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!

Stocking up

Wasn't out on the patch for a few days what with the storms and everything, but an obliging stock dove from the front garden yesterday took me to within a whisker of 50% for the year.

An hour hoofing around the patch this afternoon added another six species: snipe, pheasant, hen harrier, water rail, reed bunting and peregrine... along with the discovery that I'd forgotten to add starling and lesser redpoll to the list... takes me to a grand total of 59.29%.

Only one week in... am I peaking too soon? Only time will tell I guess!

Off to a standing start

Well, I finally succumbed to pressure and agreed to enlist with the motley crew here for the "original" (and still the... err... best?) Patch Challenge, pretenders and upstarts be damned.

So naturally dawn on the first of January saw me... well, still in bed actually.

In fact, as I write this I still haven't ventured outside the front gate (or the back gate, come to that) of The Towers. Some say it's apathy, but I blame the man flu that's doing the rounds here in the arse end of Ireland. Ask Seppy about it if you don't believe me.

Not to worry... so far in/from the garden have picked off 29 species over the last couple of days... an immacculate grey wag among the most handsome of specimens, and a fly over raven, always nice to see. Plenty more to come I suspect, and who knows, one of these days I might even wander around the patch proper.

The great thing about a nice little nondescript inland patch like mine is that, because the average tally is so much lower than coastal hot-spots (like Galley, for instance), my lazy 29 puts me somewhere north of 35% if I've done the maths right. Sometimes it pays to be a "lowlisting tart", as Seppy puts it so eloquently.

Onwards and... well, onwards anyway!