Thursday, 6 February 2025

January Highlights PWC2025

The first month of #PWC2025!

January can be a rollercoaster of a month as a patch birder. The buzz of January 1st, when everything is fresh and new soon feels like a distant memory when you are struggling for a new species midway into the month. That said, it can kick up some oddities that are hard to come by for the rest of the year, especially if hard weather comes in. There has been a hint of hard weather movement this month, with a few patches picking up things like White-fronted Geese and Smew, while out of place waterbirds at others. February will hopefully do one of two brings, bring colder weather pushing birds around to find suitable feeding or even off the continent and this looks set to happen with colder easterlies from the continent coming in after the first week of the month or what could happen towards the end of the month is temperatures rising a little giving the first glimmers of spring. This may get the first Oystercatchers on the move inland, or get things like Pink-footed or Brent Geese on the move... and well by the time that is all over, it will be March and spring will be ready to unspring! 

For those seeking out those extra bonus points in the dark winter days, February is the month to be looking through flocks of gulls, trying to pick out something juicy like a white winger, an out of place Mediterranean or even Bonaparte's or Ross's Gull (the day I type this a Ross's Gull has turned up on the Hebrides), or look through flocks of ducks for things like American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal or Lesser Scaup. There is things out there to be found, February in the past has turned up wintering American passerines, with in recent history an American Robin in Eastbourne in 2022, and the famous Northern Mockingbird in Devon in 2021 that ended up touring Britain, so those with housing estates in their patches should have some hope of something gripping. Best of luck!

Mute Swan, a #patchgold for Mark Lawlor on Guernsey being only the second sighting on his patch in over 20yrs of watching!

The Scores!

The leading scores so far are fairly spread across mini-leagues with Inland North England, Coastal South England and Coastal East England taking the top three spots of the 3km league.

Ben Moyes takes an early lead at Swillington Ings with 107 points, 57% of his comparative score. Hot on his heels, we have Kevin Rylands at Dawlish Warren with 105 points but only at 44% of his comparative score of 241. Also with a comparative score of 241 we have James Brown in Lowestoft area with 99 points. 

The highest comparative score so far is at 72% from Alan Dawson in Cholsey, Oxfordshire 10km, with Dan Webb close behind at 70% from Sellack 10km. The 3km patch with the best comparative score is belongs to Freddie Matthews in Winchester with 63%. Some slow starts for some with Paul French's patch in Easington at only 11% and David Parnaby on Fair Isle at 20%. Lots of spring migrants are yet to come, so I'm sure we'll see these scores climb as birds start to get moving!

The Green league is so far championed by Allan Kelly's home patch with 95 points and David Roche hot on their heels in Papa Westray with 93 points.

And finally, James Brown takes the 10km early lead at Hopton with 126 points.

We will be posting each of the mini-league scoreboards in next months update, when hopefully more competitors have entered their scores into the spreadsheet. 

Patch Highlights:

Many of you have shared your highlights so far this year and it's brilliant to see your patches kicking off to a great start.

Inland North (11 patches): Waterfowl are some of the trending highlights of this mini league, with Lee Wiseman having a Ring-necked Duck and Brambling at Gouthwaite Reservoir 3km², whilst Ben Moyes has wracked up 95 species so far at Swillington Ings with a drake Scaup, Slavonian Grebe, Red-crested Pochard and Caspian Gull. Ciaran Rowett, at WWT Martin Mere, found a Snow Goose, as well as having Brambling, Hen Harrier and Goldeneye.

Inland Midlands (10 patches): At Colwick Park, Tom Shields benefited from the cold weather movements, having his first Smew on patch since 2021, as well as a Caspian Gull and Whooper Swans. In Dereham, Dan Leadley is two up compared to January 2024, with Snipe and Water Rail included in his totals. Siberian Chiffchaff, Bittern and a flock of 27 White-fronted Geese from Paul Sofley's patch at Ladywalk NR. A self found Ring-necked Duck brings Dan Webb's 10km patch in Sellack to 89 points.

Coastal East England (16 patches): James Brown had a Black Redstart in both of his patches, as well as a Spotted Redshank in Hopton 10km. Paul Newton, Hawsker Bottoms to Robin Hoods Bay 3km², also had Black Redstart, and in Whitby 10km from home, 2 Water Rails and White-fronted Goose. In Easington, Great White Egret and Lapland Bunting were seen by Paul French on his 10km.

Meanwhile, Duncan Watson informs us that the Ross's Gull in Tynemouth was well worth a £25 emergency taxi from the office, that's certainly one good excuse to get out of work! This gull was also relocated on John Chapman's patch, NE South Tyneside.

The Ross's Gull the River Tyne, John Malloy

Coastal South (10 patches): Kevin Rylands at Dawlish Warren had a Green-winged Teal, Red-necked Grebe and Water Pipit, bringing the species total up to 87. Johnathon Burton, Chyngton Farm to Cuckmere Haven: Barnacle and White-fronted Geese, Caspian Gull and Water Rail

Inland South (20 patches): In Chard 10km, Dave Helliar added Jack Snipe, Brambling and Hawfinch to his patch year list. Jack Snipe was also a higlight for Geoff Wyatt in Day's Lock Oxon. Freddie Matthews in Winchester had Golden Plover and Great White Egret. Conor MacKenzie Sutton Courtenay has already reached 59% of his comparative score and had a Siberian Chiffchaff on their patch.

Estuarine (4 patches): Little Owl and a pair of Common Scoter were the best birds of Peter Hazelwood's patch at Oldbury Power Station. Gordon Hodgson ,at Frampton, Splatt and Saul Warth had a lovely Yellow-browed Warbler.

Islands (10 patches): Steve Dudley had an island tick in Westray with a cracking male Smew being his highlight, as well as Green-winged Teal in his 10km. White-fronted Goose and unseasonal Red-throated Divers were seen by David Parnaby out on Fair Isle. David Roche, Papa Westray had both Little and Mediterranean Gull on his patch.

Three 'Russian White-fronted Geese' (left hand birds) in flight with Greylags (and a sheep in the background) at the Meadow Burn, Fair Isle on 27th January 2025.

Three 'Russian White-fronted Geese' (left hand birds) in flight with Greylags (and a sheep in the background) at the Meadow Burn, Fair Isle on 27th January 2025, David Parnaby.

Inland Scotland (6 patches): Mike Hodgkin  had his best non-Scilly view of Jack Snipe & Little Egret in Penicuik 10km, whilst Lee Hesp had an absolute mega on his patch in Strathyre, a Greenfinch!

Coastal Scotland (12 patches): In North Berwick, Little Auk was seen by Andre Whewell's on their patch.

No highlights given for the following categories so hopefully we'll hear more in February:

Coastal Wales (4 patches), Coastal West England (1 patch), Inland Ireland (1 patch)

And we are still awaiting sign ups from patch birders in Coastal Ireland and Inland Wales so if you know anyone with a patch who would be keen to join, let them know!

We are now at 105 patches, 44 of which are Green and 77 with previous scores to be entered into the comparative league. Don't forget to encourage your friends to take part to increase the challenge! Thank you to everyone who has updated their scores this month and included their patch highlights. We look forward to seeing how you all get on in through February.

Friday, 31 January 2025

2024 Patchwork Challenge Wrap Up

As we come to the end of January, we can take a look at the 2024 scores, with a Youtube video coming soon going into detail about the round up too. A massive thank you to everyone that took part, and we really hope you sign up again for this year's competition. 


Coastal East England 10km: Congratulations to Sam Goddard at Gibraltar Point NNR for winning with 414 points, with Nige Lound coming second at the same site. James Brown came third at Hopton, with Dartford Warbler being the highlight.



Coastal East England: Jacob Spinks came first, with a massive total of 472 points of 234 species; with Spurn Observatory getting the top three spots! Although two of those competitors won't be competing there this year, with those Charlotte and Jacob's highlight of the autumn being finding a Red-flanked Bluetail. Mark Andrews had a brilliant July having Gull-billed Tern and Black-winged Pratincole from the garden, while Trevor Girling at a close fourth at Titchwell RSPB found both Hume's Warbler and Long-billed Dowitcher. 
 


Coastal Ireland and Ireland 10K: Only two competitors from Ireland this year but RSPB WoW, Victoria Park and Kinnegar placing first with 120 species. 




Coastal Scotland 10km: Well done to Rob Hughes placing 1st in Nybster, Caithness with 156 species including American Wigeon; Calum Scott in Aberlady placing 2nd with 141 species including White-rumped Sandpiper, Osprey and Baird's Sandpiper and Julian Smith placing 3rd with 140 species.




Coastal Scotland: In first place we have Andrew Whewell with his patch at North Berwick East, just pipping the top spot with 189 points. Andrew Whitehouse at Girdle Ness and Torry came a very close second, finishing on 188 points getting Surf Scoter and Little Egret in the latter part of the autumn, while in third place we have Rob Hughes, Nybster Caithness. Well done to you all! Some fantastic species highlights in this mini-league, including Surf Scoter, Great Shearwater, White-rumped and Baird's Sandpiper and Ring-necked Duck.



Coastal South England 10km: Congratulations to Amy Robjohns in 1st place with 183 species in Fareham/Gosport+ area, some excellent highlights including Long-tailed Duck and White-winged Tern. Bob Ford placed 2nd with 209 points and Spotted Crake and Honey Buzzard at his patch in Weymouth.



Coastal South England: Ryan Irvine takes 1st place with 250 points in St Buryan. Only 10 points behind with a 119% comparative score we have Kevin Rylands at Dawlish Warren and then Amy Robjohns in 3rd with  at Titchfield Haven & Hill Head. Some great species including Green-winged Teal, Dusky Warbler, Goshawk and Purple Heron.



Coastal Wales and Coastal Wales 10km: Only 3 Welsh patches with Alex Jones taking 1st place for both 3km and 10km in River Clwyd, Rhyl and Broughton. Some patch megas from Peter Howlett in the form of Velvet Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser and Shag.


Coastal West England: Some excellent highlights from Paul Bate in Highbridge & Burnham-on-sea, taking him into 1st place with 155 species including Purple Heron, Ring Ouzel, Snow Bunting, Yellow-browed Warbler and Hawfinch. Lots of space for competition in Coastal West with only 3 competitors.


Estuarine and Estuarine 10km: The winner of this category, Peter Hazelwood came out top at Oldbury Power Station with 157 species, including a self-found Richard's Pipit while Toby Collett at Frampton Marsh came second.



Inland North: Congratulations to Duncan Bye at Wheldrake Ings with 205 points for coming first, topping their previous score at 105.6%. Ben Moyes, at Swillington Ings, came second while another competitor for Wheldrake Ings Adam Firth, came third with highlights of White Stork and Whinchat. Ciaran Rowett had plenty of great highlights including Curlew Sandpiper, Black-necked Grebe, Pectoral Sandpiper, Ruddy Shelduck and Snow Goose.



Inland North 10km: Adam Firth in Evlington comes in top of the table with 205 points, Ben Moyes at Swillington Ings takes 2nd place with and Tom Shields in Nottingham Trent Valley places 3rd. Patch highlights for Inland North including Grasshopper Warbler, Marsh Harrier, Tree Pipit and Mandarin Duck.



Inland Scotland 10km and Inland Scotland:
Mike Hodgkin had a very good year comparatively at Penicuik with 26% up. A handful of Inland Scotland patches, with Alex Ash in Kilmalcom getting plenty of patch gold birds with Redshank, Shoveler and Grey Plover all being patch firsts. Lee Hesp coming second at Strathyre getting December Whooper Swans.



Inland South 10km: Joe Parham came first, having a brilliant year comparatively with a whopping 44% higher. Dave Helliar came second, also above comparative, with highlights including Yellow-browed Warbler. Andy Sims in Boultham Mere/Swanpool area came close third with an excellent comparative score of 15%. Steve Lister in fourth had a patch and county tick Ring-necked Parakeet. 



Inland South: Ryan Irvine at inland St Buryan came first, with a total of 208 points. Comparatively down over 7%. Pete Sofley at Ladywalk Nature Reserve in Warwickshire came second, with plenty of good autumn highlights including a patch gold Tundra Bean Goose being the first site record. Geoff Wyatt at Day's Lock came third, scoring comparatively the same as previous! In the meantime patch ticking Knot. Matthew Dick and Steve Atkinson scored the same points with 159. Matthew at Lakenheath having a thousand Whooper Swans roosting on patch being a record count, while Steve at Middle Tame having plenty of goodies with Red-necked Phalarope, Little Stint, Pectoral Sandpiper and Black-necked Grebe.


While lower in the lower in the league there was still some great records to be had. Neil Burt having plenty of highlights for the autumn on his Kent patch while Tom Bedford had four Whooper Swans in Lye Valley, this being a second patch record for a site with no water! While Rob Pople getting a patch tick in the form of a Raven. 



Inland Wales 10km:



Islands 10km: A very interesting mini-league with a very tight, pretty much photo finish! Between Bruce Taylor on Barra and John Bowler on Tiree, both having some great highlights. Bruce, pipping the top spot with 297 points, having three Ring-necked Ducks, two American Golden Plover, two White-rumped Sandpiper, thousands of Great Shearwaters, and Barra's first Cattle Egret! While John on 296 points had Cory's Shearwater, two American Golden Plovers and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Steve Dudley from Westray came third, following the trend with more Great Shearwaters, with them being the second island record onward. A Smew there was the first island record since 2013.


Islands: David Parnaby on Fair Isle came out top on this mini-league with 346 points, which included some obvious Fair Isle quality in the form of finding Marmora's Warbler, and also seeing Tennessee Warbler. John Blower on Tiree, who came second, had a patch gold bird in the form of Carrion Crow. Other highlights included Barred Warbler, Great Shearwaters, Leach's Petrel and Grey Phalarope. Bruce came third in this league, with the first Cattle Egret for Barra getting on his 3km patch as well as thousands of Great Shearwater. 



Netherlands 10km and Netherlands:



Overall Scores:

Overall Top 10, 10km:



Green Top 10: 



Overall Top 10:



Comparative Top 10:



Again, thank you for taking part and congratulations to all the mini-league winners.

If you haven't already signed up for 2025, follow this link:

We really hope you to decide to take part in #PWC2025 and enjoy reaping the benefits of birding your patch. Good luck!

Sunday, 5 January 2025

Patchwork Challenge 2025!

This year's Patchwork Challenge is up and running! We will be running monthly updates on here, and an overview of last years competition will be coming soon too. If you haven't signed up already, then you can do so by following this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rQvYe7lP2G-zrVqyb43jN0tTmGQ28Ouf4OZMX0XGAF0/edit?usp=sharing - if you have any issues with getting set up or have any questions or even anything we can improve on, then don't hesitate to get in touch via email. 

There are so many benefits to patch birding. There is a great feeling of reward at watching your local patch, this by either noticing the first summer migrants of the year, getting good counts or by finding something locally good. There is no better feeling than finding something good on your patch, after hours of hard work and when that is finally paid off there is an immense feeling of excitement and joy.  Also, why not make your birding on patch this year count towards local bird records, by using either Birdtrack or eBird, or submitting them directly to your local county recorder. Every record counts to them!

Best of luck, we hope that 2025 is a busy birding year for everyone! Watch this space for more updates soon! 

Patchwork Challenge team


Green-winged Teal (taken by Thomas Willoughby)

Monday, 12 September 2022

Patchwork Challenge 2023

 Hello? We've been away for a bit but now we are back. Might be back. Do you want us back? #PWC2023



Monday, 30 July 2018

The complete dummies guide to the new website

We unveiled the new website just under a month ago and since then there has been a few additions to the website so here is a complete guide to what to do so far:

You can find the website here: http://patchworkchallenge.com/index.php

Homepage

 Above is the homepage where you can find the mini leagues, latest sightings etc.

Registering
To register go to 'Account' on the tool bar and click on Register on the drop down menu. This will take you to the page below.

Registration page
Enter your details and tick the I'm not a robot box (even if you are a robot :-)). You will then be taken back to the homepage. Go back to 'Account' on the toolbar and click on Login on the drop down. It will take you to this page below

Login
Enter your user name and password and you will arrive at your very own homepage where you can add your patch then your sightings.

Users homepage

Click on User settings to register your patch


You will come to this page below:


 Then Click on Add New Patch to get to this page below:

Entering your patch

 Add your patch name, select your mini league from the drop down, enter your scores from previous years (leave it blank for any year you didn't enter PWC). Then zoom in to your patch on the map and draw your boundaries, it will calculate your patch size as well. Click submit once finished.

Add common birds from the list by ticking box
You are now ready to add sightings, for all 1 and 2 point birds you can bulk select from the list by ticking the box. You can enter a species more than once, its score will only be added once so duplication isn't a problem. Please select the date by click on it until there is a green circle round the number.

For bonus point species click on Log rarer species. You will arrive at this page below:

Add rare species

Choose species form drop down, click on date as before, tick Found if you found it and that will log the sighting. You can also add a photo by clicking on chose file, it will be added to your gallery and in the future the PWC gallery on the main homepage. Finally, you can map the exact location of the bird by clicking on the map, the blue crane marking the spot.

Once you have entered your sightings you can go back to the main Homepage and find your position on the Main National league and your mini league.

Adding photos:

You can add photos of common species by going to your sightings history page.



Click on a species name of the relevant sighting and a pop up will appear (see below)


You can then add a photo and map the sighting on your patch map. All photos will then appear on the gallery on your page and on the homepage.

Photo gallery on homepage


There will be additions happening over the coming weeks so will keep you posted.

Good luck, and if you have any problems let us know

Tuesday, 31 January 2017

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.