Cuckoo Hunting @ Whitlingham

A morning stroll around Whitlingham started with a female Bullfinch by the Little Broad, a Kestrel over the meadows and a Great Spotted Woodpecker nearby. Walking the river bank i saw many young fledgelings including Reed Warbler, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat. From the bird hide i picked up my first Great Black-backed Gull at Whitlingham this year. Thorpe Marshes had little of note so i thought about heading home. I then heard a Cuckoo calling in the direction of Whitlingham Woods and had to go investigate. I walked through the woods stopping near the pines to investigate a small flock of tits and in the same tree i also found my first Goldcrest on the patch this year. Stopping to see if i could still hear the Cuckoo i found a Spotted Flycatcher, perched up in the sparse pines. A new 'patch life' bird. Leaving the woods i sat on a bench by the river and Cuckoo then appeared, flying across the river and over Thorpe Marshes, capping off a nice morning. An evening trip to Cley Marshes NWT, failed to show the Chilean Flamingos that had been present the previous, but a summer plumage Spotted Redshank was nice to see, and from the Visitor Centre mound a distant Spoonbill was a year tick, but not the most satisfying.