The Ultimate in LOCAL ...

I've never done a garden birds year list.  Being so restrictive with limited scope its not something I've really considered before, until now. So, just for a change, 2024 will be my first attempt. I mean. how hard can it be, you just total up what you bump into when hanging out the washing or doing the moth trap or weeding or whatever.

My own rules are - I will count all seen or heard from within my home boundary. We have a good radius view South West around to North for about a kilometre, but North around to South is more obscured at maybe 10 to 50 mtrs or so ( of course on a clear night I can see across several million miles but you know what I mean). At night there is little noise pollution so calls along the coast can be heard if it is still.

My all time garden list stands at  143 with Common Sandpiper missing although I think I have heard one? and Hawfinch that I saw once from the back hedge across the field that had I been on our drive I could have seen it. But I wasn't.

Last year I had Quail, Siberian Stonechat and Firecrest as highlights but some years there aren't any.

Grey Partridges in the back field over our wall.

My 2024 list so far stands at 46 sp. - 

1. Grey Partridge 8 lekking in the back field on 08/02/24
2. Pheasant
3. Pink footed Goose regular parties going to and fro over the house.
4. Greylag a few back and forward as with Pinks.
5. Feral Pigeon Yes I am counting it. They're more wild here than the Pheasants.
6. Woodpigeon
7. Collared Dove
8. Golden Plover heard several nights calling as they head into field to feed.
9. Snipe 1 heard 'scraping' close behind our garden last night.
10. Woodcock 1 at dusk on 15/01/24 flew along just outside our drive.
11. Curlew flying over to coast and back on feeding missions.
12. Redshank 1 a rare bird for the garden flew in to the flooded corner of the back field early Jan I forgot to note it down.
13. Black headed Gull
14. Common Gull
15. Herring Gull
16. Great black backed Gull, gulls are daily flying from the sea inland. 
17. Buzzard 
18. Tawny Owl very active since new year calling in and just outside our garden.
19. Great spotted Woodpecker male and female regular on our feeders.
20. Kestrel one flushed our feeders during Big Garden Birdwatch in January.
21. Magpie
22. Rook
23. Jackdaw
24. Carrion Crow
25. Coal Tit
26. Blue Tit
27. Great Tit
28. Skylark small numbers over now starting to sing.
29. Long tailed Tit 6 regularly on our feeders.
30. Goldcrest 1 wintering around our feeders picking bits of dropped fatball scraps.
31. Wren Resident in the garden.
32. Starling daily, small roost in next doors conifers maybe 100 birds.
33. Blackbird resident.
34. Fieldfare a few seen, 1 in off overhead last week, one this morning with Starlings.
35. Song Thrush singing every morning now.
36. Redwing few seen as with Fieldfare
37. Mistle Thrush one in song behind garden.
38. Robin Resident
39. House Sparrow Resident
40. Tree Sparrow up to 30 winter in the garden. Several pairs breed.
41. Dunnock Resident has bred.
42. Grey Wagtail 1 has been on house rooves seen from the garden.
43. Pied Wagtail as above.
44. Chaffinch Resident
45. Goldfinch Resident has bred
46. Siskin a few over none at feeders yet.

This is the Back Field boundary. It is the view west from our house, you can see it is uninterrupted for some way.  

This is the view towards our house from the North facing SSE. You can see how close the sea is, but we can't see it from home!

The above few shots taken during lockdown 2020.