Cuckoo #55

We've been following the appearance of the Spoonbill(s) in the north west for the past few weeks and they have been turning up at Marshside and Lunt Meadows quite regularly recently. So this morning, we decided to go in search of them as we'd not been to Lunt for a couple of months. 

We ducked out on the Spoonies, BUT were treated to a wonderful showing by this juvenile cuckoo, right in front of the hide. As we opened the door, there were 3 men with cameras trained onto a stick and we were asked very nicely to "shhhhh" and they pointed to the cuckoo. I fired off a few shots before it flew off with the guys saying "it'll be back". 
My initial shots were not very good as I'd been taking shots of butterflies. We had to wait nearly an hour before it returned, but when it did, I was a little more prepared. 
I really wanted to post my extra as it's a little more interesting than a "bird on a stick" shot, but it's not that sharp. 

Grinning from ear to ear, we totally weren't bothered about the lack of Spoonbills, which will have to wait for another day, and headed home to do some jobs in the garden.