Things had been going pretty slowly this morning with only a handful of commoner Warblers caught and Ringed on the big mound for our efforts. But thats the thing about this hobby, you genuinely have no idea whats going to happen next! And so, as the time approached 8.00am I went up for another check of the nets. Graham (Sless) decided to join me, and as we were walking round I mentioned to him how I hate it when there's nothing in the nets. Unfortunately it appeared thats exactly what was happening on this net check, that is until we got to the very last net! As we turned the corner I saw straight away that something was in the net. It was a decent size, mainly grey with a barred chest. ''Wow another Sparrowhawk!'' I said as I ran towards it. But then when I got to the bird and grasped hold of it I saw that it wasnt a Sparrowhawk at all, it was a Cuckoo!!! Never in a million years did I expect to see one of those in the nets, but here was one right in front of me. I quickly and safely got it out of the net and excitedly took it back to the Ringing Hut. As John had never Ringed a Cuckoo before (and had superiority!) he pulled rank and did the honours. Unsurprisingly it was the first Cuckoo ever Ringed in the Coastal Park. It also delighted the clutch of birders that had gathered for an extremely rare close view of a scarce species for these parts.
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