Patchwork Challenge

Congratulations Tim Farr! Sutton Bingham's finest has had an excellent year (you can read about it on a special blog post here ). He had a great final month adding Firecrest and a Black-necked Grebe on the 31st December, an excellent finish to an excellent year which included finders point for a stunning Spotted Sandpiper amongst the most memorable moments. Stephanie Brown finished in second, just a whisker ahead of Richard Scantlebury in third. Whilst no additions of note in December both had scored over 120%, a superb performance marked with annual highlights of Cetti's Warbler and Yellow-browed Warbler respectively. Twelve patch birders beat or matched their comparative target, three of whom ended up bang on 100%. Great effort all round. Nigel Milbourne ends the year at Blagdon Lake on 198 points, an excellent total for an inland site and 25 points clear of his nearest competitor. Nigel has been birding Blagdon Lake for 24 years now, but December 2016 will g...

Long time leader of the Coastal North comparative league (Ash Baines) does it for the west coast and canters to victory. An excellent 132% is a great score topped up with a Snow Bunting in December. Ash's highlight for the year was undoubtedly Desert Wheatear with Yellow-browed Warbler and Pomarine Skua representing a fine supporting cast. Well done Ash, your score will definitely make it harder in 2017! Damian Money had an excellent year at Saltburn to seal second place, scoring maximum points for arguably the #PWC2016 bird of the year in the form of a Siberian Accentor. Siberian Accentor (c) Damian Money Third spot goes to PWC's own James Spencer. Barmston sits in the shadow of Flamborough Head and James will be swapping one for the other this year, so it is great to end on a high. The top eight all surpassed the 100% mark, a great performance.  The coastal north points league it where the big east coast hitters come out to play. The Spurn and ...

Paul Freestone's Hayle patch sweeps to victory in the Estuarine comparative league. A fine year marked by Franklin's Gull and that Pelican was capped off by finally getting Caspian Gull onto the list and securing the title. Ian Ballam had a superb year at Lytchett and pushed the race to the wire, but adding Green-winged Teal (including finder points) and patch lifer Brambling was not enough to grab top spot. Christmas Cattle Egrets galore for Gordon Hodgson helped him to take third. Green-winged Teal at Lytchett Bay (c) Ian Ballam More than half of patches in the comparative league beat their target which is a great performance. Well done all.   In the points league, long term leader Dave Craven couldn't quite hold on to take the title. Paul Sullivan at estuarine tour de force Frampton/Freiston too the spoils, with a comfortable lead of 15 points at the final tally. Paul added Jack Snipe, Velvet Scoter and Shag in December. Frampton/Freiston is better kno...

Contestants in the Under 25's Minileague were some of the most prolific patch birders in all of #PWC2016 with Amy Robjohns finishing in first place on the comparative table, unchallenged with her mega 142.93% score from Titchfield Haven. Just reward for all the effort put in over the year as well as for keeping us entertained with top quality record pics of each new scarce or rare species added to her list! Caspian Stonechat at Titchfield Haven (c) Amy Robjohns Ash Baines finishes with a very strong second place score of 132.47% at Starr Gate - Fairlawn road with Snow Bunting added in December. Cattle Egret and White-fronted Goose boosted the score from Mid-North Gipping Valley to 115.13% for third place Ben Moyes. Rhys Chivers managed to hold on to fourth place by a matter of .01%!!! Rhys didn't add any new species for Soar Valley Pits in December but his comp score there remained high enough to fend off Espen Quinto-Ashman at Wellington GPs despite Espen having a...

A confiding Snow Bunting during December was the final addition to Amy Robjohn's mammoth patch birding year at Titchfield Haven. Hardcore effort at this site resulted in a final comparative score of 142.93%, one of the highest in all of #PWC2016 and first in Coastal South Minileague. Amy's Caspian Stonechat find was hands down her highlight of the year but closely followed by Stone Curlew and Semipalmated Sandpiper. Second place remains in the hands of Paul Freestone at Gwithian who had an equally impressive year, finishing on 121.31% with top finds such as Isabelline Wheatear plus Dalmatian Pelican, Rose-coloured Starling, Wryneck etc. Mark Lawlor, Dick Best and Paul Bowerman all keep their same positions in the top five at the end of the year, having beaten their comp score targets. Mark's Kentish Plover find is certainly worthy of an end of year mention, the first on Guernsey in thirteen years! Snow Bunting at Titchfield Haven (c) Amy Robjohns Joe Stoc...

Congratulations to Adam Nicholls for winning the comparative with a mighty 145%. A very impressive effort Adam. James Emerson beats Nick Moran to second place with a good December thanks to a Velvet Scoter (patch tick) and Scaup. Nick drops to 3rd despite a Lapland Bunting on patch and a Hawfinch in his garden, a great duo so late in the year and increases our suspicion that Thetford has moved to the coast! Ben Moyes extends his lead in fourth place over Tim Phillips and Jim Bradley as he had a great month with Cattle Egret, White-fronted Geese and Goosander added. It was a good month for White-fronted Geese as Ben Rackstraw, Mike McCarthy and Nige Lound also added them during December. Rob Lucking finished the year at Colkirk with a Kingfisher, a colourful patch tick.  White-fronted Geese were seen throughout the region in December The top 3 didn't change in the points league during December so its congratulations to Ben Lewis as his very impressive year at the Mid Yar...

Patchwork Challenge 2016 - Sutton Bingham Reservoir Report by Tim Farr I had a pretty good year in 2015 and honestly thought I would be heard pressed in beating last year’s total, but I guess hard work pays off and 2016 turned out to be a real cracker of a year with four patch lifers and some quality rarities to boot. As always my apologies for the photographs…I rely on phone-scoped record shots! January Not a bad start to the year with a January 1 st visit producing a drake Shoveler amongst the regular wintering Wigeon . A Stonechat kindly stayed in to the New Year and got added to the list alongside Kestrel and Little Grebe . Just a couple of days later I found a small flock of Lesser Redpoll , a species I’d not seen on patch for a couple of years and a week later I added Marsh Tit , a species which took eight months to get on to the year list in 2015! Some annoying news was received on 14 th January as a fellow birder had flushed a Jack Snipe , despite trying a cou...

There was no let up for Noel Keogh at South Dublin Bay who added Fieldfare, Jack Snipe and Eider to his year list in December, bringing him up to 124.09% at the top of the Coastal Ireland Comparative Minileague. The rest of the top five here managed to equal or better their 100% target but second place was 19% or so behind Noel. Woodcock and Pheasant added in December at the Bann Estuary ( patch blog here ) allowed Richard Donaghey to keep hold of second place while a fine end to the year for Cathal Forkan at North Galway Bay helped him to claim a podium position, moving up from fifth to third thanks to a #fullfatpatchtick  Fieldfare plus Black Redstart and bonus points for not only being the first person to find the returning Forster's Tern this winter but also for locating it well away from it's usual haunts. Derek Polley kept patch birding at Bangor West right up to the bitter end of the year and was rewarded for his efforts with a #patchgold Mute Swan seen at 3:15pm o...