Inland South Minileague - February 2016

We start the February minileagues in the Inland South and the three leading protangonists in the comparative minileague remain the same albeit in a different order. Richard Scantlebury at Fishponds in Bristol is top thanks to a Mediterranean Gull and Snipe taking him on to 85.7%. 4% further back is January's leader, Ian Bennell on 81.9% thanks to finding a patchtick Firecrest 2 hours after seeing his second Stonechat on patch. Tom Stevenson at Ewelme Watercress Beds is in third position on 76.4%. 

Lee Evans is top of the points tree and despite being 7 species worse off than his co-patcher Ian who is in second he manages to eek out a 1 point lead. Lee also connected with the Stonechat this month. Nick Croft slips to third position after failing to make any February additions after a rollicking January. There were no new bonus points this month although Roger Hicks managed to bump into his Great Grey Shrike four times this month (as well as the Flying Scotsman heading north). Rather less welcome was his first patch record of Ring-necked Parakeet. Sadly its probably one to watch out for across the region now.

Ian Bennell's Stonechat at Tring Reservoirs.

At Stocker's Lake there was a Yellow-legged Gull and 14 Red-crested Pochard for Lee Evans. Neil Burt managed to catch up with wintering Bittern three times across February at Conningbrook Lakes. Adam Bassett got a patch tick with a brace of Brambling at Little Marlow GP and his January Glaucous Gull also returned. There were Bitterns for Graham White and Nigel Milbourne at Rye Meads and Blagdon Lake respectively. Med Gulls were on both of Marek Welfords patches. Tim Farr managed his second patch record of Jack Snipe at Sutton Bingham Reservoir. Gareth Blockley proves its all about context when he registered his first Great Black-backed Gull for 4 years at Grimsbury Reservoir.

Sean Foote - North Portland #PWC2016 part 5

Sean's rather abbreviated patch diary update for February. Dont worry Sean, it will be spring soon!

Lytchett Bay Annual Report 2015

 Lytchett Bay has been one of the cornerstone patches of PWC and now has four contestants taking part for 2016. Included is an abridged version of the 2015 annual report. The full version is available to download from the Facebook Group.

The Bay was visited on all but 6 days (!) as set out below. Records came from an increasing number of birders but Ian Ballam again takes the honors as an almost “ever present”.

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
29 26 31   30    31      30     31    31      30    31 30   29

2015 proved to be a year of quality and quantity. Lytchett Fields continued to develop as an attractive habitat and there were many excellent birding days in both spring and autumn. Given this change it was perhaps surprising that many of this year’s rarities were found in other parts of the Bay.

Three records are still outstanding with the Dorset Records Panel. They are included here and in this summary marked *. On the assumption that all 3 are accepted then the annual species list reached 160 for the first ever time. Once decisions are forthcoming then updates will be published in future reports.

3 new species were added to the Bay list. Wryneck was long overdue and showed well to those who arrived quickly. A Melodious Warbler* was always a potential addition and a wet, warm August day produced the right fall of warblers. Sanderling, my personal favourite. Completely out of place on the mud at the “back” of Poole Harbour. The Lytchett Bay list is now 222*.

In terms of pure thrill our 2nd Bluethroat probably brought the most joy. Though for the finder, two vis-mig Penduline Tits*, also our 2nd, will never be forgotten. Similar memories will be banked by the finder of another “fly-by”, our 2nd Lapland Bunting which called with jaw dropping clarity overhead.

Other notables included 3rd Great White Egret*, 4th and 5th Egyptian Geese, 5th Little Tern and Black Redstart, 6th Kittiwake.

Redshank bred again and Shelduck bred for the first time in a number of years.

The following species occurred in either greater numbers or greater frequency than ever before. And it was perhaps the spectacle of waders and waterfowl on Lytchett Fields which brought the most pleasure to visiting birders.

Teal, Shoveler, Spoonbill, Marsh Harrier, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Knot, Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Mediterranean Gull, Wood Pigeon, Kingfisher, Tree Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Whinchat, Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.

I have birded the Bay for 24 years and I think this year was my most enjoyable.

Lytchett Bay – people and wildlife

2015 built on the progress which began in 2014 (see last year’s report). Two major access improvements were made and these were supported by improved interpretation and an electronic guide to birding the Bay. A number of events were hosted and there is no doubt that more people were able to enjoy Lytchett Bay and its wildlife than ever before.

The primary improvement in terms of access occurred thanks to a partnership between The Birds of Poole Harbour and the RSPB at Lytchett Fields. With development of some high quality and very bird friendly habitat in the preceding couple of years we had a real desire to open up every day access for people to enjoy the birds. This was realised before the spring migration with the creation of the Sherford and French’s viewpoints. A new view was also installed at The Pool. These changes proved hugely popular with visitors. Thanks to the RSPB’s field management the birds loved the habitat and the views were splendid.

At Lytchett Bay View, Lytchett and Upton Town Council’s excellent leadership in developing the site continued. Thanks to a partnership with The Borough of Poole, Birds of Poole Harbour and support from Viridor landfill tax credit schemes and Wessex Water, a new board walk was installed which created a circular walk linking Turlin Moor and Chad’s Copse. Management works on the whole site were carried out to increase diversity and tree structure. As these changes bedded in the feedback and increased use of the site was very positive. New interpretation was installed in partnership with The Great Heath and a bloom of Pyramidal Orchid’s attracted much interest.

Lytchett Bay View is used by many local people for dog walking and recreation. This board helps draw attention to special nature interest in the site. (S.Robson)

The Great Heath sites continued to improve with better signage and further improvements to footpaths. In partnership with Stour Ringing Group, another successful bird ringing demonstration was “sold out” in late August. 2 guided walks were hosted to share the birds of Lytchett Bay and covered Dorset Wildlife Trust’s nature reserve and Lytchett Bay View.

After last year’s improvements to the Turlin Moor bird screen, The Borough of Poole worked with local charity the Richmond Fellowship to repair the screen and give it a face lift.

Before

After
Attention to small details can make a big difference. Reed management ensured that views of the Bay were retained. (Z.McMinn)

With all of these changes going on we took the opportunity to promote the site. A birders guide was created and this hosted by the Birds of Poole Harbour website and is available here.

http://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/sites/default/files//A%20Guide%20to%20Birding%20Lytchett%20Bay-12.pdf

Thanks to this progress our motivation to do more grows. A future vision for Lytchett Fields is in preparation and engagement has begun. Lytchett and Upton Town Council are preparing a management plan for Lytchett Bay View. Community events connected to the Great Heath project are planned for 2016.

Livability, the occupants at Holton Lee are working in partnership with the RSPB to manage land on the south side of the Sherford and this supports the overall vision of seeing the Bay as a whole ecosystem with the future goal of fitting this within the wider context of Poole Harbour.

Finally, the planning application for house building at Policeman’s Lane was granted. This application contains an exciting opportunity to open up a SANG to the west of Slough Lane. This will not only provide opportunity for dog walking and thereby relieve pressure on more sensitive sites it also has the added benefit of creating addition habitat for nature.

On a personal note I’d like to thank everyone from the organisations mentioned for their passion, commitment and support.

Before 2013 there had only ever been 5 records of Spoonbill. This year the species was recorded on 69 dates! (I.Ballam)

Bird Ringing 2015

1904 birds were ringed at Lytchett Bay. Efforts were spread around 3 ringing sites. The banks of the Sherford at Lytchett Fields (512 birds / 8 dates), Sandy Close Pond (131 birds / 16 dates) and at Lytchett Heath and reed bed (1261 birds / 23 dates).

Early summer was blessed with very good conditions and more than 100 birds were ringed on 5 mornings. This included more than 200 on 3 mornings.

Our main target remained the “red listed” Aquatic Warbler but conditions remained almost entirely unfavourable during August. When winds did move to the south east during September we could not take the opportunity.

This quantity of birds produced an excellent selection of re-traps and controls. These are all detailed in the species accounts in the systematic list. Studying the patterns of passerine migrants makes for interesting reading. Several birds make counterintuitive northerly movements during autumn, birds ringed on the same morning in the same weather conditions then head off in entirely opposite directions despite having apparently similar final wintering destinations. More typically we continue to establish that many of our Sedge Warblers move south in staged flights stopping to refuel on the Atlantic coast of France.

Colour-ring reading produced plenty of highlights and interesting information about our visiting waders. Black-tailed Godwits, Avocet and Spoonbill again starred. We also have information on our first colour-ringed Common Sandpiper and Black-headed Gull.

21,802 birds of 82 species have been ringed since 1983. Bluethroat being added to the list this year.

The full details of controls, recoveries and interesting re-traps are in the systematic list. Appendix 2 details the individual species totals at the end of the systematic list.

Acknowledgements
 
Stour Ringing Group would like to thank Wessex Water, The RSPB and the landowner, the Lees Estate, for their kind permission to ring at Lytchett Bay.

The Dorset Wildlife Trust and ARC for their permission to ring on land around Lytchett Heath, we are very grateful for this, the site continued to prove its value to migrant and breeding birds.

Thanks are due to the RSPB, DWT, ARC, Lytchett & Upton Town Council, The Birds of Poole Harbour Charity and The Borough of Poole for their support in relation to various matters associated with their site and we look forward to continuing to work with them in 2016.

I’d like to add additional thanks to Ian Ballam and Paul Morton for their enthusiasm for birding at Lytchett. To friends at Stour Ringing Group for companionship and hard work. Nick & Jacqui Hull who put considerable effort in to collating a checklist of other wildlife, carrying out breeding warbler surveys and operating our first “listening station”. To all of the observers who supplied records and comments via Twitter and other information sources. We look forward to seeing you all again this year.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. The first photo of this species at the Bay.(N.Hull)

“Bluethroat Bob” strikes again. 23 years after he caught the last Poole Harbour bird at Keysworth, he went and did it again (S.W.Smith)

This photo of a confiding Firecrest at Lytchett Fields is one of the best I have seen (I.Ballam)

PWC 2015 Review - Hemsby, Ryan Irvine

January

January is normally a time to see all the common resident birds on the patch and hope that a couple decent seawatches can summon up a star bird such as the Red-necked Grebe and Black-throated Diver in 2014. This January the seawatching was relatively tame, a Shag on the 15^th probably the highlight with less than 5 records a year on average.

I didn’t have to wait long for my first patch tick of the year as I picked out 2 tundra Bean Geese amongst a flock of feeding Pink-footed Geese. Numbers fluctuated daily to a maximum of 15 birds on the 16^th and a couple European White-fronted Geese made an appearance on the 8^th. An added bonus to spending every morning searching through the goose flock was another patch tick on the 7^th, two Cranes flying past in the distance, a long overdue patch tick! It didn’t end there, on the 16^th a 1^st winter Yellow-legged Gull was roosting next to the flooded area of the field. Only my second ever on patch! The month ended with a ringtail Hen Harrier hunting over the Kings Loke area, again only my second patch record. That helped my get to 63 species, 80 points for the month equaling my best points tally for January.

February

February is normally a difficult month to add many new species so adding 16 species was pleasing. Seawatching in January may have been disappointing but in early February I added Puffin (4^th patch record), Little Gull and Great Northern Diver along with a few more common seabird species I missed in January. Highlight of the month was also my 3^rd patch tick of the year, a flock of 6 Bewick’s Swans flying overhead. 79 species, 103 points.

Unfortunately this little cracker was a few miles from the patch……

March

I always look forward to March as spring migrants slowly start to drip in. The first Chiffchaff of the year on the 9^th was the first spring migrant, the first of many I was hoping but it didn’t materialise this March as the only other migrant was a Black Redstart on the 20^th. A good passage of waders on the 21^st added Grey Plover, Knot, Ruff, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew and Woodcock, an unusual time of year for so many species to pass by. The month ended with my earliest ever Manx Shearwater, in fact the first one I’ve seen at Hemsby before June!  97 species, 123 points.

April

April started with a bang as a male Serin visited my garden on the 3^rd, patch tick no.4 of the year. I only had to wait 2 more days for my next patch tick as a Cetti’s Warbler started singing in a garden in the village. A truly unexpected patch tick due to lack of suitable breeding habitat. Common migrants slowly dripped through the patch throughout the month, one of the most enjoyable months of the year as the patch is filled with singing birds but frustratingly no other scarcities amongst them. 121 species, 159 points.

May

May has generally disappointed me since I’ve birded Hemsby, very few additions as all the common migrants pass through in April and a lack of any good scarcities. Fortunately this May bucked the trend to a certain extent. First up was another 6 pointer in the shape of a Rough-legged Buzzard (patch tick no.6) on the 4^th, floating over my head as I tried to photograph a Garden Warbler. A nice stroke of luck. The two Bar-headed Geese flying in off the sea on the 8^th unfortunately provided me with zero points! Sedge Warbler on the 10^th was the next good patch bird, a just about annual bird so always good to catch up with. My 2^nd ever patch Turtle Dove flew north on the 16^th and my first ever spring Hobby also flew through on the same day. 134 species, 178 points.

June

I like June on the patch but I’m not sure why, new species are at a premium and seawatching is incredibly dull. My only patch Red-backed Shrike was in June 2013 and I always feel given the right conditions that something can turn up. The 5^th June was such a day, light SE winds and sunny. As I sat in the office I felt it was a good day for a drift migrant. After work I visited the south end of the patch where there are paddocks and hedgerows hoping for a Hoopoe or shrike. Unfortunately the paddocks were devoid of life and the hedgerows were similarly quiet. I noticed a large flock of hirrundines mobbing something in the distance, soon realised it was a falcon. The sun caught the pale head, it looked very interesting! It landed on telegraph wires and I soon realised I was looking at a female Red-footed Falcon! A find tick, patch tick and beautiful bird! It was soon chased off by a Magpie, flew over the paddocks NW never to be seen again! The rest of the month was generally quiet, the first Crossbills of the year on the 14^th and then a Barn Owl (patch tick no.8) on a walk home from the pub on the 18^th. 139 species, 188 points.

July and August

July is normally a terrible month but August is normally a good seawatching month and migrants start returning but this year I would see neither as work and holidays kept me away from patch for all but four days, Black Tern and Green Sandpiper were two good patch birds on those days. 144 species, 194 points.

September

September is much like May at Hemsby, I expect a lot more than I ever find. An Ortolan Bunting aside in the year prior to PWC starting I haven’t found many good scarcities in September. Work and holidays again limited my time on patch but a Wryneck on the 9^th and my earliest Hemsby Yellow-browed Warbler (12^th) gave me some much need bonus points. Autumn was well in truly in full swing by the end of the month when Brambling and Great Spotted Woodpecker made it onto my list. 151 species, 213 points.

October

The make or break month. If I was to reach my comparative score of 251 points I needed a good October. As it happens I had possibly the best month I will ever have patch birding! It will take an incredible month to beat it anyway, 17 new species and a massive 61 points! It all started with a 2 pointer and my 9^th patch tick of the year. The local gulls were making an uncharacteristic amount of noise and as I looked up I noticed them mobbing an Osprey as it drifted south. A Rock Pipit on the 4^th was a good patch bird, only the 4^th record and all in October. Short-eared Owls started drifting in on the 6^th and by the end of the month I’d seen 15 on patch (+ 1 LEO). My 2^nd ever patch Treecreeper appeared in the Kings Loke on the 9^th (a third one recorded on the 18^th). A good seawatch on the 11^th saw my first patch Balearic Shearwater pass south, tracked down the coast by several seawatchers. A Jack Snipe flew up from my feet in the Kings Loke on the 13^th, only my 2^nd one on patch. All these birds were great patch birds but they don’t make an autumn a great one. The next five days changed that!

I left work early on the 14^th as the weather conditions were ideal for a fall of migrants. The Kings Loke was full of thrushes and as I checked a few hedgerows a Great Grey Shrike popped up on top of the hedge. Yet another patch tick and over the rest of October I saw 3 or 4 other GGS on patch. There had obviously been quite a fall that evening as I walked back to my house the road was littered with exhausted thrushes and Bramblings. A pre-work bash round the Kings Loke on the 16^th provided me with the next bonus point bird, my third patch Pallas’s Warbler in three years. An absolutely stunning bird, even in the rain.

The weekend of the 17^th and 18^th will go down as some of the best birding I have ever done. The 17^th was actually a pretty quiet day, a Redstart the only migrant of note. While checking the Kings Loke several times during the day I flushed a pipit several times, its call was interesting but inconclusive and it always flew away out of view. Frustrating but just one of those things, best let it go. At about 16:45 I was checking the dense scrub in the Kings Loke on last time when I slight movement caught my eye at the top of a bush at eye level. I quickly got my bins onto a greyish brown bird with bright orange flanks and a large beady eye. I only caught a few seconds of it before it dropped out of sight. I hadn’t seen the tail but it had to be a Red-flanked Bluetail. I managed to see it in the middle of the bush about 10 minutes late, pumping its tail but the light conditions were so dull that I still couldn’t pick out any blue in the tail. The next day I was out at first light with a friend and after 1.5 hours searching we found it again in the same bush, showed well for about 45 seconds and we saw the blue in the tail this time, although it wasn’t obvious. A dream find! During the 3 -4 hours after the sighting I nipped off for some food and as I walked back I flushed the pipit from the day before. This time it perched briefly and looked very well marked but it soon buggered off away over the trees again. After a good 2 -3 hour search and finally getting some good photos we were happy we had stumbled across an Olive-backed Pipit, less than 50m from the Red-flanked Bluetail!!! What a day! What a month! My comparative score well and truly smashed thanks to two birds! 168 species, 274 points.

November

Despite having a great autumn so far the seawatching had been pretty terrible all autumn so I was hoping for a few good seawatches in November. The first three weeks didn’t produce good seawatching conditions and additions were few and far between, a Merlin on the 7^th and a small group of Whooper Swans on the 8^th, both less than annual on patch. The Humpback Whale reappeared in front of my house for the 3^rd year running on the 9^th and was seen throughout most of the month thereafter.

Many people think of great seawatches containing thousands of shearwaters or hundreds of skuas and petrels but for my patch they can be as simple as a good passage of waders or wildfowl. The 21^st and 22^nd provided just that, northerly gales produced unprecedented numbers of wildfowl and to a lesser extent waders along with a few good scarcities. I seawatched for 9 hours straight on the 21^st, 5 year ticks and record counts galore later I was a very cold but happy patcher. All the year ticks were patch gold, 2^nd patch records of Pochard, Goosander, Leach’s Petrel and a 3^rd patch Avocet on the 21^st and on the 22^nd an Iceland Gull was a patch tick (14^th of the year!), 3^rd patch record of Purple Sandpiper and a record count of 14 Little Auk. On top of this there were patch record counts of Wigeon (1025), Teal (728), Pintail (162), Goldeneye (105), Shelduck (179), Red-breasted Merganser (26), Shoveler (38), Eider (113) and Dunlin (378). Epic patch birding! 176 species, 292 points.

December

Prior to PWC 2015 I had only ever added one species in December, a waxwing in 2014 so I wasn’t holding out for much and so it proved with only one addition but again another bit of patch gold, my 2^nd Red-necked Grebe for Hemsby on the 11^th.

This finished off a quite amazing year on patch, 2016 has a lot to do to keep up……

177 species

294 points

14 patch ticks -  Bean Goose, Crane, Bewick’s Swan, Serin, Rough-legged Buzzard, Cetti’s Warbler, Red-footed Falcon, Barn Owl, Osprey, Balearic Shearwater, Great Grey Shrike Red-flanked Bluetail, Olive-backed Pipit, Iceland Gull

1 x 15 pointer – Red-flanked Bluetail

1 x 12 pointer – Olive-backed Pipit

9 x 6 pointers – Crane, Serin, Rough-legged Buzzard, Red-footed Falcon, Wryneck, Yellow-browed Warbler, Great Grey Shrike, Pallas’s Warbler, Leach’s Petrel

0 Twitches

Patch Gold – Whooper Swan (4^th & 5^th patch records), White-fronted Goose (3^rd & 4^th), Pochard & Goosander (2^nd & 3^rd), Red-necked Grebe (2^nd), Hen Harrier (2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th), Avocet (3^rd), Purple Sandpiper (3^rd), Common Sandpiper (5^th), Green Sandpiper (4^th), Jack Snipe (2^nd), Puffin (4^th & 5^th), Yellow-legged Gull (2^nd & 3^rd), Turtle Dove (2^nd), Long-eared Owl (4^th & 5^th), Merlin (3^rd), Sedge Warbler (4^th & 5^th), Treecreeper (3^rd &a 4^th) and Rock Pipit (3^rd & 4^th).

Birdtrack records – 7508

Birdtrack complete lists – 237

#PWC2016 - Ben Porter, Argal and College Reservoirs

Introducing my 2016 patch…Argal and College Reservoirs (Cornwall)

I thought I would write a short blog post to introduce this year's birding patch, on which I'll be taking part in this year's national patchwork challenge. Since I have been living on Bardsey Island for the last eight years, my annual birding patch has pretty much remained unchanged during that time, as I spent much of the year within the perimeter of the small coastal wind-swept island that I call home. I guess this has spoilt me somewhat in relation to the patchwork challenge (which I signed up to in its infant year of 2013): In 2014 I was lucky enough to have a run of decent self-finds in the form of two Citrine Wagtails, a Blyth's Reed Warbler in my garden, Western Bonelli's Warbler, Golden Oriole, Marsh Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher and more. This year, however, I will be spending a fair decent chunk here in not-so-sunny Falmouth, where I am studying a degree in conservation and ecology. I have therefore taken the decision to try out a new patch: namely that of two nearby lakes and their surrounding shrubbery and woodland. The lakes are only about three minutes away from where I live, and are 10 minutes from our university campus. I doubt that the year will hold quite as much excitement as is generated by birding a coastal patch on a migratory hotspot. But we'll see! Who knows? I may in be for a surprise...

So onto the patch...the area I have chosen comprises two bodies of water called Argal and College Reservoirs. Argal Reservoir is primarily a fishing lake, and plays host to a hectic circulation of dog walkers throughout the year. The combination of the two (although the toxic algal waters through summer probably play a part!) means that waterfowl aren't in abundance here. However, the willows and patchy areas of woodland and scrub rimming the reservoir provide promising habitat for migrants and warblers alike. I have already had some great days observing 'vis mig' over Argal, with brilliant movements of thrushes, woodpigeons, larks and finches in the autumn last year. Firecrests are a regular occurrence and the odd Goosander and Great Crested Grebe grace the lake surface- it has plenty of potential, and I am sure some oddities will turn up.

College Reservoir is a more attractive ecosystem in itself, with a body of water that is home to a great variety of overwintering wildfowl, such as Wigeons, Teals, Tufted Ducks, Coots, Goosanders and a handful of Shovelers. Surrounding College is a superb deciduous woodland of sessile Oak and Holly, which supports countless feeding flocks of tits and warblers in the winter, and will no doubt prove productive come spring-time. Areas of damper willow and alder thickets provide shelter for skulking rails, and a few pockets of Bulrush look perfect for Bittern, even if none have appeared thus far. The mature woodland is home to countless feeding flocks of tits and warblers at the moment, the largest of which I've encountered had over 25 Long-tailed Tits, 15 Great Tits, 15 Blue Tits, Firecrest, 5 Goldcrests, 4 Coal Tits, Marsh Tit and a collection of thrushes too! College Reservoir also has the advantage of being slightly less visited by dog walkers, and thus benefits from lower disturbance levels; it also contains a couple of ringing locations which I hope to utilise in the coming months.

So far this year, I have managed to record 61 species between the two lakes, amounting to a total of 64 points. I haven't discovered anything vastly unusual so far, but it has been nice to see the odd Firecrest around College, along with an occasional Marsh Tit amongst the tit feeding flocks; a handful of Goosanders have taken up residence among the local wildfowl on College, and as many as 23 Cormorants have been gathering in a single Oak tree at the northern end at times.

 So there we are- a brief overview of my year's patch! I look forward to seeing what I can find, and monitoring the changes in bird populations that occur through the season. I'll be entering all my counts and species lists onto the online Birdtrack recording scheme, which I would highly recommend any other patchers doing too! Regular and standardised counts - even of common species - over a prolonged period can be a valuable data set, no matter how small the recording area.

It isn't just about the birds on my patch...here are a few of the other cool things I have seen there so far...

Hairy Shieldbug

Noctule

November Moth

Pink-barred Sallow

Pipistrelle

Toad

Zebra Jumping Spider

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