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

Glossy November

We have just received this snippet of video from Paul Bowerman of a Glossy Ibis at Severn Beach he found last month. It may be the easiest 12 points out there but still a great patch find.

Points. And Bonus Points.

If you find one of these be happy. Its worth 15 points. If you see it but didn't find it then its worth 5 points.

Blyth's Pipit

If however it is one of these still be happy. It is worth 12 points. And looks better than a crappy pipit. If you see it but didnt find it then it is worth 4 points. 

Red-flanked Bluetail

If you find this then still be happy. It is very pretty. And worth 6 points. If you didn't find it then kick yourself and accept your three points.

Bluethroat

If you find one of these then you only get two points. That is all. No bonus. If you twitch one of these must try harder.

Firecrest

And if you see/find/ignore one of these then you get one point. If you ignore it then you are a fool as it is yellow. And awesome.

Yellow Wagtail

HOWEVER!!!

We did some silly things at the beginning so if you see one of these you get two points BUT if you find it you get four points.

Siberian Chiffchaff

Blue-headed Wagtail