Patchwork Challenge

And finally, until the end of March that is, the last of the mini league posts....ending in the South West. The comparative scores... The non-comparative scores... The end. For now....

All the way down to the south coast now, the penultimate minileague post for February....(thank god) The comparative score... The non-comparative score...

Here's what's going on in the big smoke... The comparative league... And the non-comparative league...

Ian Thompson, Askernish After a headline grabbing January due to one bird, February was most definitely back to earth with a bump! The beginning of February saw me on the mainland where I remained until the 24 th  of the month while my wife, co-patcher and friendly rival remained at home which enabled her to continue “patching”.  Stress and anxiety levels would rise and fall during our daily telephone conversations as I awaited with baited breathe what she had seen in my absence. I was fine with the Short-eared Owl, Dunlin, Moorhen and Meadow Pipit, but the text that informed me that she had found a Bonaparte’s Gull was not! I consider myself unfortunate not to have seen the bird but mightily relieved to hear that it was NOT on our patch. Subsequent patch finds in my absence were Fieldfare, Hooded Crow and Rock Pipit. The pipit is a bit of a bummer as they occur infrequently on our patch and I will be lucky to find another this year and the Hoody is not a given....

From the inside of East Anglia to the outside of East Anglia..... The comparative league... And the non-comparative one

And now to the midlands, where the scores are as follows... Comparative... And non-comparative...

On now to the most popular mini league, inland East Anglia... The comparative table... And the non-comparative one... The sharp eyed among you might notice that the rankings are a little confused. Apologies for that - I've got badminton soon and I dont have time to re-do it....

Before heading south, here's the scores from the inland north patchers...  The comparative league... And the non-comparative...

From the colours of the six nations, we head to the, for some reason, pea green of England. It's much too late to change it now... Congratulations surely go to James Spencer who has struggled manfully to the top of the very competitive non-comparative league... And the comparative league...

And from the emerald isle to the scarlet of Wales - and with apologies for this colour being quite difficult to look at...! The comparative table.... And the non-comparative table

From the blue of Scotland to the green of Ireland.... or should that be emerald? The jewel in the comparative table is..... And the non-comparative...

Here's a summary of February's contenders for the Meopta and Forest optic best find competition ... I think we were a little spoiled perhaps back in January. As well as the attention grabbing Gyrfalcon and White billed diver, we had refind kumliens gull, a plethora of green-winged teal and ring billed gulls, as well as non-find white billed diver, and Bonaparte's gull. In comparison, February was, well, quiet. Thats not to say that there were not any interesting records. Wildfowl and gulls featured high among many patchers highlights, with Iceland and Caspian gulls being prominent, and Bewicks swans and rare geese such as Tundra beanies providing excitement. Waxwings also got plenty of mentions on the February scorecard, and, even in a good year when it's sometimes difficult not to see them, waxwings will brighten up any day on patch. More interesting perhaps were some slightly unseasonal records. A Richards pipit appeared at Hesketh out Marsh - not unheard of i...

 It seems natural to go here from coastal Scotland in the last post... The comparative league table...no coincidence that Ryan's dad is top of this list ;-) And the non-comparative

First, for no other reason than that's where I live... The comparative league table - Well done to Chris H. And of course, it's good to see one girdle ness patch thrashing the other... And the non-comparative league table

Wondering who's top of the Patchwork Challenge league? Look no further...  First up, here are the standings in terms of a raw points total;  Congratulations to Jonathan Gibbs, who has scored a pretty massive 143 points in just 2 months. Jonathan was top of the comparative league at the end of January, but despite having so many points has slipped out of the top ten in the comparative scores league... Next up, we have the league table for those without comparative scores. Fourth place in the overall points totals standings is enough to put Rob W at the top of the non-comparative league, so congratulations to Rob And almost last, but certainly not least, we have the comparative totals league. This league is pending clarification as the top place according to our spreadsheet was occupied by someone who had seen 103% of their comparative total! Obviously something has gone wrong somewhere with that so we'll look into it and make changes if necessary. In the meantim...

Since moving to Devon some 20+ years ago I have been fortunate enough to have Dawlish Warren as my local patch visiting the Warren regularly since 1991. Over this time I have managed to accumulate a decent patch list (92% self found), comparing favourably to many inland county lists and a far cry from the woodland and old gravel pit sites I used watch back in North Hampshire. Following a couple of years of listing, first UK and then Devon, I had decided 2013 would be more low key and patch based so the Patchwork Challenge seemed ideal to keep the enthusiasm going. One PC rule I won’t be following however is to include birds seen from the patch - this is only acceptable for house/garden lists. I didn’t go through 15 years of Nuthatch induced torture just to be able to record it on an almost daily basis! Dawlish Warren is a double sandpit some 1.5miles long and roughly 0.5miles wide at the mouth of the Exe Estuary in south Devon. The recording area (and my patch) covers ...