Maximum effort, minimum reward

Ring Ouzel digiscoped at 100m.
Mike P's recent Malling, Kent garden bird
#BWKM0 ND&B garden challenge
DAY 29

My day has been spent staring vainly at oncoming weather fronts, rain-bearing cloud and empty skies. Tonight promises much listening of the world at night. Maximum effort, minimum reward so far. How about you?

OUR COMBINED TOTAL (BRITISH ISLES GARDENS) IS 163 SPECIES   Still to be recorded are: Pochard, Tufted Duck, Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper, any skua, Common Tern, Arctic Tern, Swift, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Kingfisher, Common Redstart, Whinchat, Lesser Whitethroat.

Our oversea's gardens (New Zealand and Albania) add an additional 15 SPECIES

Today’s additions are: Stone Curlew (Stuart C), Razorbill (Michael D) and Sanderling (Richard P)

You can find the combined #BWKM0 list by clicking on the right-hand tab above.

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NEW ENTRIES

 Stuart C (Walkern, Herts)
Currently has a 'lockdown' list of 60 species, including Stone Curlew
Our 'garden collective' stands at 59

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Garden firsts
Richard P (Charmouth, Dorset) - Sanderling
Mike P (Malling, Kent) - Little Egret
David S (West Raynham, Norfolk) - Coot and Moorhen

There have been 143 garden firsts across the competition.

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Visual interlude - #8 Beddington Sewage Farm
A sewage farm? Being used to illustrate the kind of places we are missing? Well, yes. This is not just a site that I would like to return to but, in a strange way, a time that I would like to return to as well. This is an area of the farm called '100 acre' and it is one of the few parts of the site not to have been ravaged by extraction, landfill or industry. This picture was taken maybe 10 years ago, but looks just as it did when I first set foot there in 1974. I cut my birding teeth here and it will always be dear to me - at least, in the pockets of land that have not been sullied. Here lurk the ghosts of old birding pals, Spotted Crakes and a host of waders.
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How are we getting on?
Alphabetical order by first name. The first figure is the garden score as on March 20th. The second is since then (as up to date as I am aware).

Arjun D (Wallington, Surrey) - 74/60; Bene A (Tirana, Albania) xx/30;
Benno W (Goodnestone, Kent) xx/37; Bernard B (Ruckinge, Kent) 107/59; 
Bob S (Worcester Park, Surrey) 86/32; Callum M (Hemel Hempstead, Herts) 64/61;
Cheech A (Langley Vale, Surrey) xx/38; Chris P (Claygate, Surrey) - 43/39; 
Dave B (Chatham Islands, Pacific Ocean) 30/21; Dave P (Shoreham, West Sussex) - 55/41; 
David S (West Raynham, Norfolk) - 87/59; Debbie S (Portland, Dorset) 155/41; 
Dylan W (Thanet, Kent) 111/51; Ed S (Farncombe, Surrey) - 79/77;  
Gavin H (Bridport, Dorset) xx/44;  Geoff B (Chessington, Surrey) 69/28; 
Gill H (Tenterden, Kent) 60/31; Gordon H (Redhill, Surrey) 80/43; 
Ian K (Leigh, Surrey) 62/37; Ian S (Sidcup, Kent) - 113/48; 
Ian W (Merton Park, London) 86/44; Isaiah R (New Malden, London) 76/52; 
John P (Banstead, Surrey) xx/xx; Jono L (Wanstead, London) 83/64; 
Josephine S (Leatherhead, Surrey) 40/38; Justin T (Charmouth, Dorset) 59/32;
Mark D (Dorking, Surrey) 59/51; Mark H (Littlestone, Kent) 135/61:
Mark N (Stutton, Suffolk) - 77/60; Martin C (Lydd, Kent) 140/82;
Mathew B (Wrotham, Kent) - 33/46; Matt P (Pulborough, West Sussex) 126/96;   
Michael D (Craster, Northumberland) 106/58; Mike P (Malling, Kent) 70/59; 
Mike R (Battle, East Sussex) 97/50;  Oscar D (Chiswick, London) - 67/52;
Paul D (London) 84/43; Pete B (Shadoxhurst, Kent) 101/45;
Phil B (Ramsgate, Kent) 54/30; Rebecca G (Balham, London) xx/13;
Reuben B (Tufnell Park, London) - 45/43; Richard F (Pinner, London) 63/35;
Richard P (Charmouth, Dorset) - 101/68;  Robin S (Cranleigh, Surrey) - 101/51; 
Sam B (Enniskeane, Cork) - 67/60; Seamus E (Thornton Cleveleys, Lancs) - 67/38; 
Sean M (Pinner, London) - 50/38; Seth G (Uig, Skye) 64/50;  
Stephen R (Harrogate, Yorks) 66/42; Steve C (Guildford, Surrey) 66/36; 
Steve G (Banstead, Surrey) - 92/68; Steve T (Ewell, Surrey) 59/36;
Steve W (Hawes, N Yorks) - 91/53; Stewart S (Howick, Northumberland) 131/66;
Stuart C (Walkern, Herts) - xx/60;  Sye W (Aston Clinton, Bucks) - xx/40;
Tony B (Woodford, London) 69/50; Wes A (Capel, Surrey) - 96/81

THE CHALLENGE WILL END AT 18.00hrs ON THURSDAY MAY 7th

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