The original idea was to record the birds I saw around my new home here on Burray from when I moved in but other things have got in the way and the blog went onto hold. I decided that I would kick it off in the new year and now have an added incentive as next year I will be taking part in the Patchwork Challenge.
Full details of the challenge can be found on the challenge blog 'patchwork'
The idea is to encourage birders to spend more time looking around their local patch rather than rushing around the country twitching. There is a competitive element to the challenge with a scoring system and league tables.
The patch has to be no more than 3km square but does not need to be based on whole OS grid squares. My patch is shown on the map below:
I will give more detailed descriptions of the habitats within my patch along with photos in future posts.
My friend Barry who also lives in Burray is also a birder and is also taking part in the challenge. His patch mainly covers the East side of Burray where as mine covers the West but the is an area of overlap in the middle as we have both included Echna Loch in our patches. It will be intersting to see how we get on and what is on each side of the island.
The rules state that as well as the birds on your patch or flying over your patch any bird that you can see when you are standing in your patch also count, so anything on the sea around Burray can also be included in the challenge.
I shall be posting Challenge updates in this blog along with any other birding activites that I get up to around Burray or elsewhere in Orkney.
So until next year I just want to wish you all the best for 2013 and hope you will follow my blog.
