Under 25's Minileague - February 2016

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 Jack Bradbury at Warwick Racecourse and Zac Hinchcliffe landed a potential site first in the form of a Water Rail at Old Bolingbroke.

Looking now at the tables and February saw former front runner Amy Robjohns relegated to second place as Sam Pitt Miller claimed the top-spot following an impressive run at Priory Water. With less than 1% seperating the top two competitors it will certainly be interesting to see how the situation develops come March. Espen Quinto-Ashman remains in third place this month with a similarly impressive score of 64% at Wellington GPs, no doubt aided by the aforementioned Siberian Chiffchaff, while further down the table a host of competitors, both new and old, look set for a record year on their respective patches.

In points league, Jonathan Farooqi takes the lead with an impressive 110 species and 136 points and Hadson to Hemscott Hill, followed Anthony Bentley and Joe Stockwell who claim the runners up spots. The top eight contestants in this league have now passed the coveted 100 points milestone and it will be interesting to see how things transpire next month. With spring migration set to commence in March, great change could lie just around the corner though only time will tell..

Siberian Chiffchaff - Espen Quinto-Ashman

Grey Plover - James Common