Patchwork Challenge

A further 14% this month keeps Ash Baines top of the Coastal North minileague and the only person pushing the 100% mark. His highlights this month were a Spoonbill, Whinchat and 13 Black Terns. Pete Marsh stays in second place in the comparative minileague despite no submission for May. Iain Robson has had an awesome month adding 19% and climbing from 9th to 3rd place. Despite no bonus points he did add Broad-billed Sandpiper, Glossy Ibis and Great White Egret.  #patchgold Nuthatch - Andy Hood Mick Turton puts down a marker this month by stretching his lead from 6 points to 35 points. There were three species that he didnt add in 2015 with Thrush Nightingale, Blue-headed Wagtail and Montagu's Harrier welcome additions. Mick also scored bonus points for a trio of Common Cranes coasting south. Ross Ahmed holds on to second place with Grey-headed Wagtail, Pec Sand and Garganey new this month. Andy Hood manages to take his Flamborough patch above Nick Addey's at Long Nab...

Some of the highlights from a fantastic May in the Islands Minileague: top left - Eastern Olivaceous Warbler (Steve Minton); top centre - Blyth's Pipit (Steve Stansfield); top right - Greenish Warbler (Ben Porter); bottom left - Black Kite (Steve Stansfield); bottom centre - Eastern Subalpine Warbler (Steve Stansfield); bottom right - Rook (John Bowler) David Wood tops the Islands Comparative Minileague at the end of May with a clear 12% lead on IanT at Askernish who drops to second after taking the lead last month. David owes his good fortune to bonus points gleaned from a Subalpine Warbler found at The Oa along with some good supporting cast for Islay in the form of Turtle Dove and Little Ringed Plover. He finishes the month with 98% and ready to hit his target soon. Plenty of change in the rankings elsewhere on the comp table with many contestants adding well to their scores in what was a very productive month to be patching on an island. Six patch birders are now ove...

Another month goes by with a Chris Pendlebury double header at the top of the Inland Scotland Comparative Minileague table. A Spotted Flycatcher at Blairdrummond along with a supporting cast of the usual Spring migrants has brought him to 98.8% there by the end of May. He is sure to make it to 100% in June.  A Pintail was a #patchgold patch tick for Graeme Garner at Cambus bringing his patch species list to 94 for the year (the highest in the minileague) and over the ton in terms of points. This puts him in third place on the comp table with a score of 87.069%, narrowly knocking Andy Cage down to fourth place at Kilmany where he added Osprey, Cuckoo and Grasshopper Warbler in May. Alastair Forsyth and Graeme Garner both move past David Douglas at Loch Leven to take first and second place on the Inland Scotland Points Minileague during May with their post 100 points scores. Alastair secured the lead at Old Nisthouse where a Great Crested Grebe  was a fine #patch...

Chris Rodger finishes the month of May within striking distance of reaching his 100% target in the Coastal Scotland Comparative Minileague. An excellent month for him at Musselburgh lands him on 98.3% and still in first place thanks to highlights which included a Golden Oriole (found by fellow PWC birder, Colin Davison) and a ' superciliarus '-type Yellow Wagtail which would seem to have a lot of feldegg in it. A Short-eared Owl was Stephen Welch's fourth record for his Godford Bay patch where he remains in second place for another month. Tor Hamilton climbs to fifth place from eight at Leith where a Grey Heron during May was a first that far upriver for the patch. Andrew Whitehouse is also making tracks moving up from ninth to seventh at Girdle Ness and Torry with a Red-backed Shrike providing bonus points there. Red-backed Shrike and Wryneck at Barns Ness  ©  Geoff Morgan Colin Davison holds on to first place in the Coastal Scotland Points Minilea...

Terns and waders dominated the highlights in an exciting month in the Estuarine league. A mixed Tern flock at Oldbury Power Station provided the highlight for Peter Hazlewood who picked South Gloucestershire's first Whiskered Tern along with seven Black Terns. It also helped him to sail past 100% marker in the comparative league and take top spot. Joost Brandsma added Cetti's Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher in the month to retain second place whilst Ian Ballam Lytchett Bay patch makes up the top three as he enjoyed watching Black-Winged Stilt and Glossy Ibis in what must have felt like a very continental May! Dave Craven retains his top spot as his excellent year continues. Bonus points went into the pot for Honey Buzzard but others beat him to it for the month's rarest patch birds with a Broad-Billed Sandpiper and Temminck's Stint. Add to that a bunch of two-pointers and he still has quite a margin in top spot with a very impressive 171 species. The Frampto...

Some highlights from a fantastic month in Wales: top left - Squacco Heron (Paul Roberts), top right - Blue-headed Wagtail (Henry Cook), bottom right - Gull-billed Tern (Barry Stewart) and bottom left - Wood Warbler (Henry Cook) The first contestant to hit the 100% target in the Wales Comparative Minileague is Mike Cram whose Broughton and Llangennith patch was graced by a pair of flyover Great White Egrets! A well deserved six points there. Alison C updates her score at Llanfair Talhaiarn where a male Stonechat in May takes her to second place with 95.7%. Can she continue to add to her comp score and vie for first place again this year? Her move up the table has caused a stir in the rankings, helping send several folk down a slot or two. In third and fourth place, Henry Cook and Julian Hughes continue their battle for top spot at RSPB Conwy, now in the mid-90% bracket after both connecting with the reserves first record with Wood Warbler in May as well as a long st...

Adam Nicholls continues to lead the way with an impressive 124% thanks in no part to doing his chores as he added Cuckoo while putting the bins out! Do your chores people! James Emerson managed to get in on the inland Black Tern invasion with 3 at Whitlingham as well as his first patch tick of the year, Whimbrel! Steve Chapman ousts Nick Moran out of the top 3 as he approaches 100%. Mike McCarthy and David Gomer are the big movers of the month but with only 10% separating 3rd and 9th there is all to play for as we go into the summer. Common Crane Four points seperate the top 3 as Luke Wake takes advantage of a blank month for Ben Lewis, adding Black Tern and Whimbrel. Jamie Wells had a good month adding 19 points. Much like the Coastal East Anglia highlights were thin on the ground but there was a common theme as Cranes, Garganey and Turtle Doves made it onto multiple lists while Joe Harkness and Irene Boston had the pleasure of watching Nightjars on their patch. G...

No new additions for Rob Hall this month has seen James Brown close the gap to 6% at the top after he added 23 points with the help of 6pts for Great White Egret and a couple of 3 pointers including Greenish Warbler and Temminck's Stint. Scott Mayson climbs into the top 3 as he adds 7% for the month while Craig Fulcher has a quiet month on patch has he spent much of the month gallivanting around China. Ryan Irvine had a good month after 3.5 months off patch and managed to add 52 species including bonus points for Wryneck, Montagu's Harrier and Red-backed Shrike . Red-backed Shrike, Hemsby c/o Ryan Irvine James Brown is running away with the points league as his lead increases to 42 points. The top 3 remain as they were at the end of April. Highlights were thin on the ground and perhaps a sign of the times that Turtle Dove and Whinchat were highlights as they become ever harder to see on the coast this spring, well done Irene for catching up with both! A thought shou...

Noel Keogh is the first to reach the 100% milestone on the Coastal Ireland Comparative Minileague table with some great patch birds for South Dublin Bay seen during May including singing migrant Reed Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler at Irishtown Nature Reserve plus a Great Skua and  a Cuckoo(!) seen while seawatching the bay. He finished the month with a clear lead on 104.38%. Eamonn O'Donnell adds Roseate Tern at Ninch/Laytown, completing the list of expected migrants for the site. This lands him on 90% but slips to fourth place due to the advancements of Eleanor Keane and Richard Donaghey. While watching four Wheatears at the West Pier Dun Laoghaire, a trio of Whimbrel flew overhead for Eleanor making an evening stroll all the more worthwhile as she finishes the month in second with 91.964%. Close behind in third is Richard who had a double duck patch tick day on 22nd May with a male Garganey and a female Scaup at the Bann Estuary. You can...

Michael John O'Mahony comes in with a mighty update from Upper Rathduff at the end of May which sees the addition of the expected Spring migrants including Spotted Flycatcher as well as Swift (not seen in 2015). A total of 60 species recorded on the farmland around his home in Co. Cork so far this year. With this, he sails past the milestone marker and on to 106.25% taking him to first place on the Inland Ireland Comparative Minileague table! Des Higgins also breaks the 100% barrier at University College Dublin but slips to second place with 103.5%. His additions during the month included Swift, Sand Martin and House Martin feeding over the main lake on campus as well as Dipper and Grey Wagtail on a stream near the border of the site. Two Sedge Warblers and a male Tufted Duck were both patch scarce for Niall Keogh at Kilbogget Park and brought him to 100% on the dot, in third place. Derek Charles updates his score from the southern shores of Lough Neagh for the f...

John Clarkson climbs from 5th to 1st in the comparative minileague as he becomes the first of four patchers to break the all important 100% mark and early as well. This month at Louth, John's highlight was a Hobby over the town centre. Friendly rival, Andy Sims, slips to second spot but he also breaks the 100% mark with his best bits including his first patch Black Tern for 13 years and 2nd patch record of Ringed Plover when a trio touched down. Tom Shields keeps hold of third place and also leaps the 100% hurdle with a brace of Temminck's Stints. An honourable mention goes to Rhys Chivers who is just 3.65% off the top and is the final member of the 100% club this month thanks to Wood Sandpiper and Whimbrel. For the first time this year Rutland loses its grip on top spot in the points league as Steve Nuttall at Belvide takes over. He was aided by a monster haul of two-pointers including Roseate Tern, Black Tern, Little Stint, Little Tern, Garganey, Marsh Harrier and Red...

Stephanie is having her best ever year at Twyford and is top of the Inland South comparative table adding Common Tern, Cetti's Warbler and Hobby in May. She is on a heady 118%, way ahead of Richard Scantlebury who holds on to second place despite a quiet month. Ian Bennell at Tring Reservoirs takes over in third as he crests 100% although just 5% covers 3rd-8th. Ian's star bird was a Roseate Tern, just the 3rd for Hertfordshire and the 2nd site record.  Roseate Tern c/o Ian Bennell Returning migrants see Tom Raven add 26 points at Shapwick Heath to create a gap to second where Ian Bennell resides. Adam Bassett at Little Marlow is in third place, up a spot from April with Black Terns, Little Gull, Cuckoo and a second site Cetti's Warbler this month. Honey Buzzard c/o Josie Hewitt Away from the top and find of the month goes to Mark Andrews at East Verwood with a Red-footed Falcon seen from his new 'watchpoint'/patio. There were also bonus points fo...

As you may all be aware during our AGM at Spurn Bird Obs we discussed changing some scores for certain species. After much debate we decided to change 34 species based on losing or gaining BB status, declines and increases in more common species and deleting a couple plastic species or non-existent sub species. We have discussed all the changes in the latest podcast (which can be listened to by clicking here) but here is a very brief overview of the changes: Lets start with the species that we have promoted from a 4 pointer to a 5 pointer. Great Bustard Forster's Tern Black-eared Wheatear Syke's Warbler Yellow-breasted Bunting Several species have went the other way and have been demoted from 5 points to 4 points : Hooded Merganser Pallid Harrier Buff-bellied Pipit Red-flanked Bluetail Iberian Chiffchaff Four species have been increased from 3 points to 4 points as they all have become BBRC species again: Tawny Pipit Red-throat...