A Bird in the Hand

I spent the most the morning sitting in the garden sky watching while waiting for the carpet fitters to arrive. In that time up to 8 Common Buzzards and 4 Marsh Harriers were over the fields with numerous Corvids, also a single Hobby, a Grey Heron, a Little Egret, 2 Yellow Wagtails, a steady trickle of Swallows and Sand Martins and a couple of Goldfinches. Not a bad haul from the garden. 

 Once the carpets were done I visited the observatory where 2 Pied Flycatchers had been seen. While I was there a juvenile Cuckoo was trapped in the Heligoland Trap, a superb looking bird.
Once the bird was released I made way round The Moat, Lloyds, The Lighthouse and The Experimental Station seeing 1 Whinchat, 1 Redstart, 5 Wheatears, 6 Willow Warblers, 6 Common Whitethroats, 1 Chiffchaff but still no Pied Flycatchers.
A late afternoon visit to The moat and the Cuckoo was perched on the Heligoland.

 This afternoon at the ARC still at least 1 Black-necked Grebe, c50 Golden Plover, 1 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 4 Common Sandpipers, 1 Knot, 8 Dunlin and 2 Ringed Plovers. By the track to the pines 5+ Common Whitethroats, 2 Lesser Whitethroats and 4+ Willow Warblers.
A short watch from the fishing boats was very quiet, the highlight being 8 Turnstone on the beach.