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October round-up 2025

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Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team!  We hope you have enjoyed taking part so far this year, but that certainly was a slow October if we ever knew it! We do really appreciate everyone taking part and sharing what they have seen and done, it is what keeps the competition alive! For the rest of November, remember to keep a look out for that last rare Siberian vagrant wherever your patch might be! Whilst I have been pulling this together, many of both Pallas's and Hume's Leaf Warblers have been gracing the coasts of Britain, with even a Pallas's turning up inland Wiltshire! Other scarcer species turning up have included Richard's Pipits, Great Grey Shrikes and Dusky Warblers, all inland too. It is the time of year to be on the look out for the more regular later autumn species like Hen Harrier, Waxwings, Lapland and Snow Bunting, Shore Lark, Twite and fortunatly these species have a habit of showing up just about anywhwere! Coastal patches have been picking up on some ...
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September round-up 2025

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Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team! With three quarters of the year out the way, we have now entered the final quarters meaning it is crunch time! Now is the time to go out there and secure those few extra bonus points that you weren't quite expecting by finding that skulky far flung vagrant, or picking up some vismig species that you have yet to pick up like a Hawfinch amongst a flock of Redwings. There has also been a healthy arrival of Yellow-browed Warblers up and down Britain and Ireland, maybe one will turn up on your patch soon? But keep an eye out for one of its rarer cousins, with already there being Hume's and Pallas's Warbler dotted about.  The last few days have brought a good arrival of commoner autumn migrants to the east coast of Britain, with some sites recording thousands of Redwings, Fieldfares, Starlings and Chaffinches as well as good falls of Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs. The first Jack Snipes and Woodcocks have been turning up for a little while now...
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August round-up 2025

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Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team! An awesome month, with autumn migration now in full swing with no stopping in sight! Some patch birders succeeded with finding some mega rare birds on their patches yielding them fifteen well earned points! This just showing that working a patch, birders will one day be justly rewarded, let that be either a national mega bird or a locally good bird that you have always wanted to grace your patch.  Now September is underway, hopes are high for more rarity action - by the time of writing, there has been quite a few American Waders recorded in Britain and Ireland this autumn, American Goldies, Buff-breasted and Baird's Sands, Wilson's Phalaropes etc, while those westerly winds are still bringing across large numbers of good seabirds to the western coastline, as August proved!  The autumn so far has been somewhat lacking in prolonged easterly winds, bringing drift migrants in to the majority of the east coast. The long range forecast at the...
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