Winterton Bird Spotting Collective: November 2012

Welcome

You have found us. We are a secret group of crack birders who have turned our backs on the machismo, corruption, and backstabbing greed that constitute today's birding scene, and have united together to follow the True Path of non-competitive, collaborative and generally lovely birding-as-meditation-and-spiritual-growth. Consequently, we never see anything. Birds that land right in front of our noses, and which we can identify with our observer book, are written about here. Oh, and they have to be seen in - or from - the parish of Winterton-on-Sea, Norfolk, or on the walk round past East Somerton Church ruins and up the concrete track to Winterton Holmes (because it's a nice walk which we all do).

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Patchwork Challenge

Well our friend and honorary Collective member Ryan from down in Hemsby is organising a national (or even international, or maybe even Pan-Galactic) year-listing competition for next year.

See the details here: http://patchworkchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/.

So we are keen to have a crack, but there was some debate about our patch being unfairly large (all patches have to be 3km square or under). So we took to the internet, and using the web 2.0 tool that Ryan himself provided (http://www.freemaptools.com/area-calculator.htm) we have conclusively proved that our parish, or at least the birdable bits, come in at just under 3 square kilometers.

Here's the map that proves it.

We will therefore be aiming to whup the young Scottish upstart's birding backside. We will, of course, fail miserably to do so. After all, we've been looking for an Ortolan for years, and he just breezes into town and finds one after a few weeks... How can we compete with that?

We also believe that certain top-drawer birders from just north of us will be taking part. Our patch is doomed to become a thorn between two roses... At our next Collective meeting I will propose that to keep in with a chance to save face we become a sort of birding Tour de France Sky team, all supporting our very own Bradley Wiggins, Mr C (our version of Mr T), to take the prize...
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