Last day with the Cuckoos.
16th June 2026
A white sky with limited blue interludes prevailed for almost all of the morning and this is the worst scenario for colour - it takes most of the detail of your subject away. However, you can't change it so you have to make the best of the conditions. Add to this intermittent rain showers just for good measure and you have all the makings of a very difficult photographic endeavour.
However, as long as there is a female Cuckoo around there will be males calling and flying, so get near to the area the female is in (far from easy) and you have a chance of a photograph. I could her bubbling call coming from a very overgrown area of Gorse and Bracken, interspersed with a few Hawthorn trees. Under this Bracken was Couch Grass which is the worst plant for walking on because it's so uneven and when you can't see the ground it's even more difficult. Water was also running in places and forming boggy areas which were also invisible until you trod in them, this was very awkward terrain indeed.
I was hiding in amongst one of the hawthorns, which by nature is most uncomfortable and had suffered a number of thorn punctures to my hands, so I was beginning to question what I was doing there.
One of these punctures had later, I think, caused my hand to swell up and become quite painful, which resulted in me having to take anti inflammatory medication for a few days.
To get back; I couldn't see the female Cuckoo but I could see a male on top of a distant tree, not a good shot, too far, but I waited awhile.
After about an hour I gave up any hope of seeing the female and decided to pick my way back out (with great difficulty) of the Bracken and Gorse.
At last I made it back onto even ground, but then suddenly a male Cuckoo appeared over my head making some of the Cuckoo's characteristic croaking and snorting noises. These birds are deceptively quick and agile in flight but I managed to fire off a quick burst as he passed.
I thought that was it but I could still see him and he was coming back towards me and quite close, he was obviously wound up looking for the female. As he zoomed across me, which is a very difficult scenario.
I managed to shoot him, but against the dreaded white sky - better than nothing I suppose.
He disappeared, but two hundred yards further on he reappeared, very briefly this time and I managed to fire off a limited number of shots, fortuitously against one of the very weak patches of the above mentioned blue sky.
I didn't see or hear any more cuckoos as I walked back to my car, and to be truthful I had had enough of Bracken, Gorse and Hawthorn.
However, as long as there is a female Cuckoo around there will be males calling and flying, so get near to the area the female is in (far from easy) and you have a chance of a photograph. I could her bubbling call coming from a very overgrown area of Gorse and Bracken, interspersed with a few Hawthorn trees. Under this Bracken was Couch Grass which is the worst plant for walking on because it's so uneven and when you can't see the ground it's even more difficult. Water was also running in places and forming boggy areas which were also invisible until you trod in them, this was very awkward terrain indeed.
I was hiding in amongst one of the hawthorns, which by nature is most uncomfortable and had suffered a number of thorn punctures to my hands, so I was beginning to question what I was doing there.
One of these punctures had later, I think, caused my hand to swell up and become quite painful, which resulted in me having to take anti inflammatory medication for a few days.
To get back; I couldn't see the female Cuckoo but I could see a male on top of a distant tree, not a good shot, too far, but I waited awhile.
After about an hour I gave up any hope of seeing the female and decided to pick my way back out (with great difficulty) of the Bracken and Gorse.
At last I made it back onto even ground, but then suddenly a male Cuckoo appeared over my head making some of the Cuckoo's characteristic croaking and snorting noises. These birds are deceptively quick and agile in flight but I managed to fire off a quick burst as he passed.
I thought that was it but I could still see him and he was coming back towards me and quite close, he was obviously wound up looking for the female. As he zoomed across me, which is a very difficult scenario.
I managed to shoot him, but against the dreaded white sky - better than nothing I suppose.
He disappeared, but two hundred yards further on he reappeared, very briefly this time and I managed to fire off a limited number of shots, fortuitously against one of the very weak patches of the above mentioned blue sky.
I didn't see or hear any more cuckoos as I walked back to my car, and to be truthful I had had enough of Bracken, Gorse and Hawthorn.