What a mad month that was, but would I do it again of course now I see the totals I can see i should have put a little bit more effort into beating that young warford.
The monthly list for May is definitely something I would do again. It added a bit of an edge to things and definitely spurred me in to making some visits to places which I wouldn't have otherwise got around to fitting in. These included, for example, my first visit to Etherow in 13 years and a couple of sites which I hadn't been to previously.
Cheers to Ian for arranging it. As pointed out by him, it doesn't necessarily have to be a direct competition between those taking part, but a personal target, or a benchmark to aim for next time. Hopefully that extra bit of effort can lead to a bit of extra coverage resulting in a few good birds being found. Roll on 2009??
Ian has my full list for the month and I'd be more than happy if he wants to stick it on the website. I'd be interested to see how many species in total were seen in the month by all the participants in the various madness events - i know there were quite a few i didnt see that others did.
congratulations to all involved,you,ve got to take your hat off to declan for putting in the effort ,and setting the bench mark for next year.For me it made a busy month that more interesting ,out birding with mates,cursing birds that had decided to hide on a particular day,regreting that i left my eco day untill the leaves came out(greenhorn)so roll on next year i.ll do better.and thanks to ian mck for having the patience to organise it.
cheers geoff
p.s set 2 personel twitching records 7.5mins for the cattle egret and an astonishing 11 mins for the fulmar
The May-hem results will be published with a full account at the end of the month but it's intention was never to actually be a full blown competition between entrants, although it was enevitable that some whould take it more seriously than others , in fact, my intention was for it to be a personal competition, so that next year individuals could attempt to beat their own achievement otherwise those who can't devote as much time and effort to listing as others wouldn't enter the competition for fear of coming at the bottom of the pile and that negates the whole ethos of it. May-hem was another attempt to get more birders out there actively looking and enjoying county birding and there's no doubt it's been one of the best Mays for a long time so far at least and in days when it's getting too expensive to travel elsewhere, making the most of what's around you is no bad thing at all
Quite right Simon - its getting a bit scary how it is starting to take over a little bit - madness indeed. And yet somehow my list is still rubbish... At least it has given me the chance to explore new bits of the county and give my county list a bit of a boost. back to counting robins and parakeets in Alex park for me next month.
so just over a week to go and the mega's keep on coming, Declan is taking this seriously i reckon, this driving westwards is getting far too frequent for my liking!
-- Edited by Simon Warford at 21:34, 2008-05-22
Yep 1 week and I'm not here for most of it Should have thought about this a bit more before commiting to hari kari listing.
Can we have a special prize for the lowest Month List
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
so just over a week to go and the mega's keep on coming, Declan is taking this seriously i reckon, this driving westwards is getting far too frequent for my liking!
reet peeps,the gloves are off the wigan team have set a date for the single site race ,it,ll be like walking through tulips,but if anyone spots a newbie on the 18th don,t be shy ,
I think Warfy was struggling to ID the Gypo. He was taking an age to ID it. He said he had never seen a bird quite like it-well I think it was a goose of some discription he was looking at!!
OK, I've thought long and and hard about this, am I prepared to look stupid? YES, I often do. Here Goes- Can someone please tell me, what the **** is a Gyppo, or Gypo, depending on who is smelling. I don't care anyway, next weekend I'm off to Etherow to see a Pied Fly Cheers Ian
While you were at the cricket Mr Woosey i was enjoying the sights and delights of Etherow CP, my first visit to this site with the Gypo showing well. Must go again preferably on a warm sunny day definately brought the birds out
fancy bumping into mr rigby and there was a familiar looking RSPCA van parked in the car park.
I have not had the best start, infact could only bird from the garden yesterday, but have had full attack today and given a pleasing wind this weekend will pass that whipper-snapper who is also known as Warfy,infact not far behind him
Ah - I see. Of course the Mandarin at Pennington today was quite a nice and unexpected addition to my total. Gypo's up at the Etherow you say.........
I only realised after I entered this that I'm actually out of the county for nearly half the month so I'm going to have to pull all the stops out to get anything like a decent tally. Up to the moors next methinks for some of them moorland specials.
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
I hope you're not suggesting that 'I' would twitch something at Pennington Ian
No, not at all Craig - I was in fact referring to Mr Warford - he who twitches Mandarin Ducks, and the same feller who will very soon be racing off to Etherow for the Gyppo !
So, all those entering the monthly marathon, how did your first day go???
Not being the over energetic sort I decided a nice saunter to Horrocks hide would help kick the month off and at least i managed Black Tern and Little Gull. Overall managed a not too bad......nah. That would be telling (and potentially embarrasing).
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No one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd spent more time at work. http://bitsnbirds.blogspot.co.uk
.....................Kakariki is a New Zealand parrot sp. so is an obvious escape, you're not counting that
But I need all the help I can get.
, in fact, my intention was for it to be a personal competition, so that next year individuals could attempt to beat their own achievement otherwise those who can't devote as much time and effort to listing as others wouldn't enter the competition for fear of coming at the bottom of the pile and that negates the whole ethos of it. May-hem was another attempt to get more birders out there actively looking and enjoying county birding and there's no doubt it's been one of the best Mays for a long time so far at least and in days when it's getting too expensive to travel elsewhere, making the most of what's around you is no bad thing at all 
