An adult male Cuckoo in The Plantation has been a nice sight over the past two days, stopping to feed up on the abundant White Satin moth caterpillars. He was an especially welcome visitor given the terrible decline of this species in the UK in the last decade. Check out the BTO Cuckoo project to find out more about efforts to determine the cause of the problem.
To our amazement, whilst watching this bird, a juvenile Cuckoo appeared. Obviously, Cuckoos do not raise their own young, so it was very strange to see the two together.
The two birds sharing a section of dune-stabilising chestnut paling.
Doing some reading on the subject this evening, it seems that Cuckoos are known to form loose groups at particularly rich feeding grounds on migration, which is presumably what is occurring here. You learn something new every day!
Swallows have started fledging from nests around The Lifeboat House. These three enjoy sitting on the waste pipe underneath the toilet block, they fly off whenever someone flushes.
This female Pied Wagtail has suddenly taken a disliking to her reflection in the mirror of our quad bike. We've covered the mirror up now to save her efforts, so stand well back if you see us reversing.
Photos: Joe Cockram. Text: Ed.
No comments:
Post a Comment