5 Mile Patch

Last weekend I decided I couldn't not go and twitch the adult Rose-coloured Starling in Measham, as it was just 5 miles away. 

Having only seen a juvenile before, it certainly felt like I'd got a new lifer! A drab brown juvenile really doesn't prepare you for the pink and black splendour of an adult, and I was lucky to get fantastic views of it for around 20 minutes on Sunday morning, even though others found it elusive.




To see one of these birds so close to home got me thinking about a concept I've heard other young birders talking about before but never given much thought myself - it's been described to me as an 'Uber Patch'.

This is the 5 mile radius around my house, into which the Rose-coloured Starling falls! It seems to me to have many advantages as a patch:

Firstly, as the Rose-coloured Starling proves, anything is surely possible. I'm resigned to the fact that in my garden, for example, I will probably never find a national rarity. And yet a quick search shows me that in a 5 mile radius around my house, historic rarities have included Laughing & Franklin's Gull (both Foremark, Nov 2010), Red Rumped Swallow (Staunton Harold, May 2012), Great Reed Warbler (Albert Village, May 2017), Ferruginous Duck (Sence Valley, Sept 2008), Glossy Ibis (Hicks Lodge, April 2014) and Hoopoe (Whitwick, June 2011)

Also, a 5 mile radius is a good leveller of the playing field - a lot people aren't lucky enough to live right by a nature reserve or even close to any water at all, so directly comparing your patch to others has always been hard. However it would be highly unusual not to have any water within 5 miles. I don't live by the sea and have always felt somewhat short-changed bird-wise because of this, however in my 5 mile patch I have reservoirs on which I have personally seen Black-throated Diver, Velvet Scoter, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls! 

Finally, I like the variety it gives - I can go to a gull roost in winter but move somewhere else in summer when the reservoir is slow. I sometimes find that only birding one site throughout the year leaves me feeling like I'm neglecting other sites with lots of potential.

It certainly won't be for everyone. Especially not for those who have a single site that they love and bird throughout the year. I'm sure there are also others who have done this for many years - but maybe with a 1 mile or a 10 mile radius.

But, for me, 5 miles seems about right - it seemed to combine enough of the nearby sites to have decent potential but is enough of a challenge and still encourages me to stay local.

Last week, I worked out I had seen 118 species, with the Rose-coloured Starling being 119. This is okay but there are many glaring omissions. I somehow, and I am still shocked as to how, have not seen Little Egret nor Shelduck in this area! It's an exciting prospect because I should easily be able to add to this list, and I might find some great new local sites in the process.


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