Patchwork Challenge

Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team!  Well what a year 2025 was! So many patches recorded so many great birds nationally, with just in the first half of the year alone the following birds being recorded: Baikal Teal, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Ferruginous Duck, Ross's Gull, American Herring Gull, Caspian Tern, Pallid Harrier, Scop's Owl, Western and Eastern Subalpine Warblers, Iberian Chiffchaff and Pallas's Reed Bunting! Not all of these are from well watched coastal sites, showing that as long as you work a patch, you have the oppurtunity to fiind anything just about anywhere! You have to be out there to find it...  Amy Robjohns had a big flock of Eurasian White-fronted Geese, part of the national influx during the later part of December! We would like to extend a massive thank you to everyone that took part in the challenge. It has been fantastic to follow your patches  through the scoresheet, Bluesky and Twitter and we really appreciate how much you have a...

Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team!  We are doing a compeition for the Best Find of the #PWC2025 season, with the best few winning Patchwork Challenge Champion pin badges! All you need to enter is write a short account about the bird and the circumstances, plus why finding that bird was so special. To be entered, the bird doesn't need to be nationally rare, just a bird that made you excited to find on patch!  You have until 6pm on the 9th January to enter, and all entries must be sent to patchworkchallenge@gmail.com. The best entries will then be published on the blog for a public vote.  Looking forward to your entries,  Patchwork Challenge team  

Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team!  We have just released the sign up and scoresheet for Patchwork Challenge 2026! We hope you are looking forward to taking part in next years competition, which starts in just a few days! It has to be said however that 2025 has been a brilliant year, and we are looking forward to recapping it, so please make sure your #PWC2025 scores and highlights are in by 8pm, 1st January 2026! This deadline is very important, as we have been asked to write an article for Birdwatch magazine which has a very tight deadline. Thank you! If you are wanting to sign up for this coming year's competition, # PWC2026 , then you can do so by just following this link:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iZORva8WZXRiaCZcQUE9CNmog3k0EhnhW-GflGqNYoA/edit?gid=0#gid=0  We have made some score updates to this year's competition, with there being guaranteed bonus points for a few inland seabirds, but also Lanceolated Warbler away from Northern Isles and Cirl ...

Hello from the Patchwork Challenge team!   December is a funny month. Most things have settled down for the winter but there still can be the odd bird that can provide interest! It is a month that does have some pedigree too, last year turning up species like Grey-headed Lapwing (presumably a late returning bird) into Northumberland, American Yellow Warbler in Kent, - wintering Hume's, Pallas's or Yellow-broweds can be found throughout the month also while its typically a good month for Rough-legged Buzzard, but these have been on short supply this autumn and early winter. Not all migration is over, if any cold weather occurs, hopefully a hard weather movement will begin moving wildfowl, waders, larks and finches off their frozen fields and wetlands and onto less used habitat. During this, it's a perfect time to pick up these moving flocks flying through, particularly if your patch has little to no standing water. If the weather on the continent is just as inclement, specie...