Competitive, who us?

A small team of upstarts, taking on the old established favourites. Hmmm, now where have I heard that before?

Leaving aside the dramatic achievements of Leicester City, we are into competition time here at Frampton Marsh. Not one, not two, not even three but four contests are, or will be, underway.

We will start with the one we are reigning champions in. The Golden Welly. Awarded to the RSPB reserve who gets the most species of wader, feet down, on managed wetlands between April and October. Yes, bit of a precise definition, isn't it? The idea was to encourage reserves to improve their wetlands for waders during the key breeding and migration periods. The contest is now in its fifth year, and we've won it four times. Though last year we did have to share the trophy with Titchwell. We might be up against it this year though, as controversial rule changes mean that anything with long legs, such as storks, herons and cranes, now all count too. But we'll give it our best shot, and who knows!

Graham White (reserves ecologist) and John Badley (senior site manager) with just two of our welly haul

Now, it is great when people can get out and scour the reserve looking for birds. But not everyone is so lucky. Either due to time or mobility issues, some people are rather restricted in where they can go. So, together with our friends at Strumpshaw Fen, we have started up a new challenge, The Golden Cushion. The idea here is to list how many birds can be seen from inside the main visitor building on the reserve. The visitor centre for us, the reception hide at Strumpshaw. This will give a great idea for people then of how good we are to visit, even if you can't walk far. At the moment we are just a nose ahead, with a whopping 95 species. Strumpshaw are right behind us, so it is really anyone's game. With any luck, other reserves will take notice of this and start to follow suit.

Strumpshaw Fen, our partners in the Golden Cushion challenge

The third contest is a national one, the Patchwork Challenge. This is now in its fifth year, as birdwatchers from across the country compete to see who has the best 3 km² 'patch', that is an area where they birdwatch regularly. Of course, depending on where you are in the country things can vary wildly, a patch in the middle of London can hardly be compared to one in the wilds of Scotland. So the patches are divided up into mini-leagues, Frampton Marsh being in the 'Estuarine' league. It isn't just about having one really good year either. The overall idea is to encourage people to watch the same patch regularly, year after year. That way a bigger database of species and when they are seen will be built up. So the 'comparative score' is the main prize. That is, this year's total compared to the average of previous years.

This year is a bumper year for the reserve(s) in the contest, with no fewer than nine entries. Though admittedly only of eight people, our warden Toby has two entries in. one for just Frampton, one for a combination of Frampton and Freiston. The entries themselves come under a variety of names, both mentioning Frampton and 'Lincs Wash Reserves'. You can follow all the goings on and who is doing well via the Patchwork Challenge website. As you can see from the points table, we are showing well. Though with a bit of a way to catch Dale Craven over at Hale and Pickerings Pasture, which is up on the Mersey.

Finally, more of an internal contest this one. This Saturday I will again be attempting a Big Birding Bash. Starting at ungodly o'clock, the challenge is to see as many bird species as possible from within the boundaries of the reserve. So no wandering out to the river mouth for a bit of sneaky sea-watching! You can read about my efforts last year in this blog post and the previous year on this forum post. As you can see, the record is 89 species by a single observer, or 94 species by a team. Challenging, but by no means unbeatable! The 'rules' are quite simple:

• Birds must be observed whilst stood either within the reserve or on the public footpaths that run around the edge of the reserve. Only areas that are normally accessible to the public are allowed (so reserve staff don't get an unfair advantage, and breeding birds aren't disturbed)
• Birds must be identified properly, 'probable' doesn't count! No looking at a white dot 3 miles away and claiming is 'must be' a kittiwake...
• Rarities must have their identity verified either by an independent (and suitably expert) person, and/or a description submitted to the county recorder.
• The 'Birdwatchers Code of Conduct' must be followed, with the needs of the bird of primary importance. So no tape-luring or flushing
• 'Heard-only' records count, providing it is a species where there is unlikely to be confusion (eg cuckoo)

Lastly, and most importantly, lots of tea should be drunk and cake eaten!

The boundaries for the Big Birding Bash

So, if *you* fancy a challenge, why not get involved. Either try to beat our totals, or come and help and find things for us. My work mobile will be on, text 07795 616969 if you've seen something you think we might be interested in. We'll try to keep the visitor centre up-to-date with our totals, and what species we might be on the look-out for. With any luck we'll also be live-tweeting, both on @RSPBNorfolkLinc and my personal account of @BirderChris. Oh, and cake, bacon butties and the like are all very welcome too!