WT tick!

Nope, not some White Throated waif but a far more satisfying personal Lakes and ringing tick during CES this morning: Willow Tit! Well worth the 4am get-up; 129 OTL. Not forgetting, of course, a valuable record and important data on a scarce and declining species.

STOP PRESS: Not only has our satellite-tagged Nunnery Lakes Cuckoo (that was still here last Thursday) now appeared 160km south of Paris but Neil Calbrade has also weighed in with another long-awaited BirdTrack Challenge grip-back: Crossbill! A two-tick day in June?! Who'd have thought it? Nice one Neil - 130.

Double Whammy

Having got out a bit late this morning I rushed down the lakes, keen to get down to the bottom end only to get a text from Nick informing me I had walked past a reeling Grasshopper Warbler (a Lakes tart's tick for Nick as it happens!), that thankfully was still there when I walked back past a while later. Although regular, Gropper was by no means a certainty, unlike the Cuckoo calling from the neighbouring Barnham Cross Common taking us to 116.

Cuckoo

This won't scare the BTO in the slightest, but a Cuckoo today (found by Derek & Sarah Niemann) moves The Lodge score  to 107.