An evening jaunt to one of my favourite places, Two Tree Island, to see if there were any cuckoos about.
There was an almighty ruckus amongst some oystercatchers, which was quite amusing. There were quite a lot of the other usual waders - loads of avocets, sitting on eggs now by the look of them.
We saw an owl, which I assumed to be a short-eared. Then we met a few ornitho-types with binoculars and stuff and had a chat with one of them.
The owl, apparently is a long eared. I'd never seen one before. Then a nightingale started to sing and we listened to it for quite some time. I was able to phone three people up and they could hear it too. A wonderful, romantic, evocative sound. I'll have to listen to some Beethoven in a minute. It's the first nightingale I've heard since Annie and I rode the tandem across Ditchling Common on the May FNRttC last year.
Then, as we walked towards the eastern end of the island, a pair of owls settled in a clump of stunted oaks to our left. They were so close we could hear their wing-beats (owls are amongst the most silent of fliers, for obvious reasons) and their mewing. I reckon they've got a nest in there.
Didn't hear any cuckoos, but apparently one was seen there on Saturday and another ornitho-type we chatted to said he'd heard one today at Wakering Stairs, where Mrs. Wow and I went yesterday.