Inland South Minileague - December 2016

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 go down in the memory as he added Jack Snipe, Bearded Tit and of course Blyth's Pipit to his patch list in the space of 48 hours. Congratulations to Nigel, the pipit really was a superb bird and finders points added too!

Blyth's Pipit (c) Nigel Milbourne (check out the Blagdon Lake birds website)

Playing for the podium spots, Tom Raven (he of Hudsonian Godwit fame) takes second place despite no additions in December. Brendan Sheils could not take advantage however, and ends in third. Well done all.

December turned up a few good birds around the Inland South league aside from the Blyth's Pipit. A Glossy Ibis at Stoke Newington was an excellent find for Chris Farthing as was an inland Brent Goose. The Cattle Egret influx in December made it's way onto Ollie Thomas's Puddletown list whilst a Little Stint was an unseasonable addition to the Longham Lakes yearlist.

A Yellow-browed Warbler found it's way to Wanstead in December. Caspian Gulls were found in December at Grimsbury Reservoir and Rye Meads while Scaup found their way inland at Dinton Pastures and Linford Lakes. Finally, a good December for Neil Burt saw Grey Partridge, Woodcock and White-Fronted Goose keep the score ticking up right to the end.

Well done to everyone who competed in the Inland South league in 2016. Hopefully we will see many of those in the points league this year move into the comparative league also in 2017. It really was an excellent year, with amongst the highlights Herts' first Bonaparte's Gull, Black Stork, Red-Footed Falcon, Ortolan Bunting, White-tailed Eagle, Wryneck, Spotted Sandpiper and Blyth's Pipit. An amazing year and a credit to those covering a network of patches right across the south.

Coastal North Minileague - December 2016

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 Easington areas in particular always generate some monster scores that top the overall points league and this year is no exception. Tim Jones is a familiar name at the top and does it again, matched species for species by Mick Turton but with a better points per bird total, both totalling more than 400 points!! Paul French will be a force to be reckoned with as well in 2017 and falls just shy of the leading pair this time on 392 points. Tim won't be competing in 2017 so Mick and Paul will be battling it out for top spot but will the east coast get another year like 2016?

Nick Addey finished fourth above Andy Hood at Flamborough. Nick scores more than 300 points as he takes a break for #PWC2017. Meanwhile Andy has entertained us with his pictures from Flamborough all year and some superb birds. Well done both.

December was short on highlights from the coastal north, with new additions hard to come by at these locations after the rush of autumn. Tim Jones and Mick Turton added a Glaucous Gull whilst Mick also enjoyed a Purple Sandpiper, not the easiest bird at Spurn. Nick Addey added Red-necked Grebe whilst a Long-tailed Duck was a #fullfatpatchtick for Nige Lound at Crook Bank. Nige Lound also had the privilege of two Shore Larks at his Rimac patch - a joy of a bird. Final mention for December goes to Will Scott who added a few extra points at the death to finish in mid-table including a White-fronted Goose.

2016 was a tremendous year for rarities in coastal north. There have been some excellent birds found on patches in what has been a superb autumn, particularly in the east. The year highlights include Siberian Accentor, Eastern Black Redstart, Paddyfield Warbler, Desert Wheatear, Citrine Wagtail, Kumlien's Gull, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Brown Shrike, Isabelline Wheatear, Stejneger's Stonechat, etc etc...

It really has been an excellent year, thanks to all who contributed to it.

Estuarine Minileague - December 2016

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 known for its waders, but Paul's highlights this year were Bittern (his only patch first in the year) and finding Glossy Ibis.

Dave really made a fight of it though, and had an excellent year featuring in first place in many of the monthly updates. He just couldn't add anything new in the last couple of months but his year highlights from this west coast patch were Broad-Billed Sandpiper and the number of Yellow-browed Warblers this autumn.

Howard Vaughan managed to keep the other Frampton birders out of the top three by a single point! His comment on the submission form for December: "oh so nearly the first blank month... dire but salvaged with a one point Goosander on 27th - a rare bird here". An important addition in the end, every point counts! The best of the year for Howard Vaughan was a fine male Golden Oriole, there are not many better birds.

Other highlights in December involved the start of the Waxwing invasion with birds at Aigburth. A second Yellow-browed Warbler of the year for Martin Elcoate meant no additional points but is still a nice winter find. A number of patches added Water Rail, Woodcock and Brambling in the month and a Red-throated Diver was the highlight at Snettisham.

Final mention for December should go to Elliot Montieth for his Great Crested Grebe heroics. Spotting that it was caught in fishing line he swam out to it at Bidston Moss in the middle of winter! A hero indeed.

Spoonbills at Holes Bay (c) Ian Ballam

Under 25's Minileague - December 2016

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 added Barn Owl in the dying moment of #PWC2016 on New Year's Eve!

While there was plenty of success in the Under 25's Comparative Minileague, results from the Points Minileague also showcased the great enthusiasm of the youngest patch birders that PWC has to offer. Nearly 50 contestants make up this table and we can see some closely fought battles down through the rankings, but it is Tim Jones who leads the way, charging ahead of all others with that mega score of 421 points from 231 species and a PPB of 1.823 from the mighty Spurn. 

The BirdTrack effort by the Under 25's was also top notch with Ollie Thomas contributing a truly amazing 637 complete lists and 20,684 records from Puddletown while James McCulloch also gets an honourable mention with 660 complete lists and 6,018 records from Hedgecourt NR & Domewood.

When it came to personal highlights of the year, reading through the list of submissions really gave a flavour of how epic 2016 was for birding across Britain and Ireland with all of the following seen by PWC Under 25's contestants: Caspian Stonechat, White-crowned Sparrow, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Black Stork, Forster's Tern, Black-bellied Dipper, Desert Wheatear, Dusky Warbler, Purple Heron, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Long-billed Dowitcher, Richard's Pipit, Black Brant, Cattle Egret, Green-winged Teal, Sabine's Gull, Honey Buzzard...

Black-bellied Dipper (c) Ben Moyes

Coastal South Minileague - December 2016

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 Stockwell's lead on the Coastal South points table was secured for the year thanks to a wildfowl-fest at Ferrybridge to Weymouth during December which saw Goldeneye, Eider, Black Brant and Egyptian Goose bring his points score up to 277.

Amy's success in the comparative league was complemented by a second place position on the points table where Andy Johnson moved into third place ahead of Paul Bowerman by a matter of two points, helped by Snow Bunting and Long-tailed Duck added at Sandy Point in December.

Some highlights at the months end included a Hume's Warbler at North Portland for Sean Foote, an amazing flock of nine Cattle Egrets found by Ilya Maclean at Loe Pool on 30th December and a patch tick Caspian Gull for Kev Rylands at Dawlish Warren.

Aside from some of the aforementioned megas, the Coastal South Minileague was awash with rare and scare birds during #PWC2016 with the likes of Ross's Gull, Red-throated Pipit, Greenish Warbler, Bonaparte's Gull, Great Grey Shrike, Shorelark, Temminck's Stint, Cory's Shearwater, Ortolan Bunting and Serin making the best bird of the year comments section from this years contestants.

The PWC #patchgold favourite, Coot, also got an honorary mention as bird of the year for Sean Foote at North Portland! ;)

Hooded Merganser at Radipole...eating fish and NOT bread as kindly pointed out by Joe Stockwell :)

Inland East Anglia Minileague - December 2016

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 Yare see's him win quite comfortably in the end. Jamie Wells holds on the 2nd despite the efforts of Luke Wake, although his Siberian Chiffchaff in December wasn't quite enough to catch Jamie. Nige Lound leap frogs Nick Moran into 4th courtesy of his PPB score. Rob Pople managed to get a December patch tick in the shape of a Smew at Milton CP. It was great to see 23 patches all recording over 100 species this year, a testament to the hard work put in by everyone.

Reading the list of year highlights makes me wonder if some patches are inland!! It truly has been a great year for the Inland East Anglia Minileague. Ben Lewis had a memorable year and struggled to pick a bird of the year from Little Tern, Penduline Tit, Bee-eater or Savi's Warbler. All great finds inland. Other national rarities included the Great Reed Warbler Jamie Wells saw at Paxton Pits, Nick Morans Little Bunting at Thetford (Lapland Bunting completing an amazing bunting bonanza there), Nige Lounds Caspian Tern at Middlemarsh Farm and the Black-bellied Dipper on Ben Moyes patch at the Gipping Valley. Its not all about rarities though and many of the patches benefited from the invasion year for several species, Yellow-browed Warbler a highlight for Joe Harkness, Rob Pople and Alison Allen while Waxwings and Curlew Sandpipers were mentioned on a few patches too. Lets not forget the moments of patch gold that have been etched into the memory of patchers this year, Irene Bostons Coot at Dersingham Bog was a patch tick and a Knot for Martin Oakley-Martin was a first for the county in 3 years, pure patch gold.

Coastal Ireland Minileague - December 2016

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 on New Year's Eve, his first there in two years of PWC! This stroke of luck took Derek to exactly 100%!

Forster's Tern (right) and Sandwich Tern (left) at Barna (c) Cathal Forkan (patch blog)

Little Gull at Larne Lough (c) Neal Warnock

It was a relatively quiet year for Dave Suddaby at Blacksod. It seems the Mullet Peninsula missed out on the madness of Autumn 2016, with not a single Phylloscopus warbler seen for three weeks during the month of October! Despite this, Dave still managed to dig out some good birds like Surf Scoter and his final score for the year broke past 200 points and allowed him to take up second place on the points minileague table. 

With the mega birding site of Tacumshin featuring in PWC for the first time in 2016, a strong score was always to be expected on the points table. Noel Keogh took on the challenge here and finished up in first place with no less than 163 species which gained him 250 points. With 2016 being an exceptional year for wader diversity at Tacumshin (40 species seen in total through the year), has Noel set the bar too high for his first year of comparative listing here in 2017?

Cathal Forkan's good fortunes in December allowed him to take third place on the points table from North Galway Bay while we see Christopher O'Sullivan's first year of PWC effort at Clonakilty/Inchydoney bringing him to fifth place with Cattle Egret added there during the final month of the year.

Glaucous Gull was the last addition for Graham Johnston at Rinville while Joe Proudfoot launched into a year ticking bonanza at Sandymount to Dun Laoghaire with Velvet Scoter, Fieldfare, Dipper, Water Rail and 9 Waxwing!

Neal Warnock topped of his year list at Larne Lough with Skylark, Stonechat and Slavonian Grebe. An account of his year of patch birding at Larne Lough and Rathlin Island can be read (with lots of fantastic pics included) on the Patch Birding Ireland blog.

Black Redstart at Barna Pier (c) Cathal Forkan

Islands Minileague - December 2016

December brought no new additions for Steve Minton at Scatness but his second Kumlien's Gull of the year was a welcome sight among good numbers of large gulls present there along with a few white-wingers. While Steve's score remained unchanged, his first place position on the Islands Comparative Minileague table was safe due to a hefty lead of 18%! 

Bonus points from a Lesser Scaup find at Palace allowed Alastair Forsyth to make a jump from seventh to second place on the comp table, where he finished up with 122%, knocking Steve Stansfield down to third. It ain't over until the fat Aythya sings!

Kumlien's Gull (c) Steve Minton (patch blog)

Lesser Scaup (c) Alastair Forsyth (patch blog)

Despite losing ground on the comparative table, Steve Stansfield remained unchallenged at the top of the points minileague with his impressive 368 points from 186 species seen on Bardsey, the highest species tally in the minileague also resulting in the highest PPB score too, just shy of the magic 2.

Scottish islands dominated the top of the points table save for two Welsh locations making themselves known there. John Bowler, Steve Minton, Jason Moss and Mark Newell all remain in their allotted positions from second to fifth.

Bruce Taylor's first year of PWC from Barra was a good one and the end of the year brought Glaucous Gull and Salvonian Grebe added (from his lounge!) at Brevig. Looking forward to seeing his contribution to the comparative minileague during #PWC2017.

The final month of the year also brought an American Wigeon for Russell Neave on Sanday and a Siberian Chiffchaff for John Headon on St Mary's.

Coastal Scotland Minileague - December 2016

A busy year with many highlights for the Coastal Scotland Minileague, exemplified by the fact that no less than nine of the eleven Comparative Minileague contestants reached or surpassed their 100% target!

Chris Rodger had a fantastic time of it at Musselburgh where Scaup and Tawny Owl added to his tally in December left him safely in first place with an enviable comp score of 128.42%, a good 13% or so ahead of second place Mike Hodgkin at Aberlady Bay (who had the highest number of species seen on any patch in the minileague).

Stephen Welch and Andrew Whitehouse remain in third and fourth place at Gosford Bay and Girdle Ness & Torry respectively while Jim Dickson, Mark Lewis and Chris Hill all move up a place or two during December to finish on fifth, sixth and seventh from their respective patches.

Eastern Black Redstart at Torness (c) Geoff Morgan

Geoff Morgan rounded off a very successful year of finding scarce and rare birds at Barns Ness with a cracking Eastern Black Redstart at Torness at the start of December. What a bird and a major 15 point boost to his score bringing him up to 268 points from 167 species, securing his lead on the points table and ensuring a very fine PPB of 1.605! Talk about going out in style!

Waxwings were new in December for Colin Davison at Scoughall and Mark Lewis at Girdle Ness (who also got in on the #patchgold action with Little Grebe) while Chris Hill added three waders (Ruff, Greenshank and Woodcock) at Burntisland.

A Great Grey Shrike was an excellent addition to Jim Dickson's Crinan Canal Corridor patch along with three Black Grouse, a species which doesn't often get mentioned in PWC Minileague blog posts!

Mark Lewis led the charge in terms of BirdTrack effort for the year, breaking past 200 complete lists and 10,000 records.

Inland Scotland Minileague - December 2016

Chris Pendlebury had a busy December, adding new species to all four of his patches in the Inland Scotland Comparative Minileague. Blairdrummond remained the only patch to break past the 100% target and as such wins the minileague title for #PWC2016 with 103.53% thanks to a Long-tailed Duck.

Other additions for Chris included a Peregrine at Dunblane, a Lesser Redpoll at Stirling and a double act of Stonechat and Kingfisher at Kinneil. Chris's Dunblane patch steals second place from Cambus where Graeme Garner takes up third place for the year, ensuring the top of the table wasn't completely dominated by one person!

Rankings were close in the Inland Scotland Minileague throughout the year, with just a percent or two separating most contestants on the table in the end. Roll on #PWC2017!

Waxwing at Dunblane (c) Chris Pendlebury

No new additions from David Douglas in December but his patch at Loch Leven remains in first place on the points minileague table at the end of the year with 130 species and 155 points.

The highest Points Per Bird score and BirdTrack stats come from Old Nisthouse where Alastair Forsyth had a productive year, his best #patchgold being a Mistle Thrush! Alastair holds on to second in the points minileague with a comfortable gap between him and third place Graeme Garner at Cambus. 

Coastal East Anglia - December 2016

Long time leader of the Coastal East Anglia Comparative Minileague Rob Hall holds on to the top spot as he added a further 5% in December with a Short-eared Owl the highlight of his December. Well done Rob, it will take some matching in 2017!

Ryan Irvine stayed in second place, holding off the towering presence of James Brown's patch with a few excellent birds such as Iceland Gull, Purple Sandpiper, Bewick's Swan and Slavonian Grebe, all less than annual at Hemsby. James's astonishing year ended slowly as he failed to add any species in December. With 209 species and 327 points I'm sure he isn't complaining too much. Craig Fulcher was the only mover in the league as moved into the top 5, just failing to reach the magical 100% mark.

Bewick's Swans

Congratulations to James Brown as he holds on to the top spot he's occupied for most (all?) of the year in the points minileague. A truly mammoth score of 327 points will take some beating next year. Ryan Irvine and Nige Lound make up the rest of the podium positions while Justin Zantboer managed to pick up a few winter birds, Hen Harrier and Tundra Bean Goose the highlights, to sneak past Paul Eele into 4th place. Other movers were Craig Fulcher and Luke Nash, the latter having a great month by adding Black Brant and Iceland Gull to pass Tommy Corcoran near the end of #PWC2016.

Tundra Bean Goose

Coastal East Anglia had a great year. While sites further to the north may have grabbed the headlines with the Siberian Accentor invasion may having passed by the region by but when you read the list of year highlights its very impressive. Great Knot , Black-browed Albatross, Blue-winged Teal, Little Bittern, Alpine Accentor, Black-winged Stilt in addition to a whole host of excellent scarcites. Here's hoping 2017 is equally impressive. Well done to everyone involved in #PWC2016.

Inland Ireland Minileague - December 2016

The addition of two species of gull to Michael John O'Mahony's patch year list at Upper Rathduff in the final two months of the year allowed him to increase his lead in the Inland Ireland Comparative Minileague by almost 10%, finishing up on a fine comparative score of 120.31%.

It was a Herring Gull in November and an excellent inland record of a flyover Yellow-legged Gull in December which added points and percentages, while a couple of male Hen Harriers locking talons for winter hunting rights certainly stole the show!

Michael's patch birding year is summed up beautifully by a suite of stunning pics in his Flickr album.

No additions for Alan Lauder, Niall Keogh or Darragh Sinnott in December while Des Higgins got lucky with both Little Grebe and Coot (the ultimate PWC #patchgold bird) at University College Dublin, securing third place on the comp table for him this year.

Fighting male Hen Harriers at Upper Rathduff (c) Michael John O'Mahony

Yellow-legged Gull at Upper Rathduff (c) Michael John O'Mahony

Derek Charles remains in first place on the points table with a final tally of 92 species and 108 points from Lough Neagh South Shore. A high standard has been set!

Mediterranean Gull and Skylark were welcome last minute additions to Andrew Power's second place home patch at Kildavin while Ian Stevenson had a fantastic three tick day at Grand Canal Way with Pochard, Wigeon and Peregrine bringing him to 74 species and 79 points in third place (up from fifth), a result which was far better than his expectations at the start of the year.

Pochard at Grand Canal Way (c) Ian Stevenson

Coot at University College Dublin (c) Des Higgins

Wales Minileague - December 2016

A comfortable first place lead for Mike Cram through much of the second half of the year kept him there all the way up to New Year's Eve by which stage his position at the top of the Wales Comparative Minileague was due to an impressive 144.94%! (the second highest in the whole of the UK and Ireland)

Mike rounded off his year at Broughton and Llangennith with the following comments... "Just one visit [in December] yielding a Red-breasted Merganser to close of a fantastic year. If it is not enough to clinch the British Comparative League then well done to whoever pips me! I never imagined doing this well and shows what you can do if you really focus on an under-watched patch and learn how to get the best out of it. Although a Great White Egret was the best scoring bird for me with 6 points, the best bird personally for me was clearly the superb pair of Black Redstart that dropped in to the caravan park for a few days."

That pretty much sums up the essence of PWC!

The battle for RSPB Conwy finished up with Henry Cook boasting the higher species and points tally but Julian Hughes with the higher comp score. Julian claims second place in the Wales Comparative Minileague for the year after adding some #patchgold Treecreeper (only his second for the reserve) in December.

Henry stays in third and Trevor Fletcher remains in fourth at Rudry Common while Peter Howlett moves up to fifth by the end of the year after adding Gadwall at Cardiff Bay. No less than 13 of the 20 contestants in the Wales Comparative Minileague finished the year by reaching or surpassing their 100% target.

A fine male Black Redstart at Cardiff Bay (c) Peter Howlett

A duo of Slavonian Grebe and Black-throated Diver made for a fine finish to the year for Richard Dobbins at Teifi, where he remained in first place on the Points Minileague table with 211 points. Richard has set the bar high for his first year of comparative patching in 2017 but no doubt the challenge will be met head on!

The rest of the top five were busy in the final month of the year and ended up well into the 190 points bracket. Paul Roberts holds on to second place with 199 points while David Carrington moved up from fifth to third with Bittern, Black Redstart and Jack Snipe at Sker and Kenfig during the final month.

Waxwings showed up at Llysfaen for Chris Jones and Rhyl for Alex Jones while a Yellow-browed Warbler made for a fine end to the year at Brynna Woods for Tony Swann.

And finally, the BirdTrack stats from this most active and hardworking of minileagues comes to a staggering 80,839 records from 3,754 complete lists! While both Alastair Flannagan and Ceri Jones contributed a huge amount of the lists and records to this tally, there was plenty of solid effort from other patches too so a round of applause must go out to all who got involved! 

Midlands Minileague - December 2016

The first Yellowhammer in seven years for Tom Shields at Holme Pierrepoint helps seal his victory in the Midlands Comparative Minileague with 120.49%.

Nick Crouch didn't manage to add any new species during December and as such must settle for a very close second place. Matthew Dick added Common Gull, Merlin and Shoveler at Darley Dale, boosting his fifth place comp score by an additional 4%. However he would surely have traded these and more for the Dusky Thrush that was just a mile from his patch!

A total of 18 patchers made it into the 100% club with John Hopper the last to join after adding four points with Great Northern Diver and White-fronted Goose at Hoveringham.

Steve Nuttall is crowned King of the Midlands (well, in the Points Minileague anyway!) after Erik Ansell and Rod Baker failed to topple him. Steve added Grey Phalarope to take him three points clear of the Rutland set who are tied in joint second place after Erik closed the gap with Green-winged Teal and White-fronted Goose. Finishing in fourth, Ben Ward needed a miracle to close the 19 point gap between his humble Whisby patch and the giants of Rutland and Belvide. As previously mentioned Nick Crouch had no new additions but comfortably secured fifth place. 

Only a single 3 point species was added during the month, a Green-winged Teal at Rutland. Intriguingly a Surf Scoter there in late December failed to make it on to either patchers lists.

With close to 60 patch birders taking part in the Midlands Points Minileague in 2016, the Comparative Minileague should be even busier in 2017!

Grey Phalarope at Belvide (c) Steve Nuttall