Tuesday 26 April 2016

Coastal East Anglia Minileague - March 2016

Rob Hall's excellent PPB total of 1.493 sees him take top spot in the comparative league. 79.7% is an excellent score for a coastal site by this time of the year. Scott Mayson is in second with a patch tick Rock Pipit whilst Craig Fulcher secures third place.


A good run of two pointers for James Brown at North Lowestoft has given him an 11 point buffer at the end of the first quarter of the year. Paul Eele bags second spot with four more species than Craig Fulcher, but they are matching on points with an impressive 153 at the end of March. With Spring just around the corner, it could be all change by the end of May with plenty of bonus point potential on this stretch of the coast.

 

The delay in spring migration seemed to be evident in this league, with few spring migrants making the highlights. March is a great month to catch up with Black Redstart and James Appleton and James Brown did just that. March was also notable for movements in Firecrests along the coast, this little gem put in appearances at Southwold, North Lowestoft, Gibraltar Point and Titchwell.

A monster Glaucous Gull was at North Lowestoft whilst James Brown also located a large white bird of a different kind - the White Stork however was not added to any points scores due to questionable origins. Even so, impressive bird to find on patch.

Glaucous Gull at North Lowestoft (photo c/o James Brown)

The spread of Red Kites means that a few patchers had this graceful raptor in their highlights. Rarer still was a Rough-Legged Buzzard for Paul Eele at Titchwell, definitely the raptor highlight of the month from this part of the UK. Much less confiding were records of Jack Snipe at Titchwell and two patches recorded Bittern.

Finally two patches hit patchgold this month. Yellowhammers are becoming scarcer in many parts of the country but are recorded at an average of just one a year at Southwold. Equally, a pair of Grey Partridge was a bit special for James Appleton at his Happisburgh patch.

#Patchgold - c/o James Appleton

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