell making his bow in top spot and leading Rod Baker by 5 species and points. Both listed their highlight this month as the Long-billed Dowitcher although neither managed to register any bonus points. Steve Nuttall at Belvide is in third spot on 113 points, only three behind Rod. Steve managed to turn up a trio of decent February birds with Merlin, Bit...

A somewhat quieter month in the 'Under 25's' league with the new years hype dying down and new birds just a little harder to come by. The cream of the crop this month came from Rutland Water where Erik Ansell picked up a Long-Billed Dowitcher while elsewhere, February provided a host of more atypical winter highlights. Among these; Black-Throated Diver for Amy Robjohns and Siberian Chiffchaff for Espen Quinto-Ashman at Wellington GPs. Jack Snipe and Merlin featured for George Dunbar this month, followed by Glaucous Gull and Great White Egret for Jacob Spinks and Dan Rouse respectively while Peregrine occurred on three patches; noted in turn by Will Langdon, Ben Moyes and Joe Proudfoot. These aside; the best of the rest in February included Black Redstart for James Mculloch, Mandarin for Findlay Wilde and Tree Sparrow for James Common - his first in almost a decade of birding the Blyth Estuary. In terms of #patchgold this month; a Coal Tit brought a smile to the face of Jac...