It is been ages since I kept a year list (1999 if memory serves me right) and probably about the same time since I have worked on keeping a British list. I was finding twitching a fairly tedious exercise and surprisingly, when I started in my current job working for a large wildlife conservation charity, my interest diminished further. Spare time could have played a part as well of course. Tucked away on the PC though is a British and Stour Estuary list (two shy of 200 with recent addition of Sanderling and Mandarin), so I suppose the vestiges of a 'list bug' is lingering.
We are now in our third year living in Stutton and I have never kept a parish list. Nowadays, my active birding is mostly spent within the confines of the village, with the occasional foray down to Mistley Walls across the border in Essex. The place comes alive in the winter and on New Year's Day 2011 a three-quarter strength attempt at a day-list brought in a respectable 76 species. I think I had another day of birding the village ten days later and that was it. The parish-list fell off the list. The arrival of a small child may have played a part as well.
So, my thanks to Patchwork Challenge. I accept your offer. My first attempt at drawing a map came in under 3sq.km at 2.996sq.km! All luck, no judgement. Reservoir and estuary feature strongly and are easily accessible, but migrants are going to require much more time and effort, both of which may be in short supply come the spring with number two due then. I know that Sedge Warbler is going to be tricky, but in contrast all three divers should be possible. Mediterranean Gull would be a village first for me, whilst skuas never make it this far up the estuary (or indeed in my ten years here - never on the estuary). I shall have to go through the list in more detail, draw up some predictions and get birding done.
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