Coastal South Minileague - August 2016

A Honey Buzzard, a Wood Sandpiper, a Pied Flycatcher and Spotted Redshank are all it needed for Amy Robjohns to continue at the top of the Coastal South comparative minileague. Amy continues her Annus mirabilis and moves onto 130% and lead by 37% as no other Coastal South birder is over the 100% mark. First in the bunch is Paul Freestone on 93% but he fails to add in August as he spent most of the period on holiday. Paul Bowerman is in third as he overtakes local rival Dick Best thanks to seabirds arriving in the Bristol Channel of which the highlights were Roseate Tern, Black Tern and Storm Petrel.

Rob Rackliffe - Red-backed Shrike

Amy is now three points ahead of Joe Stockwell despite the latters pioneering night migrant recording which meant he heard and recorded a passing Ortolan, one of a number that were in the region during August. Sean Foote adds 8 more points but other commitments mean his chances of replicating his comparative score are slim. He did manage to find a Wryneck for bonus points and also added Balearic Shearwater from Portland.

Kev Rylands' addition of Cory's Shearwater at Dawlish Warren brings up the milestone of 270 species on patch, a figure most of us can only dream of and a welcome 6 points for this patch devotee. Rob Rackliffe managed to uncover a Red-backed Shrike featured above for 6 points at Walmer Beach and there were further bonus points for Ilya Maclean as he connected with both large shearwaters and found his own Wryneck and Icterine Warbler on the Lizard. Elsewhere it was relatively quiet but I am sure September and October will be profitable for our patchers.