Red List Species at Broadwater Warren
We have been hearing the call of a male and female Cuckoo this week at Broadwater Warren. The Cuckoo is a top-priority red list species, so it’s a wonderful noise to hear while on the reserve.
Fleeting Visitors
Cuckoos are summer visitors and are only in the UK for about six weeks before returning to Africa. The female Cuckoo will find a suitable bird’s nest and replace one of its eggs with her own, leaving her chicks to be brought up by these parent birds, usually Meadow Pipits, Reed Warblers and Dunnocks.
Pushy Customer
The adopting parent birds will then have their own eggs or chicks pushed out of the nest and continue to feed the baby cuckoo which is often bigger than its parent bird. These parents do a great job and often feed the cuckoo for two weeks after the first flight.