Pigeons and waders and ducks... oh my!

Well... with the leg on the mend, and finally able to drive again (having forcefully re-commandeered my vehicle from Sybil, albeit after a small argument with a shopping trolley in Aldi car park... but the less said about that the better), I've been back down checking Squince regularly again.

And lo, not having to rely on "that wee rock" Seppy for a spin, I've managed to bang in three (count 'em) year ticks over the last week. Last Sunday saw me check the old graveyard for the first time in yonks in search of a black redstart. I didn't manage one of those... but as luck would have it some diligent folk tending the graves of their long-lost-loved-ones managed to flush a flock of 30 or so Golden Plover from an adjacent field. Happy days!

The following day (Monday, if I'm not mistaken), a fine Stock Dove flushed from a beet field below the farm at the south east corner of the lake by my very self added a second year-tick for the week. I could hardly believe my luck... but the best was yet to come.

If you can ever apply the term "best" to a winter duck, that is.

Yesterday afternoon, after finishing up a list of Sybil's #TheJobs, I sloped off down patch and clocked a female Scaup with the few Tufties in the south west corner of the lake. I got the scope on it... it was wee for a scaup, a bit smaller than the tufties around it, and was that a hint of a peaked hind-crown I was seeing? It felt very like the Lesser Scaup i had on the lake back in March 2022. The more I watched it, the more convinced I became... but the wee fecker never once flapped its wings or flew... in fact, it spent most of its time with its head tucked under its wing fast asleep. With the light fading, I chalked it down as a probable, with the anticipated level of doubt and derision from "supportive" third parties who shall remain nameless.

Dopey duck spent most of its time asleep

All of which japes meant I had to be back on patch bright and early this morning (well, after the obligatory coffee and a breakfast roll, obvs) to clinch it.

And, wonder of wonders, clinch it I did!

Get in there ya fecker!

All of which ducking and diving brings me to 135 species for the year... or 106.30% in real money. Will it be enough to "clinch" the coveted Mallard? Only time will tell, I guess... but time, as they say, keeps ticking merrily away....

Even more finch fun

Hot on the heels of Seppy's earful of bull this morning, a quick look around Squince this lunchtime was at risk of producing yet another blank on the year tick front.... 

In a last-ditch attempt to salvage something from the visit, I was scanning a monster finch flock on the opposite side of the lagoon (desperate times... etc.), concentrating on the chaffinches, just on the off chance like. 

Mere seconds before Sybil put her foot down and insisted we leave, a fine Brambling gave itself up, offering decent views before getting lost again amidst the hubub. Huzzah!

That welcome finchly tickage nudges me to 103.94%, and crucially means Seppy still needs three (count 'em) species to overtake me at the top of the podium. It's a big ask, but the way that chancer keeps banging them in, it's certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility.

Is a non-Irish Irish one-two on the cards? Will Reg pull something spectacular out of the bag to spoil the party? Could another cagey fecker be waiting in the wings with a sackful of undeclared guff?

Cripes... it's almost exciting!

Lets take a look at what ya could have won....

 Yes indeedy - bully's special prize this very am consisted of a heard-only bullfinch in the vicinity of the garden - called 5 or 6 times so I'm having it

Warming up nicely at both ends!

Yes indeedy, as the 2024 patch challenge nears the December endgame, there have been developments at both ends of the leaderboard and nothing is set in stone with a little over a month to go.

Basil continues to stand out by his gate, trying desperately to thumb a list down to Squince. But I'd have to be totally stupid to fall for his sob stories again, after the last time.

Reg managed to leapfrog into 2nd place, while Bushveld has come from seemingly nowhere, with no prospects straight into 3rd place with some frankly outrageous stories of having been seawatching. As if!

Luckily tho, he reckoned without the power of the Majik Patio (tm), which produced the all-important goods for me on me birthday (thurs), in the form of a fine female goldeneye, which appeared to disappear shortly after I'd nailed it. Lucky! This pushes me through the near-mythical 100% barrier, whole also keeps me just ahead of Bushveld, and even better, restores me to third place and him in fourth - huzzah!

The biggest mover and shaker of the week has been Shakey, who was also moved to try a Storm Bert-related seawatch yesterday, and who managed to claim a frankly outrageous SIX (count 'em) year ticks - leach's petrel, sooty shearwater, red-necked grebe, great northern diver, long-tailed duck and a goldeneye, which was probly my bird from thurs. This has pushed him ahead of the proclaimers who now take up the lantern rouge and the wooden spoon and who have admitted in a quote yesterday that "it's been a poor year here, despite effort". A bit vague on precisely how much effort has been expended tho hey?

STOP PRESS - some last minute news from Royzah who has just had a collared dove in his garden, which is seemingly patch gold round his way. Not only that, Royzah then managed to tapdance his merry but slightly hungover way along the Donmouth boardwalk just in time to connect with 3 (count 'em) little auks and a little gull, so he's moving up the scoreboard too, but probably not sufficiently to trouble Mr Nimmo of Wanstead who is still happily ensconsed in mid-table mediocrity.

All to play for then - I'd best go for a seawatch...

***Post-Seawatch Update***

A fine leach's petrel heading slowly east off Galley late morning - only my 3rd wan evah off Galley, after 2 on a seawatch in Sept 2022. Moves me back into second spot just ahead of Reg but for how long???

They should be annual...

 A sneaky little sea-watch yesterday morning before work produced 11 little auks and 3 long-tailed duck.  

My last (and only) little auks on patch were 5 January 2016 and the long-tailed duck were only my third record.  They should be annual, but only if I got out more.

These two push me past 100% and into a podium position.  With time running out there seems little prospect of retaining the Golden Mallard but still requiring brambling (a 100% er, recorded every year) plus hopefuls for coal tit and woodcock, there's always a chance, albeit a slim one.

122 species, 

100.27%

Happy Days

Bushveld

Reg Reveals All

 Yes indeedy - that got your attention hey? Should get a few more page hits too with any luck. Anyway, suffice it to say Reg has not been resting on any laurels and is still giving it 110% right up to the years end. Its beginning to pay off too as he had little auk and lapland bunting over the weekend, whilst also adding quail to the list after claiming one back in the summer (whatever that really was...).

In a bid to put the frighteners on Basil, he's also claiming that Jack Snipe, Velvet Scoter, LEO, Snow Bunting, Glauc, Iceland gull and slav are all virtually nailed on before the 31st Dec....

All to play for then, as it gets that little bit tighter at the top. Reg needs just four species to catch Basil, while Seppy still requires five, which is probably a stretch at this stage, but ya never know. #Believe

Thanks for the boost chief! 👍

Incapacitated as I am by only having one leg at present, getting down to the patch, and moving around to actually do any meaninful birding is proving a challenge.

That said, press-ganging various family members into taking me birding on mental health grounds hasn't been entirely fruitless. Indeed, this very Thursday just gone -- on my birthday, no less -- I managed to cajole Sybil into a jaunt down to the patch, yielding a fine male Shoveler on the lake.

Shoveler on the lake... majik... well, for a duck, at least.

And it's not just the family stepping up. In all fairness, credit where credit's due and all that jazz. Seppy has been a rock through this journey of hardship and slow recovery.

A smallish, somewhat reluctant rock, it has to be said, but he has occasionally succumbed to my repeated badgering to give me the odd spin for a cursory look around the patch. In spite of his valiant efforts to suppress as much as humanly possible, these mini-sojourns have yielded an immpressive total of two (count-em) year-ticks over the last five weeks or more. The first, a fine Yellow-browed Warbler -- my first of the autumn, and, much to my driver's chagrin, a splendid Dabchick this last Sunday.

Fair play!

My unfortunate affliction, and the fact I've been unable to skive off and hit the patch at will while everyone else is at work, means I have no doubt missed legions of migrants passing through this autumn. Despite the hardship, the slim pickings that have turned up take the tally to a respectable 103.15% as we enter the final stretch.

Game on!