Coastal Scotland Minileague - August 2016

White-rumped Sandpiper © Mark Lewis

Chris Rodger continues in first place on the Coastal Scotland Comparative Minileague table with a strong lead at Musselburgh where a patch tick Black Tern during August brought him to 112.5%.

The third record of Shoveler for Stephen Welch's Gosford Bay patch see him progress to 105.4% but remaining in second place. Mike Hodgkin reached his 100% target during the month at Aberlady Bay, which sees him take up third place having moved here from sixth. 

Mike's good fortunes continue into the Coastal Scotland Points Minileague where he steals first place from former table leader, Chris Rodger. Only two points separate the two who are on 208 and 206 points respectively. Colin Davison is also making a move for the title with 204 points in third place from his Scoughall patch where he was awarded 6 points for a Cory's Shearwater find. Mark Lewis and Geoff Morgan are also lurking at the bottom of the Top 5 here with points scores well into the 190's so between these five contestants, the battle for first place may get interesting through September and October.

Mark finished up just one point shy of 200 by the end of August with the obvious highlight being a superb White-rumped Sandpiper which graced a classic piece of Girdle ness habitat: a car park puddle! Views were simply stunning (as you can see from the pic above) and Andrew Whitehouse was also able to connect with it for his Girdle ness and Torry patch list.

Geoff Morgan had a productive month at Barns Ness with Long-tailed Skua (bonus points), Mediterranean Gull, Marsh Harrier and Curlew Sandpiper all contributing to a fine haul.