Inland North Minileague - December 2015

There was a fag paper between Nick Morgan who won the Inland North comparative minileague and Steven Ward who was leading heading into the final month. In the end Nick triumphed by 0.36% thanks to a patch tick Shoveler, second record of Gadwall and first winter record of Greenshank on his patch just outside Northallerton. Over at Hawes Steven managed to keep to the wildfowl theme with a less than annual Tufted Duck which kept him well clear of Nick Tonge in third who finished on 111% just clear of local rival Keith Dickinson.There were two new 100%ers this month with Paul Massey finishing on exactly that mark whilst Chris Bradshaw leapt into seventh with 101.8%. Tom Lowe came agonizingly close until an admin error was spotted and his target was increased by a couple of points.

Darren Starkey took the win in the Inland North points minileague, pipping Garry Taylor by 7 points. Darren, who patches Fairburn, added Short-eared Owl, Red-crested Pochard and Brambling over the last two months to break the 200 barrier whilst Garry's highlight is listed as believing at one stage he might catch Darren. Its the hope that kills you! Congratulations to Darren and commiserations to Garry. Andy Bunting finished in third place with a whopping 183 points - a serious score for an inland patch, especially one in Lancashire. The contest within a contest saw the white rose triumph as Mark Reeder defeated vocal rival and self-proclaimed #inlandnorthpolice Bill Aspin to finish fifth whilst Chris Bradshaw managed to split them and finished sixth.

A new installation at Orgreave. Bill did ask why it had five steps. Now we know.

There were no bonus points in Inland North for December but plenty of decent birds thanks to a seriously mild month. Aside from those birds already mentioned there were a brace of Bewick's Swans for Paul Massey at Grindon Lough which sealed his place in the top 10. A Great Northern Diver at Pugney's was a cracking inland find for Hilary Milburn. Adam Moan at RSPB Geltsdale added Tree Sparrow from the garden whilst Chris Bradshaw had Mealy Redpoll in December and Red Kite in November at Wykeham Lake and Potter Brompton Carr. Thanks to all who took part - Inland North is always an entertaining league with plenty of friendly competition.