#BWKm0 - Getting my arse severely kicked?

4 hrs 32 minutes for my first ever London Marathon (2000) - not so sad for a guy already on the wrong side of 45? Says who? - says me and that's the only opinion that matters in this situation. Age does this to an individual as wear and tear takes it's toll on the skeletal fabric which holds the biomass together. However, the upside of getting old is something which no amount of training, nor education, can substitute or bypass, it's called experience! This single factor is exactly why the greatest brains are housed inside the skulls of folk who have seen the sun rise over many a decade, not just finished wiping the snot from their first bout of flu.
Bev and I moved into our tiny dwelling nearly twenty years ago and since that moment, I have been recording the avian and mothing highlights with a degree of kleptomanic obsession that only like-minded souls will be able to align with. Straight away I've aliented a section of the visitors to this blog, purely because they are not of my generation and will very unlikely be in the position of ever owning their own property (if they live in the UK!) Both moths and birds have gone by the way as my angling exploits have, once again, come to the fore, but I can't deny the joy that both these hobbies have provided me as life has wandered it's erratic course.
Apparently we're eleven days into this garden bird watching gig and I'm miles off the pace. There are gardens in London already boasting lists in excess of fifty species whilst I'm stuck on thirty-three (sorry Darren - that's a factory joke!). How can this be so? I live on the Isle of Thanet, a garden list of 111 species (a patch list from the adjoining farmland is 207 species - although there is a lot more habitat variation and space). My reference to the London Marathon is not without reason, this "lockdown" birding caper will be just that. Those guys who've sprinted into the higher echelons have now got very little to look forward to, so will very likely burn out before the real gig gets started?
Twenty years of looking out from the garden has me optimistic for the future and will, surely, see me close the gap on these early pace setters?

I wonder how many gardens have Purple Heron on the list? Mine does!

I was sat in my van, social distancing during my meal break today, when I spotted a small bunch of thrushes (Redwings at a guess) moving north over the adjacent factory units. With only thirty three on the list my chances of seeing something new are far greater than if I'd already recorded every species on the county records for March! We're in this for the long haul, so we'd better get used to it!