This Is Serious....Again!

I was on the upland fringe of Bowland yesterday, and spent six hours and covered at least as many miles between Harrisend and Birk Bank to find just one Stonechat....This is serious.

Cuckoo Marc Heath

But compensation came in the form of my first Cuckoo, I heard the bird calling, and looking ahead saw it on the lone Hawthorn as I skirted the foot of Harrisend. A Wheatear was nice, I think only the second one I've ever seen on this fell, at least 20 Meadow Pipit, 2 Reed Bunting, and singles of Blackbird, Dunnock, Linnet, and Wren.

In three hours I noted 12 species and a total of 30 birds on Birk Bank, one of which was a lone male Stonechat, which had taken me four hours and twenty minutes of  'chatting' to find. Also seen, 7 Meadow Pipit, 5 Red Grouse, 4 Wren, 3 Blackcap, 3 Willow Warbler, 2 Raven, a Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Curlew, and the only raptor seen all day, a Buzzard. 

The days non-bird event was a Common Lizzard and was a brown male, seen as a creature that lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile.   

Thanks for the Cuckoo Marc, a perfect copy of what I saw when my bird flew off the Hawthorn, chased by at least two Meadow Pipit.