full fat patch tick

A lovely morning at Galley, and with no distractions, I headed out, with a big slog round planned. Hadn't got further than the beach when I noticed 5 blobs sitting on the beach - a quick check with bins, convinced they'd be oiks, so was amayzed to see 5 shoveler sitting there! Patch Tick! Incredible! (64)

Patch Gold!!!

Luckily KC showed up in time to verify them before they flew off. After that mammoth success, there didn't seem much point in continuing further, especially with the news that it was very quiet, so I bailed, and headed home to gloat on the net! A check of the lake later revealed that they'd relocated there, and looked quite settled. A long awaited patch tick, and a total surprise - patch listing don't get much better than that!

Anas Fantabulosa

Not been a whole lot happening on the patch, though I have added fulmar and greenshank in recent days (63).  Much more exciting is the news that the Patch List Challenge has got its own multi-author blog (They're all the rage these days, dontcha know?) Yes indeedy, now you can see at a glance what all the other runners and riders have been scoring on their patches, whilst getting up-to-the-minute updates on the latest scores on doors. Its all right here, right now!

The results of the best find poll unsurprisingly came out in favour of lanceolated warbler being the best patch find, with a whopping 13 votes to 5 - which means that 18 people actually bothered to vote, (and three of them were me!) Congrats to Reg at Collieston anyway, keep up the good work.

vote time!

I wasn't going to do one of these this year, but there's been a lot of high brow debate going on over whether lanceolated warbler or caspian tern would be the best patch find. Its kind of irrelevant anyway (funny that it should appear on here then!), as Reg found both on his Collieston patch, but, for the record, which would you most like to find on your patch? You'll find the vote buttons over to the right, over there...

thats more of it, ted

A couple more patch year ticks today, in the form of a fieldfare in with a langer-load of redwings, plus a cruising peregrine (61).  A goldeneye and 4 tufted ducks remain on the lake too.

brent bingo!

An afternoon surprise in the form of a pale-bellied brent goose on the lake, which was most welcome for the year - only my 3rd record on patch I think. Other year list gank was gannet off Long Strand, plus a few lesser black backed gulls on the lake (59).

shnipes

Wasn't out today either, despite the nominal bank holiday, though did check the lake (4 tufted duck).  It was looking likely that today was going to be year tick free, until I was rewarded for helping out a neighbour with a dusk flight of calling snipe over (56). Result!

a few more

Wasn't out birding today, but did glean a few more additions from the garden, most notably an adult winter med gull, a coot and a female wigeon on the lake (55).

aff at the toot

First bird of 2011 was curlew, as I pulled back the curtains, sans hangover too! By the end of the day I'd reached a respectable 46, with nothing particularly unusual. A female goldeneye and 3 tufted ducks on the lake were probably the best of it, in patch terms. A long way to go yet!