A cracking couple of hours this evening, primarily to check some of the flushes on the western edge with damselflies in mind. The bracken has shot up since my last visit so not easy to find a path across some bits. Whinchats were busy feeding young in 3 spots with the parents chasing the many moths that were on the wing. A few Housemartins sweeping low over the damper areas, plus the usual Whitethroats, Reed buntings and Lesser redpolls.
A quiet but persistent rasping led me to a
young cuckoo tucked away deep in a hawthorn begging it's pipit foster parent for food. It seemed impatient and flew out as if to follow the pipits but would stay close to the original spot moving along a fenceline. In the 20-30 minutes I was watching it the pipit(s) were returning to it every minute with beaks full of insects. Nice to catch up with a single
Scarce blue-tailed on a fast evaporating flush. Some of the channels that were full of water weeks ago are completely dry.
