Grip-backs!

Just as I arrived home and settled down for some quality time with the moth trap, a frankly embarrassing text from Neil appeared, informing me that I'd managed to drive past a Wheatear earlier on. D'oh! In order to accrue some Brownie points with my wife, I bundled my daughter into the buggy and set off on foot back to the Lakes. By the time I got there, Neil had rustled up a female Wheatear to go with this dapper - if somewhat distant - male:

A timely grip-back, exactly the same date as a pair appeared last year, and a species that one or two senior Nuns thought we might struggle for. It was all happening this morning; not long after Neil and I had headed off in different directions we both heard a Green Sandpiper - for me this was double happiness (like the ironically-named Chinese cigarettes): 100 for my own Lakes year list and 106 for the total :-)

By the time I finally got back home to watch Leeds thump Forest 4-1 (that'll be triple happiness, then!), I'd clocked up 65 species, with other main highlights being the Little Egret that has been kicking around since earlier in the week, plus plenty of singing Chiffchaffs and a few Blackcaps. Oh and a Red Chestnut in the afore-mentioned moth trap.

Edit: Turns out Ian Henderson beat us to the male Wheatear... there's a pattern developing here! At least we were first to Green Sand ;)