Forest Optics Best Find Competition 2016 - February Roundup

Welcome to the February update for the Bresser and Forest Optics  Best Find Competition! This is the competition open to anyone who finds a fantastically rare bird on patch and as always its prestige is backed up by a truly excellent prize. Last year Bresser and Forest Optics  donated a pair of Bresser Montana 8.5 x 45 binoculars worth a grand total of £665! This years prize is still to be confirmed but will again be a pair of binoculars. For the lucky winner, a prize definitely worth competing for so get yourself out there, you have to be in it to win it. In the meantime, for those looking to upgrade their optics, take a look a their website for the great products they have on offer.

After the 'everything counts again' bonanza of January, February can sometimes be a hard slog. Invariably the best find highlights are made up of wildfowl and gulls in the shortest month as everyone waits for spring. February 2016 was no different.

Bird of the month goes to Julian Wyllie at Baltimore in Ireland. From the other side of the pond, Black Duck is not going to have its own calendar anytime soon but what it lacks in looks it almost makes up for in rarity value! It is also a PWC first and another for our growing Bubo list.

Black Duck © Paul Connaughton (Shearwater Wildlife Tours)

In fact the theme of this write up is largely American orientated. Incredibly John Bowler on Tiree scored maximum points for the second year in a row for American Herring Gull, bagging a few good flight record shots at the same time. At times it shared the same location as a juvenile Kumlien's Gull. John's name is synonymous with this competition, and he added to his self-found rarity haul with a Green-Winged Teal.

Continuing the American theme, two bonus pointers that have been in the headlines frequently in the first two months are American Wigeon and Black Brant. Russell Neave on his new Sanday patch scores the extra points for the former whilst Irene Boston and Toby Collett successfully sifted out the latter from the Brent Flocks around The Wash at Brancaster and Frampton respectively.

American Wigeon, Sanday c/o @SandayRanger

Preceding Niall Keogh's Ring-Billed Gull prediction in the March podcast, Noel Keogh and Neal Warnock at South Dublin Bay and Lough Larne in Ireland scored bonus points for this cracker of a bird.

Ring-Billed Gull in the centre of this pic from Neal Warnock at Lough Larne

The long-staying Long-Billed Dowitcher at Cresswell in Northumberland went on a brief holiday to Iain Robson's Druridge Bay patch on the 7th February.  The final bird of this round up to have crossed the Atlantic was the diminutive Richardson's Cackling Goose which matched the wintering Barnacle flock for size.

Richardson's Goose, Oa c/o David Wood

Coming to birds from destinations closer to home, Common Crane is becoming a more regular bird in the UK. Indeed birds from breeding grounds would not make this round up, but a bird for Marc Lansdowne in the Trent Valley in Leicestershire was less expected.

That leaves us with two records, which whilst not on the same rarity scales as some of those above have added stories to their finds. The first is from Dave Suddaby who usually features in this roundup with his rarity laden garden. His golden touch seems to have moved to his office space as he added a Tundra Bean Goose to his office window list this month! Finally, Ben Rackstraw has moved house and thereby patches. In January he left behind Downham Market locating a Serin on one of his final visits. In February, he made his first visit to Wretton, his new patch and nailed a Great Grey Shrike. Quite some introduction!

Ben Rackstraw's incredible find on his first visit to patch.

Forest Optics Best Find Competition 2016 - January Roundup

Following a superb competition in 2015, Bresser and Forest Optics  have once again kindly agreed to sponsor the Best Find Competition this year. Whilst many of the rare birds appear on coastlines and islands, the last two years have seen winners from the estuarine Meare Heath and inland Pugney's Country Park, proving that the bird of the year can appear almost anywhere. A couple of the PWC admin team have predicted a UK first to be found on a patch this year, which if it happens I am sure will be a front-runner for PWC's most prestigious competition. Could it be you?

With such a prestigious competition comes an excellent prize. Last year Bresser and Forest Optics  donated a pair of Bresser Montana 8.5 x 45 binoculars worth a grand total of £665! This years prize is still tbc but will again be a pair of binoculars. An incredibly generous prize I am sure you will agree and we really appreciate their continuing support. Have a look at their website and see what they have to offer.

January is always an exciting month in Patchwork Challenge. Everything counts again, and even the one pointers are all ticks for the year! Bonus pointers can be hard to come by however and often come from scouring flocks of gulls, geese or wildfowl. Perhaps the most surprising find this month however was a Great Snipe at Wanstead Flats for Nick Croft. Flushed from scrub on the 3rd it gave close flight views before ditching down but could not be relocated again despite extensive searching. An amazing bird to find in the autumn in any part of the country, to turn one up in Greater London in January is a superb result, and already puts itself in contention from the off!

The first patch visit of the year for Derek Charles on New Years Day resulted in him finding a Black Guillemot on Lough Neagh, the first inland record for Northern Ireland since 1932! A great start to the year for any patch but even more incredible on an inland site. 

Black Guillemot at Ardmore, Lough Neagh c/o Derek Charles

On his first patch visit of the year, William Rutter located a pale redpoll in a flock at Birling Carrs. Fortunately it stuck around all month, providing the opportunity for many birders to pay a visit to this corner of Northumberland. Definitely one of the most popular birds of the month, there are many excellent photos and discussions on this stunning bird to be found online supporting the identification as Coue's Arctic Redpoll.

Arctic Redpoll at Birling Carrs (photo c/o Sacha Elliott)

Hardly a best find update goes by without John Bowler and Dave Suddaby getting a mention! This month they both scored bonus points for Kumlien's Gull, a second patch record for John, whilst Dave's find had the good manners to then add itself to his office list!

Third winter Kumlien's Gull at Blacksod (photo c/o Dave Suddaby)

American ducks are a feature of the winter with a few long stayers from last year providing points this year but no find bonuses. American Wigeon were found at Hesketh Out Marsh and Scarborough whilst a drake at Steart WWT for Joe Cockram was joined by a Green-winged Teal. Any patcher with a flock of Teal will spend the winter scouring them for their American cousin, and Pete Antrobus, Steve Nuttall and Ross Ahmed also got lucky when the vertical white stripe appeared in their scopes in January.

American Wigeon at Scalby Mills (photo c/o Nick Addey)

Ceri Jones and Peter Howlett bagged points for the same Lesser Scaup which commuted between Cosmeston and Cardiff Bay. There have been a few Surf Scoters on the east coast this winter, and Mike Hodgkin located one on the sea at Aberlady Bay in Scotland. 

In the last couple of years, a couple of the easier bonus pointers (if there is such a thing!) to link up with are Great White Egret and Yellow-browed Warblers. The latter has taken to wintering in a couple of locations in the south-west and Ilya Maclean unearthed a new bird at Lizard Point. New Great White Egrets were at Blagdon Lake and Hale and Pickering whilst a brace graced Conningbrook Lake. The influx of Cattle Egrets last year has left a few stragglers across the UK, but only one of those was a new bird in January with a  single at Topsham on the 3rd helping to boost Martin Elcoate's January points total. Meanwhile a flock of twenty Glossy Ibis at Tramore Backstrand in Ireland must have been quite a sight for Arlo Jacques who must be wishing their was a notable flock size bonus!

Cattle Egret at Topsham c/o Martin Elcoate

Scottish specialities White Billed Diver and White-Tailed Eagle put in appearances at Quoyangry and Balivanich respectively whilst the wintering Great Grey Shrike was relocated at Henlow Grange. Finally, Ben Rackstraw had his first bonus pointer in the form of a Serin on his last visit to his Downham Market patch before moving house!

Serin at Downham Market c/o Ben Rackstraw

11 Days in the life of a patcher........

Despite being part of the PWC admin team I am useless when it comes to using Facebook but the last 11 days on patch have been some of the most enjoyable days I’ve had at Hemsby and it had finally given me the kick up the backside I needed to post on Facebook but I soon realised that it is too long for a FB post so here we are: 11 days in the life of a patcher!

It was on the 8^th October when it all really started kicking off here, a pre-work walk round the Kings Loke (a small patch of trees, scrub and long grass near my house) was duly rewarded with some notable patch birds and this is what I wrote in my notebook:

“Great morning, finches constantly moving overhead including 4 Crossbills. 2 Yellow-browed Warbler near east entrance to Kings Loke and a Swift overhead. Another YBW and 2 Firecrest with a large tit/crest flock in the middle of the Loke. Also a Ring Ouzel on the hedgerow. Finally, a Black Redstart on the roof of house two doors down from my house and 4 Snow Buntings south over the dunes.”

A great 2 hours birding but no #PWC2015 ticks....

The 9^th was very similar with good numbers of finches, larks and pipits moving north during a bit of vismigging. Other notable birds were a Great Spotted Woodpecker moving south over the dunes and a Tree Pipit heading south too. The Kings Loke was quite quiet but a Treecreeper was a #PWC2015 tick and only my second ever on patch and 2 Cranes overhead was only the second time I’ve seen them on patch.

The 10^th started with me searching the Kings Loke as usual but there seemed to be a bit of a clear out and the only new bird I noted was a Lesser Whitethroat so I headed off to seawatch. The seawatch was full of birds but nothing rare, 500+ distant auks was a good count and Sooty Shearwater was the highlight. A search round the southern edge of my patch in the afternoon added two #PWC2015 ticks, 2 Egyptian Geese flying overhead and a Green Woodpecker taking a liking to fence posts.

Sunday the 11^th started with a 3 hour seawatch and it soon became clear there was a lot of bird moving out to sea with hundreds of Brent Geese, Red-thoated Divers, Gannets and auks all going south. A Hobby flew south over the surf shortly followed by 6 Snow Bunting over the beach and then a Short-eared Owl came in off the sea.  I then received a text that a Balearic Shearwater was heading my way and after about a half hour wait I was watching it fly south, full fat patch tick #201! A few Sooties followed south not long after and another 3 SEOs all came in off the sea, including one carrying food! A female Velvet Scoter finished off the seawatch with another #PWC2015 tick. I then headed for the Kings Loke hoping that some migrants had been pushed in with the NE winds. It soon became clear that a lot had dropped in. Finches, crests and thrushes were everywhere and a Ring Ouzel, Whinchat and Firecrest were the highlights at the Loke.  In the afternoon I headed to the south end of the patch, flushed my 5^th SEO of the day out of some long grass! Thrushes started to drop in during the afternoon with 77 Song Thrush, 46 Redwings and 14 Fieldfares in one hedgerow. Brambling numbers also increased today.  Day estimates for the patch were 200+ Goldcrests, 175+ Song Thrush and 30+ Brambling.

The 12^th and 13^th saw me seawatching before work, a few interesting birds including 5 Sooties on the 13^th but otherwise quiet. After work on the 13^th I had a quick check of the Loke and flushed a Jack Snipe off the path! Pure patch gold and only my second on the patch.

The 14^th started with another seawatch and although numbers of the common seabirds had dropped off a lone juvenile Pomarine Skua drifting south gave me another #PWC2015 tick. Added to this were a few Sooties, Arctic Skuas, Bonxies, a Manx Shearwater and another SEO in off the sea. I left work early to get an hour or so birding in and was soon rewarded with a Great Grey Shrike sitting on top of a hedgerow near the Kings Loke, a patch tick (#202) and finally some bonus points. The same hedgerow held hundreds of thrushes including 2 Ring Ouzels. It was a very impressive fall with birds still arriving as the light failed with many thrushes and Bramblings sitting on the road exhausted!

Waking up on the 15^th and a quick look round the patch produced lots of common migrants, crests, finches and everywhere, another SEO in off and two pieces of #patchgold, a Rock Pipit (#PWC2015 tick) and Mistle Thrush (only my 2^nd of the year).

It was at this point I was going to write about the great birding autumn brings even if the rarities don’t come, 9 ticks 19 points and a great weeks birding. However, this was just the beginning.....

The 16^th Dawned wet and miserable, a quick seawatch produced very little so I headed off to the Kings Loke. It was soon evident that there lots of birds about, thrushes flying out the hedgerows and trees, crests busily feeding and finches overhead, a Woodcock flushed from under my feet but the rain made it hard to find much else. While sheltering under a tree the warblers started to show, a few Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap and then in amongst a flock of 20+ crests a Pallas’s Warbler flitted past, feeding in the tree in front of me for about a minute and then gone, moving through the trees with the flock. Amazing, the third one in four autumns on the patch!

Saturday the 17^th was relatively quiet, bird numbers were down on the previous days but still a good mix of common migrants, the only new species of note was a Redstart. A glimpse of a interesting bird in the undergrowth in the late evening got me wondering..........

The 18^th October 2015 will probably go down as the best day ever on my Hemsby patch. I was joined by a friend and we headed straight for the Kings Loke, plenty of birds about in the gloom, a Ring Ouzel chacking away, Redwings, Fieldfares and finches passing overhead regularly and a Grey Wagtail heading north. A Green Woodpecker started calling followed soon by a Great Spotted Woodpecker, an unusual duet for the patch! And then the heart-stopping moment! As a flock of tits passed us a small bird flitted amongst the undergrowth, bright orange flanks standing out instantly. It started flitting closer to us giving us great views for about 30-40 seconds before darting off to the right. A 1^st winter RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL!! Although a lot more common nowadays still a dream find for us. We tried to relocate it but with no success, although we did rustle up another Treecreeper. We decided to have a break and put news out so climbed out of the undergrowth to the grassy edge of the Loke when we flushed a pipit. It called a bit like a Tripit but not exactly. It had us intrigued. We played a game of hide and seek with it over the next hour or so and then it finally landed in view and it looked good, photos were taken and we were soon realising we were looking at an OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT just 50 yards from the bluetail!! Wow! We hadn’t seen the back properly so slowly waited for it to reappear and after another hour or so we had documented the bird well enough to make the call. It felt strange writing a tweet that contained both RFB and OBP for Hemsby!

Afterwards I decided to have a well deserved rest but no sooner had I sat down when a friend rang to say a Great Grey Shrike was on the dunes no more than 750m from my house. So the best day on my patch end with me watching a GGS eating a Goldcrest all on my own! This is why I do patch birding.

11 days, 114 species, 4 patch ticks, 12 #PWC2015 ticks, 52 points, 1 patch!

#patchday

You may or may not have seen us mention on Twitter and Facebook that on the weekend of Saturday 7th / Sunday 8th November some #PWC2015 activities will be taking place. Well let us explain this in more detail now! It has a double edged sword to it, a last hurrah for the autumn and a push to keep everyone enthused in PWC with the winter coming up and the new year fast approaching (yes, #PWC2016 isn’t far off!).

Some late autumn bonus points could still be waiting on your patch.....

So what does it involve? Visit your patch and do some birding and keep a list for the day, tweet about it as much as possible with the hashtags #PWC2015 and #patchday and encourage others to join in that haven’t taken part in PWC before, the more the merrier!

And just in case you need some enticement we have a wee competition for the day and a prize to be won. We mentioned earlier to keep a list for your patch on the day as the person with the highest percentage of species seen out of their overall #PWC2015 list on that day (e.g. if I was to see 65 species that day, that would be 39% of the 166 species that I have seen so far in PWC2015) will win this nice prize:

You can spend as long or little as you want on the patch for the day just make sure you Tweet about it, post about it on our PWC Facebook group page (or even send us some content for the blog), spread the PWC word, see lots of species and enjoy yourselves.......

Midlands Minileague - September 2015

Tom Shields again finds himself at the top of the Midlands comparative league this month while Andy Sims jumps from fourth to second and Steve Lyon slides down to third. Both Andy and Steve surpassed the coveted 100% marker this month, aided by some nice scarcities at Boultham Mere and Marston respectively and testament to their hard work and dedication. Further down the table Andy Mackay loses ground and drops into fourth and John Hopper remains firmly rooted in fifth place with Andy certainly within touching distance of the 100% barrier. Sam Pitt Miller gains some ground in September, advancing from twelfth to ninth while Mark Gash leaps ahead of NGB's Matthew Bruce and Espen Quinto-Ashman, both of whom have been off patch for some time due to commitments elsewhere. There is still all to play for in the comparative league during October with only a few points separating the highest ranked competitors. It will be interesting to see how things develop in the weeks to come.

To the points table now and August's top three remain unchallenged with Ian Cowgill still ruling the roost, 16 points ahead of John Hopper who in his own words, had a rather disappointing month at Hoveringham. Andy Mackay remains comfortable in third place for another month adding Black Tern and Knot at Eyebrook Reservoir. Elsewhere Rhys Dandy displaces Nick Crouch to gain fourth place while further down the table a series of other small gains were made by various other participants.

When it comes to the best finds, Redstarts were definitely flavor of the month with a Black Redstart for Steve Lyon and Common's for both Andy Sims and Tom Shields at Holme Pierrepoint. Instances of "patch gold" abounded throughout September with three patch firsts to be had over the course of the month. Among these a juvenile Osprey for Matthew Dick at Darley Dale and both Redshank and Raven notched by Steven Lewis and Phil Hyde in turn. Great White Egret was an additional good find on behalf of Andy Sims, as was a Bittern for Mark Gash at Willington GP though these comprised arguably the most grandiose finds over what was, for the large part, a rather quiet month in the Midlands. Garganey for both Rhys Dandy and Dave Roberts do warrant a mention however, as does the Little Stint nabbed by Rhys Chivers at Soar Valley Pits.

- James C (Patchwork Challenge)