Bangin' them in

 Yes indeedy, just a quick post to highlight recent progress - banged in merlin, peregrine and collared dove over le weekend, and jammed into early migrants or possibly over-wintering whimbrel and chiffchaff today whilst exercising the Hound of Destiny so all good.

No pics from the patch but here's a cheeky shot of the Waterford Spotted Sandpiper that I twitched last week - just happened to be in the area.

A spotted sandpaper yesterday

In other news, I see Shakey is also still bangin' them in on his patch - if this keeps up we'll have to send the boys round to give him the good news....

Year tick tick tuarrr, tick tick tuarr...

 Gank for all of you, but int he past 4 days we have added red legged partridge (hence the awful title for this post), lapwing and a mild and creamy Kormarant to the list (the latter today while in an online meeting that I was paying full attention to obviously). 59.74% (47 species). Off to a flier but it'll all cease up soon enough.

And we are off

 After a big bash on the 1st, we slacked off the patch for a few days knoing that little would happen. Since then we have added a few including a fine woodcock today. Otherwise it's been padders mainly. 6 days in and 45 species, which is 57.2% of the 78.6 species from the previous 3 years.

Here we go

 Yes indeedy, its been a reasonable start to the year at Galley with the long staying surf scoter and spotted redshank both scored early on the 1st, plus a bonus common redshank courtesy of Basil's new patch, which proved emminently scopeable from Dirk - hopefully the first of many such scores for the year.

Onto today, and more gank duly added, with a male black redstart the best of the bunch - good to get that out of the way early doors. Also good to be back ahead of Shakey, the sly fox that he is.

All to play for....

3rd Jan update - a fine goosander paid an aerial visit to the lake this am, only my 3rd evah record on patch. It was all very reminiscent of January 2024, but with more prolonged fly-by views! Just lucky I was scanning the lake at the time. Shakey has snuck back into top spot though, and must shurely be hamstrung by a steward's enquiry before the month's end....

The little matter of New Old Snowy

 With 2025 all wrapped up, and the Golden Mallard heading to Boghall, thoughts must turn to the best find of 2025. A look down the list of entries suggests that there is again one stand out find meaning there is no need to go through the trauma and hassle of a vote. The winner is Seppy for his little (Barolo) Shearwater. Nightingale and Bonaparte's gull come highly commended.

So Snowy begins the long migration from the north east to Galley.

Prockies romp home after giving it 112%

 Yes indeedy, the bespectacled duo wiped the proverbial floor with the other competitors in 2025, and can be rightly proud with their victory. They become only the third competitor to win the coveted Golden Mallard (worth at least £100 on ebay) for the third time.

In second place was Reg Hollis and his collieston patch, while Mr Consistent Sepp Blatter of Galley Head once again secured his by now traditional podium spot with third place.

With the exception of Royzah, who was quietly confident up until mid-autumn, the other riders were typically pathetic in their efforts, with Shakey not even managing to reach the 90% minimum required score. His cards are marked for 2026 if he suddenly starts bangin' in scores left, right and centre....

Here is the final scorecard for all runners and riders as of 31st December, thusly...

Some scores, yesterday

So good luck for 2026 - the fun starts here!

Happy New Year -- and an all new patch for 2026

Thank Christ that's over!

2025 began well enough, when I somehow managed to stumble across that 1st Winter Boni's gull on 01 January, but little did I know just how prescient the title of that very post would turn out to be.

It was all downhill from there. Whilst spring produced hoopoes to beat the band and a string of other migrants up and down the coast, Squince barely registered a year-tick. Seawatching produced feck all of consequence and autumn? Autumn never really happened at all.

All of which leaves me languishing in second-to-last place on a rather insipid total of just 91.77% for the year.

But this is not a time for looking back at the inadequacies of an uninspiring year... it's a time to look forward to a new year, a brighter future, and a brand new patch. Yes, indeedy, it took just four years for me to get thouroughly cheesed off with the whole commuting back and forth to a coastal patch thing. So we're selling up and moving to the seaside.

We won't actually be moving until March, by the time all the paperwork and legal shenanigans is done and dusted. But there's no point switching patches mid-season, so I'll be working the patch around the new des res from tomorrow.

But where is this mysterious new patch, I hear you cry...?

Well, it's not too far from Galley Head, as it happens. You could describe it as "Galley Adjacent", in fact, if you were so inclined. It's a wee spot known to the local birding fraternity as Strawtown, in the townland of Dunowen right next to Red Strand beach.

Here's a map to help illustrate thusly:

Map showing the outline of the Strawtown Patch (in a fetching shade of pink)

Note the conveniently added dogleg to take in the pub at Fisher's Cross, so I can count flyovers while sitting outside with a pizza and a pint on the two days of sunshine West Cork gets every year. As is his wont, Seppy has, of course, been busy sticking his oar in over-egging inflated estimates for my patch total/target for year one. 

So, congratulations to The Proclaimers, for it appears the Mallard is going to be heading their way in due course. Meanwhile, it's time to draw a line under a depressingly unremarkable year at Squince, and look forward to a prosperous and tick-filled 2026 at the new Strawtown patch.

Lets Gooooooooooo!

Happy New Year ya langers!