2026 Sign-up and 2025 Score Submission!

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Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team! 

We have just released the sign up and scoresheet for Patchwork Challenge 2026! We hope you are looking forward to taking part in next years competition, which starts in just a few days! It has to be said however that 2025 has been a brilliant year, and we are looking forward to recapping it, so please make sure your #PWC2025 scores and highlights are in by 8pm, 1st January 2026! This deadline is very important, as we have been asked to write an article for Birdwatch magazine which has a very tight deadline. Thank you!

If you are wanting to sign up for this coming year's competition, #PWC2026, then you can do so by just following this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iZORva8WZXRiaCZcQUE9CNmog3k0EhnhW-GflGqNYoA/edit?usp=sharing 

We have made some score updates to this year's competition, with there being guaranteed bonus points for a few inland seabirds, but also Lancolated Warbler away from Northern Isle's and Cirl Bunting away from the south-west. There have been a few other points changes including the seperation of Bean Geese to Taiga and Tundra, with each species scoring three points, increased Ruddy Duck to two points, Fea's Petrel would now get you five points, but Fea's type Petrel (Pterodroma sp) gets four, 'Dark-breasted' Barn Owl now scores four points instead of three, 'Eastern Lesser Whitethroat' now scores two points, 'Northern' Treecreeper now scores with four points, brought Brown Shrike down to four points instead of five. 

We wish everyone the very best end to 2025 and hope that participants can still add a few last points to their tallies, but please do make sure that scores are updated by 8pm, 1st January 2026 and thank everyone with their co-operation with this! It has been a brilliant last couple of days with cool easterly winds dumping spectacular numbers of Eurasian White-fronted and Tundra Bean Geese across England, with a few making it elsewhere too! Flocks nationally have been massive, with best counts being 542 White-fronts in Norfolk and 45 Tundra Bean's in Cambridgeshire, with the latter turning up in many inland counties for the first time in years. Make sure to be out there checking your local Goose flocks! It also has that feel of potential for other bits to hop acorss, with an increase in Bewick's Swans but also a Black-winged Kite in Norfolk shows that you can dream big even in late December.

We also look forward to seeing what you see on your patch come New Year's day, so remember to keep us informed by using the #patchbirding or #PWC2025 or #PWC2026 hashtags on either Bluesky or Twitter, and on Facebook use the Patchwork Challenge group. 

Happy birding, 

Patchwork Challenge team


Eurasian White-fronted Geese


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