After my trip round Area 51 I headed off to Marston.  Figuring it was a nice evening and getting a bit late, I might get lucky and see a cuckoo.  This year was the first time I had actually seen one but I had never got a decent picture.

I reckoned I would have a good wait so had decided to invest £3.50 in a little folding chair so that at least I could sit down while I waited and probably wasted my time again.

When I arrived at Marston it was strangely quiet, not much happening at the scrape, just the odd Oystercatcher squeaking and not much at all from the warblers.  Found the remains of what appeared to be a Great Tit on the path which judging by the spread of freshly plucked feathers, had been introduced to the local Sparrowhawk!

Just past the treeline and heading to the bridleway there was a bit of sudden commotion from some warblers.  I was trying to see them but couldn’t and then when i put my binos down there was a cuckoo just sat on a branch and I managed to get off a few shots before it disappeared.  What a waste of £3.50 on a chair I didn’t use said the Yorkshireman in me, awesome said the little boy in me!

Feeling pretty pleased with myself, I headed back and stopped in at the hide to see if I could catch the Oystercatchers and the chick.

There was only one adult there and that kept disappearing and coming back with food from somewhere.  The chick has grown quickly and didn’t seem stressed when the adult left, just pleased when it returned!

There seemed to be a lot of new ducklings around, I suspect second broods and the Green Sandpiper put in a brief appearance.

All in all a pretty good day!

More pictures on my Flickr pages at http://www.flickr.com/photos/96741217@N06/