I think some county birders haven't joined in because they're a little worried of not doing well in the competition which is of course, their choice and I absolutely respect that (but you'll be kicking yourself when you stumble upon that county rarity ), but either way I'm very happy with the support from the intrepid bunch so far enlisted and considering this is it's first year (I may well run it next year depending on how what we all think of it),14 entrants so far, from all points of the county is better than I expected- thanks to you all
To those who haven't joined in but are tempted, it's never too late, you can join at any point during the year but joining after you've found that county first means it won't be countable
It's always worth getting in touch with me if you have any queries like this as I'd let you have the bird in either instance. Pennington to Dover is only just inside 2 miles (if that) and that particular rule is fairly 'bendable', it's mainly there to curb birds that may jump between 2 very close neighbouring sites regularly during a stay or say, a species that does a whistle stop of all the 'Wigan Flashes'. That you wouldn't have been able to count last years Spotted Redshank at Dover because it had already been at Pennington (whether the same day or otherwise) would have been very unfair and I'd have let you have it. If in doubt let me know, I'd have to have a very good reason not to let you count a bird as we're not competing for the 'town hall clock' as they say
p.s. is your email working? Attempted to contact you several days ago and got no reply, or were you too busy basking in your current glory of being tournament leader
not that i'm trying hard to hang on to my lead,or trying to formulate an all out frontal attack,i would like to keep my nose just in front for a while,a casual glance at the runners and riders and the rules had me pondering, if a countable was seen at pennington and then at dover basin the same day pennington gets it cos its in the two mile radius, but if its at pennington sat and then dover(new site?) on sunday(unlikley)would it count if i happened to stroll by there