CUCKOO, CUCKOO

A new sound to the airwaves

A morning feed of mealworms for the local birds was in sunshine today, the first time for a while. As usual the blue tit parents were the first to appear and gratefully nipped in to take up to three mealworms to the ever-growing chicks.

A sunnier and warmer day seemed to put the chicks in to vocal overdrive as I could clearly hear them even before getting out of the car when I arrived home tonight.

As I was chatting to the neighbours and filling up the feeders with mealworms, a familiar sound came through the airwaves - cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo.

A clearly audible cuckoo was casting his voice near the house. One of the birds they usually 'ask' to foster their chick is the dunnock and we have plenty of them in the hedges and bushes around the garden.

I suspect one set of dunnock parents may be bringing up a cuckoo chick over the coming months, with or without their permission. I'll update any further sounds from the cuckoo when heard.

I spent some time this evening filming the blue tits, one of the videos you can see below. The warning call and the sound of the chicks can clearly be heard, so turn up the sound!



The parents are now looking a little dishevelled and will no doubt be thankful when chicks fledge and start fending for themselves.

That process may be another couple of weeks away, so I'll continue to feed small amounts of mealworms each day until the summer.

One more sight from this morning, which greeted me as I set off for work, was a mating pair of blackbirds. They will surely be on eggs soon and then feeding chicks in a few weeks; no doubt be glad of the mealworms I provide.

More updates over the bank holiday weekend and, with sunny and warm(ish) weather promised I hope to have video and photographic evidence of more local wildlife.