Over the past couple of days we’ve been visiting new locations in search of trip and, perhaps more importantly, Hunter ticks. In the excitement of our Sooty Owl sighting I forgot to mention that our excursion to Lake Macquarie that morning added two much-needed Hunter ticks – Lewin’s Rail and Red-whiskered Bulbul. In the afternoon, following an afternoon browsing the Morpeth antique shops and eating ice cream, we heard and then saw Stubble Quail around Largs, another gap in my list filled. Yesterday the area around Jerrys Plains and Denman turned up trumps when we finally tracked down the recently established colony of Plum-headed Finch. Yengo National Park produce half a dozen more trip ticks this morning – taking our trip list to 239 and my overall Hunter List to 343. Tomorrow’s pelagic has unfortunately been cancelled, with a predicted swell of two and a half metres. That probably means the end of Hunter ticks for this visit – leaving me a few short to reach the Hunter Bird Observers Club ‘350’ badge.