Spawny Get!

Paul Collins has decided to throw his hand in and paid his fiver so we now have 24 entrants, two more are expected this weekend.

After a week of the leader board showing er no leaders John Grist finally set the ball rolling on Friday evening and spluttered into the lead with an impressive two points for the first confirmed Roseate Tern (after a week of single observer records) only to be relegated by Garry T the following morning with what will surely be the first of many Long-tailed Skuas. Nathan was furious the same morning when he couldn't get anyone else onto his Leach's Petrel, selective blindness among the other participants in the seawatch hide was strongly suspected. He got his own back though the following morning with a superb full tailed adult Long-tailed Skua which flew east out of the Humber and just to prove there was no foul play was confirmed by a player in the seawatch hide. Nathan then went on to have another nervous wait whilst his Wood Warbler in the churchyard was reluctantly verified by GT who saw himself slip back to second place. Terry McEvoy (who until this point had been playing down his chances and exuding an air of disinterest) flickered into life with a Roseate on the ponds. Competition was getting fierce several people could be seen to be getting visibly edgy, afterall a Wryneck had been found by a non competitor, the feeling was that there must surely be something else around. Meanwhile John Grist was struggling to get anyone to travel to sammies to verify his Wood Warbler and put him back near the top of the pile, around this time the radios crackled into life and Spawny Get! was momentarily forgotten, Terry had an unfamiliar acro up Beacon Lane and wanted help to sort it out. Oh dear is it all over before it's really begun? a massive 30 points went his way for the Paddyfield Warbler (though some observers suggested as it was confirmed in the hand by Barry Spence the points shouldn't count!) being greedy later by finding a second Wryneck in the Crown car park earned Terry few friends though when he got local caravan park supremo and non birder Stuart Haywood to verify it, sorry Terry but your not having those points. Supremely confident pre season favourite Adam Hutt was stuck at work all weekend and was seen stomping round looking very worried whilst trying to see the Paddyfield just prior to dark, was this due to nearly missing a Spurn tick or the mountain he has left himself to climb?

Despite only putting his money in a day or two ago Paul has jumped onto the leaderboard with a Treecreeper he trapped and rung at the point on Wednesday morning. Martin Stoyle has had a Roseate Tern which was verified, so he is also off the mark now!

Friday was a superb day for the fortunate few participants who could spend the day at Spurn instead of working their fingers to the bone like the rest of us! First up Andy found an Icky in the churchyard and then slashed Terry's lead by finding a Thrush Nightingale in the afternoon, Adam Stoyle is also on the score sheet now courtesy of a Wood Warbler and several people commented on the reappearance of a swagger as Adam Hutt went on the offensive and found Barred Warbler, Wryneck and Roseate Tern. Belated news from the weekend was that John Grist's Wood Warbler at Sammies was seen by others and so he gets the points and the ball has been returned from the other side of the wall.

It has been brought to my attention that Wood Sand has been missed off the list of countable birds, so any birds found from 20/8 will be countable the two birds that have been around all week are not countable.

Sunday saw several people boost their totals with Adam closing the gap a little on the two ahead of him (with Buzzard and Osprey) GT added a couple of points with Roseate Tern and although initially slow out of the traps Mike Pilsworth got both Roseate Tern and Sabine's Gull to give him a respectable 7 points. John Grist also added with Barred Warbler and Ian Smith came in with a couple of Wood Warblers from earlier in the week which checked out, he just hadn't seen fit to let ME know about them.

Rael finally appeared to remove his head from the clouds long enough to show some of his undoubted potential with a total (Spurn) mega in the form of Spotted Crake and then followed up by Barred Warbler the next day. It soon transpired though that although he gets the points on technicalities the Spot Crake was found by his non birding Girlfriend, something along the lines of "wot's this boring brown thing"! and the Barred warbler was found by about a dozen people simultaneously but he was just quickest to shout out.

A few more people now have points on the board but the main movement has been at the top with Mike Pilsworth finding Med Shearwater and Terry adding to his total with Wood Sand, Rael has edged nearer to the top spot with a Wryneck overtaking Andy Roadhouse in the process.

Not much movement at the top but Paul has overtaken one half of the Stoyle clan with 3 Buzzards. It has been decided that the leader will wear a "Yellow Jersey" from now on whenever birding in the area which will help everyone identify them (and should stop them finding much else), it is expected Terry or Rael will be presented with one at the weekend, although Rael probably has some yellow clothing anyway!

After missing out on the points for Bittern right at the beginning of the game Roy Taylor must be the unluckiest participant, his 4 points for Barred Warbler have been removed when it became apparent it was the bird trapped nearby a few days previously. Sorry Roy. Andy Roadhouse has finally found a Roseate Tern. The only other movement is newcomer Jonny Holliday, who is claiming 10 points but for now they are pending!!!

Jonny Holiday has been awarded 6 points instead of the 10 he was claiming due to a blatant infringement of the rules. Adam Hutt has found his third Osprey in the last couple of weeks to add another 3 points but isn't too happy about the judges decision to not allow points for Avocet for two reasons firstly because it's thought to relate to the same birds as seen on Saturday, but more importantly it's not even on the list!. He is now off work for a week, will this see the start of him seriously challenging for the top spot?

A feeling of resigned inevitability is apparent in the mood of the main contenders at the moment as Adam has scored a further three points with his brace of Ospreys this week helping move to within striking distance of Andy Roadhouse in third place, with easterlies forecast this weekend it could see him take top spot, or will it be the lifeline Andy, Rael and Terry need? His spawn this week has even prompted an anonymous note (believed to be from Rael's Girlfriend) requesting the judge brings the points handicap rule into play sooner rather than later!

Well the forecast easterlies didn't exactly produce a classic fall due to the total lack of rain and the few birds that did turn up were almost exclusively found by birders not competing in Spawny Get! However a fair few points have been added including the first record proved by photographic evidence rather than seen by others (Rosefinch, Andy Roadhouse) shame he forgot his camera later for his Ortolan! he he. Mind you it didn't stop a certain player claiming the nut feeders in one pic didn't look the same as the ones in the church field, which prompted some to suggest that he doesn't live too far from the bird that wintered in Sheffield last year. Andy aslo scored with a very early Lap Bunt, which was deemed to be the bird Rael saw on Beacon Lane a couple of days later so no points there, no wonder he was so relieved when his Little Egret received admiring glances from others, or was the bird just a welcome diversion?

Chris Garner thought he had got off the mark with two Buzzards but unfortunately Barry Spence wouldn't look at them! thus denying him. Adam Hutt had no such trouble though as his bird was seen by others, not exactly the increase we expected from him though with so much time off work. Mike Pilsworth scored with another Balearic Shearwater which he stole from non competing Alan "nicest bloke in the world" Amery. Ian Smith added with a Kingfisher whilst lord of the manor Gary Featherstone is finally off the mark with a Wood Warbler but may on the strength of that one bird miss out on the bottle of bubbly promised to the person coming last by his better half Sandra.

With a team including two of the top men heading north next week to show the Shetland lads how it's done this could be the start of a decisive period. It's further down the table though where desperation for points is manifesting itself, with GT and Jonny Holiday scoring a double act on a flava sp probably a Grey headed, it was certainly no flavissima. With one finding it and the other putting a name to it, is this the first example of collusion in the game? JH also scored with a less controversial Buzzard.

All change at the top highest scorer this weekend was Adam who gets a solid 14 points with Balearic, Long tail and Yellow browed and Little Egret and moves into top spot. Rael almost got in on the act with a Honey Buzzard until nobody else could get onto it, it later transpired that it wasn't him that found it, did someone say behind every good man there's a great woman? or something like that. Martin Stoyle did however reluctantly get points for a Honey after producing a pic of it, not quite upto Paul Doherty's standards but enough to id it anyway. While we're on the subject rumour has it that Paul has found a new subject matter to capture on film! Lance finally got off the mark with a Yellow browed and a belated Purple Sand but it's surely too little too late for the BBRC man to seriously threaten. With Adam leapfrogging from 4th into 1st Terry did just enough to stay in contention with the new top dog by getting an assist on Lances Yellow browed, he now gets a week to try to regain his place whilst Adam is finding megas on Unst (or chasing a certain cat!!!).

So a week away for Adam demoted him from top spot with andy Roadhouse scoring with 2 Long tails, Buzzard and Lap Bunt. Only for Terry to sneak back into 1st place with Sabs and glaucous Gulls. Lower down the league Nathan scored well with a week off work with 3 Long tails and a Lap Bunt, both Adam Stoyle and Lance found Yellow browed Warblers and there is a rumour that Jonny Holliday found something but nobody can remember what!

Talk about Spawny! Adam came back from holiday today and scores a very controversial ten points with Pec Sand. First seen north of the area there it is believed the initial observer told people he knew what it was but didn't shout it on the radio. Initially no points were going to be awarded but Adam will sulk so we've reluctantly given in

The only points scoring bird found this week was the Red breasted Flycatcher, which in predictable fashion earned Adam 4 points. With less competition around midweek days off work do seem to pay off! Oh and we still can't remember what Jonny Holiday needs points adding for, can anyone jog our memories?

Jonny Holiday has finally got his points for his crippling find! He's hardly gonna trouble the leaders though on this form, oh the species, a Kingfisher and a massive 2 points.

Sorry for the lack of updates, it's painful when you can't seem to find anything yourself! It's been pretty busy this last week or two. Terry keeps his total ticking over with a Lap Bunt. Mike Pilsworth scores with a Yellow browed as do Lance, Adam Stoyle and Andy Roadhouse (2). Mr Roadhouse also scores with Barnacle Goose and Shore Lark to take the lead. Rich Swales and John law also get points each for Buzzard.

Adam Stoyle is starting to get the hang of this birding thing and is putting his brother to shame lately! He scores with another Yellow browed.

Controversy rears it's ugly head again. (Towel) Rael and Adam Hutt are in dispute over who found Spurns second Snow (snedge gav) Goose. It appears that Rael probably saw it first but didn't have a radio with him and Adam snuck in and identified it first so both get the points. has anyone else noticed a theme developing here? Pec Sand anyone! Mind you were not really sure how many points to give, it's rare but a bit plastic, not nearly as convincing as the immature in spring 2005.

What a waste! Little Bunting found this weekend by some bloke who used to come to Spurn once or twice a year but has lately seemingly fazed, and Olive backed Pipit snatched from underneath a regulars nose by a bloke who had forgotten his bins. What's the world coming to?

After being surprisingly quiet so far Rich Swales has submitted a list of his finds, it's gonna take some time to check these out as it reads a bit like the Hastings rarity affair, not just due to how old some of the records are! If they are all accepted (don't hold your breath) he will be right in contention.

After careful deliberation/a cursory glance at the species values (delete as you wish) it has been decided that the Snow (snedge) Goose is worth 10 points. Although as rare as Great Shearwater it's clearly not in the same league so can't possibly attract as many points. The sharper eyed amongst you will have noticed that Tiger Bean Groose is valued at 20, whilst not wishing to cast doubt over any previous records we believe there is a strong argument to suggest that this form/sp would be a new bird for Spurn so therefore rarer (but not necessarily more interesting). As such Adam "more breaks than Judith Chalmers" Hutt moves back into the lead, but for how long? he's off to the Scillies next week.

Andy Roadhouse thought he had hit the jackpot with a 1st for Spurn but it was unfortunately in the form of a Mandarin so is only worthy of 10 points, enough to take him back to top spot even though he's not bothered! He also receives 4 for another yellow browed, as does Lance who is coming into some sort of form after a painfully slow start. John Cooper is finally off the mark with 4 points for White fronted Goose.

After conducting a full review of all the birds claimed by Rich Swales some have been deemed unacceptable, either because nobody confirmed them or in the case of Wood Sand it was before the countable date (they were added a few weeks into the game). However the birds remaining include Velvet Scoter, Kingfisher and Lap Bunt. But perhaps the most significant was the oversight that he actually named the Paddyfield Warbler first so gets an assist on the top scoring bird of the Autumn so far(watch out Filey we'll be back!). All adding up to give him 36 points and take him into 5th place not far behind presumed future son-in-law Towel.

Other movers this week include another Yellow browed for Adam and Lap Bunt for Andy, but nobody else connected with Terry's Great Northern. Also it has been forcefully pointed out that I missed off John Grists Richard's Pipit last weekend!

Very Quiet this weekend Gary Featherstone doubled his total with a yellow browed and John Grist tried to claim points for Hen Harrier, even though it's not on the list!

Not many points scored recently has meant it's not really been worth updating the rankings but wait long enough and the list looks impressive! Late on in October Towel and Paul got points for a Richard's Pipit whilst Gary Featherstone scored again! with a Long tailed Duck, John Grist gets 3 for Purple Sand moving him up a couple of places and John Cooper (feeling left out) threw in a couple of sightings for AUGUST!!!! They both checked out but I think next year we will have to implement a time limit on claiming stuff, by the way the birds were Wood Warbler and Treecreeper.

Typically the only reasonably good seawatch this autumn coincided with Adam having a couple of days off work so he scores well with 2 Velvet Scoter and 4 Long tailed Duck, it's a good job for the other top placed lads that it was November no September or the points difference could have been massive. He also scores for Firecrest in what has been a very poor autumn for the species.

Andy Roadhouse has also scored well recently with 2 seperate Lap Bunts, a couple of Barnacle Geese a Great Northern Diver and a Long tailed Duck. This leaves Andy in top spot with a week to go, However as he has gone to Brazil Adam must be confident of claiming top spot back unchallenged, we wait with baited breath.

The same day Adam was told he was in second spot with a week to go, he went through his total with a fine toothed comb and found he'd had a Stormie and Shore Lark missed off, which meant he was in the lead already with a week to go and Andy out of the frame. He then went on to have most of the week off work to stamp home his authority and in the process scored points with Great Northern Diver and Velvet Scoter confirm his position as 2006 Spawny Get!

Although the autumn was generally a quiet one spawny get! proved just how many good quality birds are found at Spurn. That said a couple of results leap out as being strange firstly Adam scored nearly double the total of early pace setter Terry but scored nothing higher than 10 points for a single species, consistency counts. Perhaps more remarkable is Paul Collins single minded dedication to the work of the obs, carrying out his ringing duties and not getting caught up in the excitement like not bothered house mate Andy Roadhouse did. Contrast Paul with Andy Gibsons complete lack of points? It's surprising that someone present on site almost daily has scored no points!

It hasn't yet been decided wether we are going to run Spawny Get! as seperate competitions for Spring and Autumn or wether to run it for the whole year. We are going to overhaul the points systen and possibly introduce a league system with top and bottom players in each league getting promoted or relegated on a monthly basis, this we hope will keep the interest going for those not fortunate enough to live next to the seawatch hide! If you have any other ideas on improving the game please get in touch.