Saturday 7 May 2011

SQUEAKY BUM TIME FOR GREGSY

Since my last patch score update things have gone ballistic. As you would expect for the end of April/beginning of May period birds are flooding in helped by the exceptional flow of Southerly/Easterly air and warm weather from the continent.
Taking the Patch Total List it went sort of like this...

22 April....no.130 BLACK TERN on the mere, don't know who actually found it.
26 April....no.131 SMEW a bloody Smew (patch lifer) in April and I'm stuck up a jock mountain plus the years second WHINCHAT.
29 April....no.132 ARCTIC TERN predicted and gripped, a one day jobby
30 April.... a truly awesome day that will live in patch folklore forever with patchers running everywhere mostly to Neumann's. first up AVOCET (2) then a HOBBY and then a LITTLE GULL. Out on the bike later I found a summer plum GREY PLOVER that for once stayed long enough for most to twitch it (bugger!!) and several SWIFTS.
1 May....another MARSH HARRIER (patch lifer) and I dipped by minutes, Gregs second of the year!
2 May....no.138 WOOD SANDPIPER Gregsy only, most probably the Moss Side bird I'd old patch ticked the previous day...


3 May....no.139 RED BREASTED MERGANSER found by yours truly, a tricky female (called it right just for Fred) on the mere.


6 May....no.140 SANDERLING and not as DudeGuides reported a Little Stint!!!
7 May....no.141 SPOTTED FLYCATCHER back in Big Wood

Most of the above found by Greg, who seems to be on a mission to break Gregsy's Patch World Record (151) and get his hands on the new trophy (my precious). In 2006 on May 7th my year list was on 130 (finished on 150) and last year I was on a paltry 114 but rallied due to superb year long coverage by the locals to finish on 144. Stats wise its looking good for a record, hopefully I'll catch the blighter up (Greg on 134 and stealthing Dave on 131?) and take it into the Christmas/New Year holiday period but as they say ''its a funny old game''.

PATCH YEAR LIST - 129 thats 91.5% of total
Since Whimbrel I've added...
120....Garden Warbler
121....Greenshank
122....Arctic Tern
123....Avocet
124....Swift
125....Ringed Plover
126....Little Gull
127....Grey Plover
128....RBM
129....Sanderling




ttfn

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