I thought it was all over – but it certainly wasn’t!!
09th June 2021
Personally speaking it has been a particularly disappointing spring for Cuckoos, the best Cuckoo month in the Brecon Beacons is undoubtedly May and we all know what happened to the weather then! All my best Cuckoo sites were Cuckoo-less, if that’s how you word it. I visited all these hitherto productive habitats a number of times without hearing any calling birds and if Cuckoos are present in May anywhere then they will be calling. It was really cold and grey with frequent showers at these places, but that won’t necessarily put these birds off, they are tougher than people realise. However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was that there was no evidence of the Cuckoo’s primary food – hairy caterpillars. I put the lack of caterpillars down to the aforementioned inclement weather that pervaded during May – record rainfall and the distinct lack of warmth.
I have been driving around the local patch over the last two weeks and while passing through an area where I don’t normally hear Cuckoos I picked up what I thought was a female calling, the females have a soft and delightful ‘bubbling’ call which most people are not familiar with because unlike the male it is not far carrying. I parked up and listened and a repeat call confirmed it, it was fortunate that I heard it because the females don’t call repeatedly like the males. However, that was the easy part because after I pinpointed where she was calling from, a dense willow tree, she was very reluctant to fly from there into the open. I drove away after an hour of no sightings but returned quietly a few days later and surprised her off the grass near the same willow tree where she was feeding on, presumably caterpillars, of which thanks to the now much warmer weather there is a much greater abundance – it’s not rocket science. Frustratingly she once again became ensconced in her willow tree with very little movement and if to frustrate me even further started to call again, which now seemed like mockery. I drove away feeling like an actor in a scene from the film Groundhog Day.
Fast forward to yesterday and the same previous scenario duly played out, so I drove on after a short while to another site to look for other birds, it’s not all about Cuckoos - says the man who can’t photograph one! On my return journey passing through the same site on my way home, I couldn’t believe that I could now hear a male Cuckoo calling, where had he been when I needed him? I drove on and parked on a piece of rough ground off the road. I quickly set my tripod and lens up and unbelievably and without wishing it to sound like a scene from a film again, four Cuckoos were now suddenly flying around me, with one male astonishingly trying to land on my head or lens, I couldn’t tell which because I literally had to drop to the floor to avoid him. The reason for this frenzied behaviour was obviously the female who remarkably had now left the sanctuary of her willow tree and was being pursued by three males. I have always maintained in many previous blogs that this situation is where the photographer has the advantage over Cuckoos, insomuch as this mating frenzy leads to very unpredictable behaviour indeed, and they will frequently perch anywhere, which really is totally out of character for these very street wise birds.
Cuckoos always like isolated trees and bushes and in particular dead ones where they can survey without obstruction the surrounding area. With this in mind I could see a dead hawthorn tree just up the field so I hurried along keeping low behind a dry stone perimeter wall, but already I could see a male perched in this tree, this was disappointing because they will always fly away at the merest sight of people and he was also being harassed by the inevitable Meadow Pipits. Surprisingly he let me get reasonably close and I was able to take a couple of shots.
He then looked behind at me before flying off.
They rarely stay long in this situation.
I moved along and set up and crouched down behind the wall opposite this tree, a bit closer this time, and waited. The hullabaloo continued down field but I sat tight, this is always the best policy, it’s no good chasing around. A Cuckoo came flying up the field and I couldn’t tell if it was male or female until it perched right in the tree and I could now see it was the previously elusive female – at last!
Good things come to those who wait and I had great pleasure in capturing an image of her given her previous shyness. A seemingly lost cause with the shy female had now turned into a photographic opportunity – you never know because it’s not over until the slightly overweight lady sings!
I have been driving around the local patch over the last two weeks and while passing through an area where I don’t normally hear Cuckoos I picked up what I thought was a female calling, the females have a soft and delightful ‘bubbling’ call which most people are not familiar with because unlike the male it is not far carrying. I parked up and listened and a repeat call confirmed it, it was fortunate that I heard it because the females don’t call repeatedly like the males. However, that was the easy part because after I pinpointed where she was calling from, a dense willow tree, she was very reluctant to fly from there into the open. I drove away after an hour of no sightings but returned quietly a few days later and surprised her off the grass near the same willow tree where she was feeding on, presumably caterpillars, of which thanks to the now much warmer weather there is a much greater abundance – it’s not rocket science. Frustratingly she once again became ensconced in her willow tree with very little movement and if to frustrate me even further started to call again, which now seemed like mockery. I drove away feeling like an actor in a scene from the film Groundhog Day.
Fast forward to yesterday and the same previous scenario duly played out, so I drove on after a short while to another site to look for other birds, it’s not all about Cuckoos - says the man who can’t photograph one! On my return journey passing through the same site on my way home, I couldn’t believe that I could now hear a male Cuckoo calling, where had he been when I needed him? I drove on and parked on a piece of rough ground off the road. I quickly set my tripod and lens up and unbelievably and without wishing it to sound like a scene from a film again, four Cuckoos were now suddenly flying around me, with one male astonishingly trying to land on my head or lens, I couldn’t tell which because I literally had to drop to the floor to avoid him. The reason for this frenzied behaviour was obviously the female who remarkably had now left the sanctuary of her willow tree and was being pursued by three males. I have always maintained in many previous blogs that this situation is where the photographer has the advantage over Cuckoos, insomuch as this mating frenzy leads to very unpredictable behaviour indeed, and they will frequently perch anywhere, which really is totally out of character for these very street wise birds.
Cuckoos always like isolated trees and bushes and in particular dead ones where they can survey without obstruction the surrounding area. With this in mind I could see a dead hawthorn tree just up the field so I hurried along keeping low behind a dry stone perimeter wall, but already I could see a male perched in this tree, this was disappointing because they will always fly away at the merest sight of people and he was also being harassed by the inevitable Meadow Pipits. Surprisingly he let me get reasonably close and I was able to take a couple of shots.
He then looked behind at me before flying off.
They rarely stay long in this situation.
I moved along and set up and crouched down behind the wall opposite this tree, a bit closer this time, and waited. The hullabaloo continued down field but I sat tight, this is always the best policy, it’s no good chasing around. A Cuckoo came flying up the field and I couldn’t tell if it was male or female until it perched right in the tree and I could now see it was the previously elusive female – at last!
Good things come to those who wait and I had great pleasure in capturing an image of her given her previous shyness. A seemingly lost cause with the shy female had now turned into a photographic opportunity – you never know because it’s not over until the slightly overweight lady sings!