Patchwork Challenge

Voting is closed and the results are in. The winner is of course Tom Raven's Hudsonian Godwit at Shapwick Heath. It had it all as an inland mega blocker. It was cryptic enough to hide amongst its cogeners but then gave itself up to the masses whilst disappearing on a regular basis. It garnered 95 of the 137 votes cast and rightly wins Tom a pair of Bresser 8.5 x 45 Montana binoculars. Please check out the Forest Optics website as they continue to support us for #PWC2016  and like their facebook page . Of course the Hudwit wasn't Tom's only find of the year with Night Heron, Little Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Dusky and Savi's Warblers all falling to his points cannon amongst others. Our heartiest congratulations to Tom! Tom Raven's Hudsonian Godwit - Courtesy of James Packer Despite Mark and James's best efforts to label it 'just a Yellow-legged Gull' in the podcast, Dave Roberts' fine Azorean Gull from Marston STW finishes in second place on ...

Both Paul Freestone and Joost Brandsma have passed the 80% marker this month. Paul takes the top spot with his first six pointer of the year in the form of a Ring-Billed Gull, a Glaucous Gull and Avocet which is still a hard bird to find in the far south-west. With both spring and autumn to come it looks like a great year is in the making at both sites. Martin Elcoate completes the top three at his Topsham patch.   Dave Craven continues his dominance at the top of the points league in the early part of the year. He added Bittern, Caspian Gull, Brent Goose and Red Kite in the month to bring his species total for the year to an impressive 135. Howard Vaughan and Daniel Newton are keeping on the pressure though in second and third! With spring wader passage to come it can only get more exciting still for estuarine sites. There were some decent birds in the estuarine league in March. Alan Crossley at Saltholme became the latest to bag 3 points for a yank d...

Rob Hall's excellent PPB total of 1.493 sees him take top spot in the comparative league. 79.7% is an excellent score for a coastal site by this time of the year. Scott Mayson is in second with a patch tick Rock Pipit whilst Craig Fulcher secures third place. A good run of two pointers for James Brown at North Lowestoft has given him an 11 point buffer at the end of the first quarter of the year. Paul Eele bags second spot with four more species than Craig Fulcher, but they are matching on points with an impressive 153 at the end of March. With Spring just around the corner, it could be all change by the end of May with plenty of bonus point potential on this stretch of the coast.    The delay in spring migration seemed to be evident in this league, with few spring migrants making the highlights. March is a great month to catch up with Black Redstart and James Appleton and James Brown did just that. March was also notable for movements in Firecrests ...

Tim Phillips bagged his first ever two pointer when a Red Kite sailed across his patch and this double pointer sees him past Adam Nicholls into top spot at the end of the first quarter. Nick Moran's first patch Shag since 2005 ensured that he bagged third place at the end of the first quarter. Shag at Thetford - March 2016 (photo c/o Nick Moran)     In the points league, Luke Wake's good year at Fen Drayton continued in fine style with Black-Necked Grebe the highlight. Nick Moran at Thetford goes one place higher than the comparative league in second whilst Ben Rackstraw is enjoying life on his new patch adding Bewick's Swan and Cetti's Warbler in March leaving him just shy of 100 species, a barrier which will surely fall in April.    The delay in spring arrivals shows in the monthly highlights with just a handful of migrants bucking the trend of a continuing winter picture. Classic early species such as Gargane...

David Franklin finishes March with a BOOM! A flyover Goosander and a returning Sand Martin at Campsall CP and Instoneville make him the first person in the minileague to reach the 100% milestone. While David keeps his Askem patch in second place, Ryan McClarence loses ground and drops into fifth place. Making a leap from thirteenth to steal third is Nick Tonge at Rodley who connected with a further fifteen species in March. Duncan Bye continues to lead the pack in the Inland North points minileague with single point seperateing him from second place. Duncan's eleven points this month included Mediterranean Gull and Common Scoter which were both patch ticks for him at Wheldrake Ings. Chris Bradshaw remains in second place but applies the pressure by closing the gap. Nuthatch was a new species for the site at Wykeham Lakes and he also patch ticked Kittiwake this time out after good numbers were spread inland. John Law remains in third spot as he added 11 points for March. ...

Chris Pendlebury's grip on the comparative table loosens a little but only by the loss of third spot. His Dunblane patch is top of the tree on 77% having added his annual Redshank. His Blairdrummond patch moves on to 76% with Whooper Swan his March highlight there. At Cambus, Graeme Garner moves into third place after patch ticking both Short-eared Owl and Golden Plover. Green-winged Teal, Croy - Jonathan Clarke The inland behemoth that is Loch Leven keeps David Douglas on top of the Inland Scotland tree. This month he adds 9 points, keeping him 15 clear of Alastair Forsyth in second place with highlights including a Little Egret. Graeme Garner's new patch at Clackmannan is in third place on 79 points. Liberton East and West Goshawk, Geoff Morgan Find of the month goes to Jonathan Clarke at Croy after turning up a patch Green-winged Teal (one of two on his patch this month). One Goshawk made two patch lists as Geoff Morgans patches, Liberton East and West joi...

A whopping 23 points added by Amy Robjohns in March means she is on a heady 78.8% and 8% clear of the field. What a fantastic start to the year - perhaps Amy will be challenging overall by the year end? This months additions included Velvet Scoter, Water Pipit and Glaucous Gull which were all new patch birds for her plus Osprey and Black-necked Grebe. Paul Freestone upped the ante and moved up from 12th to second with 46 points and 40% added at Gwithian after a patch tick of Common Scoter and finding a Glaucous Gull and a Dartford Warbler. Stephanie Brown also moved up the table on her Swanage patch after a good start to the year. Rob Rackliffe - Northern Long-tailed Tit Amy's domination of the Coastal South minileagues is complete as she does the double this month after overhauling the early dominance of Joe Cockram. Joe himself added a patch first Glaucous Gull to hang on to second place from his namesake, Joe Stockwell at Ferrybridge. Joe S added a brace of Siberian Chi...

Another month at the top of the Coastal Ireland Comparative Minileague table for Noel Keogh who makes it to 90% during March with a Gadwall at South Dublin Bay, his 100 th species there. Climbing the ranks and into second place is Eleanor Keane, patching for her second year from the Killiney Hill to Dun Laoghaire coastline where 6 Brambling, 3 Buzzards and a Kestrel were all great patch birds plus the addition of her first Chiffchaff of the year on 29 th March resulting in an end of first quarter score of 80%. One to watch! Regular faces at the top of the table, Eamonn O’Donnell and Neal Warnock, take up third and fourth place respectively. Eamonn was treated to a patch tick Jay and his second patch record of Shoveler at Ninch/Laytown while a Greenland White-fronted Goose was a patch tick for Neal at Larne Lough (with Tufted Duck, Pintail, Gadwall, Common Scoter and Iceland Gull as other notable highlights). Three contestants come in with a score of 127 points at the top...

We see some very high scores on the Inland Ireland Comparative Minileague table by the end of the first quarter. Niall Keogh caught up with Kingfisher at Kilbogget Park where some viz-mig Meadow Pipits and Skylarks over the football pitches also bolstered his first place score, taking him to 91.7%.  In close second on 87.7% is Des Higgins who had a productive month at University College Dublin with flyover Cormorant and Buzzard plus Reed Bunting and Stonechat in the few remaining ruderal sites on campus. In minileagues such as this, just one or two species can make a huge difference to your comparative score, so with a number of ‘guaranteed’ spring migrants just around the corner we could see some vying for top spot here over the coming months. Alan Lauder and Darragh Sinnott make no mention of notable highlights during March but gain ground with common species, taking them into the mid-70% region. Andrew Power continues to top the points table for the second mon...

Andrew Chick continues to lead at Fulbeck with three further points added in March taking him to 81.6% with a herd of 25 Whooper Swans his highlight. Phil Hyde is in second spot just 2% behind with a patch tick of Nuthatch this month. Andy Sims goes over the century of points and moves onto 78.5%. At Boultham Mere Andy added Kittiwake which is his 4th record and also 9 Black-tailed Godwits which were the 2nd record in the last 10 years there. Apologies for the tiny writing now in the minileagues - there are just so many of you in the Midlands - best to enlarge for a better view. Erik Ansell at Rutland continues to lead and is on a monster 141 points including Garganey and Pink-footed Goose. Rod Baker is nine points back with his March highlight a Firecrest. John Hopper is in third place having added 28 points this month. His brace of Cranes for six points were the highlight but an inland Kittiwake was also not to be sniffed at and neither was the flock of 49 Common Scoter.  ...

Stephanie Brown has added a further 17 points in March to lead with 91% at Twyford over last months table topper, Richard Scantlebury. Stephanie's highlights include Lesser Redpoll and Yellowhammer. Ian Bennell is in third on a stunning 88.5% as his new addition to the family hasnt yet put the breaks on. This month he lists Grey Partridge which was a patch tick and Little Owl, a long awaited returner, as his highlights. After getting bonus points for refinding the Bonaparte's Gull earlier in the year at Tring, Lee Evans adds 11 points this month including a few early migrants to hold onto top spot by a narrow margin with a trio of patchers lined up four points back. Tom Raven starts his challenge at the Somerset Carmargue with bonus points coming in the form of Ring-necked Duck which did the decent thing and relocated from Glastonbury. Tom also added Short-eared Owl which was one of the few species that avoided him last year. Joining Tom in second is Nick Croft who added...

Alastair Flannagan and Trevor Fletcher both make it into the 70% bracket during March in the Wales Comparative Minileague. Alastair continues his reign in first place where his earliest patch Sand Martin (6 th March) brought him to 76% at Swansea Vale to Fendrod Lake. A pair of Tufted Ducks in a moate (!) at Rudry Common were a most welcome #fullfatpatchtick for Trevor Fletcher who sits in second place at 72%. Chris Jones gains 9% at Llysfaen and moves into third place while some Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers at Brynna Woods help Tony Swann jump from seventh to fourth. A hefty 20 point gain ensures Richard Dobbins remains in first place in the Wales Points Minileague for another month. Coot and Tufted Duck were some proper #patchgold for him at Teifi. Also patching at Teifi is Wendy James who takes second place this month with her star bird being a Common Scoter at the mouth of the estuary. Steady in third place is Ceri Jones at Comeston, Sully and Lavernock where a Firecrest...

While a number of challengers suggested March was a quiet month on their respective islands, there was still a steady progression up the minileagues and highlights added by a number of folk this month. The humble Woodpigeon graced the paths of both Emma Webb and Russel Neave at Sanday providing them with a much needed tick. Elswhere, more common mainland species attracted attention with Great tit for Ed Tooth on the Farne Islands, a tricky combination of Jackdaw and Rook for Alastair Forsyth at Palace, Birsay, a #patchgold Mute Swan for John Headon at Hugh Town and Lower Moots, and finally a Mistle Thrush at Brevig for Bruce Taylor.  John Bowler at Balephuil made no additions to his patch list for the month, instead trading it for the warmer climes of Cambodia, where he managed 350 species and 130 world lifers including Giant Ibis! While he listed no highlights for the month, Steve Minton did make do with multiple viewings of the aurora from Scatness... Awesome aurora...

March finally saw Chris Rodger swiped from his perch at the top of the comparative leader board. Adding another 5% wasn't quite enough for him to hold onto his reign at the top. Stepping up to the plate is Stephen Welch and his Gosford Bay patch. He managed an impressive leap from third place with 17% gained since February! At Aberlady Bay, Mike Hodgkin is also progressing up the league table with an 8% increase, moving him into fourth place and hot on the heels of Andrew Whitehouse who didn't manage to add a single species for the month. He may have slipped on the comparative scores but Chris Rodger isn't giving up the top spot on the points league. With a tidy haul of birds including Black-throated Diver, he's increased his lead over second place by seven points. Adding Iceland Gull could prevent Geoff Morgan and his Barns Ness patch dropping into fourth place as Stephen Welch and Mike Hodgkin move up the points league. Iceland Gull featured else...

Ever one of the Challenges more lively leagues, the Coastal North did not disappoint during March - a scattering of rarities, no end of scarcities and some early migrants making for an all around lively month. Looking first at the comparative table and Stewart Sexton continues to reign supreme at Howick. With an impressive score pre-migration score of 64% Stewart holds on by the skin of his teeth this month, second place Ash Baines snapping at his heels following a lightening advance up the table. John Chapman concludes the glorious triumvirate this month with 59% of his 2015 score at Whitburn South; followed by Jonathan Farooqi in fourth and Damian Money in fifth respectively. Further down the table a host of other PWC stalwarts continue to build on their scores and with the onset of spring migration it will be interesting to see what the table looks like come April. To the points league now and perpetual high-scorer Mick Turton steals the top spot following a great good run...