Spawny Get!

In an attempt to instigate some healthy rivalry and generate some top pub based banter (as well as raising a few quid for the obs) we are shamelessly stealing the “finders-keepers” game from the lads at www.freewebs.com/punkbirder. but we’re calling it something else, allow me to introduce “Spawny Get”

So what is the game?

For every rare/scarce bird you find in the Spurn area you’ll get points (see below) at the end of the autumn the person with the most points wins, simple.

The game will run from the first weekend in August until the end of November, it will cost you a fiver and half will go to the obs the other half to the winner (less the amount spent on a pathetic trophy to commemorate your achievement).

If it’s a laugh we’ll do it for the whole year or in both spring and autumn in future. Anyone can enter, though if you only come to Spurn twice a year it’s probably not worth it (actually no enter anyway, it’ll mean more cash for the winner).

The standings will be posted on the website regularly

The Rules:

• Birds must be self found. This means the finder of the bird, or the first person to name the species correctly.
• With species such as Little Egret the judge must be satisfied that a new bird has been found, rather than one which has been in the area for a while but may have not been seen for a few days.
• Each individual bird counts, with the exception of wildfowl flocks and any flocking species such as crossbill. Only the first individual Roseate Tern is countable as the same birds are seen nightly in Aug.
• Entrants are welcome at any time during the course of the game, but only records claimed after they pay their entry fee will be countable.
• Every claim must be verified, by pics or another birder (members of your own family or girlfriend don’t count for verification).
• Flyover Red throated Pipits will be accepted (read rejected) at the discretion of the judge. Black throated Diver will require a full description (and is likely to get booted anyway) and any similarly contentious records will fuel the night time revelry in the crown.
• Anyone turning up and finding Black throated Accentor will be instantly disqualified (cos it’s my ambition bird). Similarly Fea’s Petrel and Yellow browed Bunt will struggle to get through, although a bribe of copious amounts of lager may sway my decision with the last two.
• The recording area is the gas terminal boundary south, and green lane east.
• Birds outside this area but viewable from within it are countable, for example a White tailed Eagle a mile up river viewed from the narrows will be acceptable.
• Suppressed/forgot to tell anyone birds will not be countable retrospectively when someone else finds them.
• In the event of more than one person claiming to have found a bird the first person to call out the news gets it.
• In the event of a dispute over countability the judge will follow the guidelines for self found listing on the punkbirder website. If you want to know what they are look there cos I’m off seawatching to “get my eye in” and can’t be bothered to copy them here.
• The judge reserves the right to apply a points handicap to Adam at any stage in the game.

The Species and points awarded:

The above list is not intended to be exhaustive, in adition to the above scarce migrants the following points are up for grabs.

• Any 1st for Britain will be awarded 100 points.
• BBRC birds with less than 20 records will score 50 points
• BBRC birds with less than 100 records will score 30 points
• BBRC birds with more than 100 records will score 20 points (this includes all the stuff which should be BBRC birds but that the committee is too lazy to bother looking at, like Greenish Warblers etc.)
• Any common British species with less than 5 records at Spurn will Score 20 points.

The Possible Contenders:

Adam Hutt

Girlfriend living in Easington, plenty of weekday time off work and being in possession of a pair of bionic eyes leave Adam as odds on favourite.

Lance Degnan

Will want to stamp his BBRC authority on the young pretenders, expect renewed commitment from Lance this autumn.

Martin Stoyle

Living in Easington Martin should place highly, however…

Adam Stoyle

Sharper eyed than his brother, but Adam is always saving up! So he will surely default through lack of payment.

Nathan Pickering

IF he spends some money on a pair of bins that he can see through he could be a dark horse. Anybody interested in a side bet that he won’t open the wallet though?

John Grist

Will be at the ponds sketching Dunlin all autumn so will have to find Spoon billed Sand to stand a chance of staying with the pack.

Andy Roadhouse

Will be living at the obs most of the autumn so could just about make joint favourite with the Hutt. High rejection rate could be his main problem.

Mike Pilsworth

Previous form suggests Mike will be a serious contender, but the inability to find anything decent at Blacktoft in 3 years has caused some to believe he’s a spent force.

Rich Swales

Should find a few good birds but almost certain battery issues with radio will mean verification unlikely.

Terry McEvoy

Never say die attitude will ensure a strong showing from Terry, living in Bradford means will miss some good midweek falls though.

Garry Taylor

Talks a good fight but will almost certainly bore everybody with talk of gulls and be the last one drinking every night.

Gary Featherstone

Semi retired and living along Beacon Lane puts Gary in a strong position but he will have to leave the vodka Red Bulls alone, eh Sandra. Don’t expect him to be finding anything on call though.

Paul Collins

If Paul is serious about competing expect to get caught up in some mist nets. You may even see the odd birder wearing a leg iron as enthusiasm takes over.

Towel

Has all the natural ability to walk away with this, but will have to shake the image of a certain young lady’s immaculately presented bosom from his mind and stop wandering round in a daze.

Jack Ashton-Booth

Probably more chance of someone else finding a Lancy in his thatch than “Erjack” finding anything himself. Will be heard to say “that’s amazing” a lot.

John Hewitt

After years of birding Scarborough John is just happy to be seeing birds again regardless of who finds them.