A familiar sound of summer has returned to the reserve over the past week, the cuckoo. A fantastic looking bird with some fascinating abilities. Firstly they are known as ‘brood parasites’ which means they lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. The female will come along to the nest, usually of birds like dunnocks and reed warblers, and kick one of the eggs out. She then lays one of her eggs in its place. What makes this even sneakier is that the cuckoo can mimic what the eggs of the other bird looks like, so when the bird returns, it doesn’t notice anything has happened and continues to look after the egg as though it were its own. Once the young have hatched they then kick out the other birds eggs so they can get all the food from the parents!
Secondly they have patterns like a sparrowhawk, with barring on their bellies and long tails. It’s been found that because they look like sparrowhawks to smaller birds, they are more likely to leave them alone and much less likely to attack them. This gives them a much better chance of being able to lay their eggs in another birds nest without being mobbed.
The title refers to the clock In our visitor centre, which has different bird noises for each hour. When two o’clock comes round and the cuckoo sounds and everyone in the vicinity who doesn’t know it’s the clock asks if there’s a cuckoo. Usually the answer is no, but now the opposite has now started happening, people are hearing the call of the cuckoo and assuming it’s the clock, when it’s the real deal giving it the beans from outside!
Recent sightings 15/04 – 21/04
Avocet, Bearded reedling, Bittern, Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Canada goose, Cetti's warbler, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cuckoo, Curlew, Dunlin, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Linnet, Little egret, Little grebe, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied wagtail, Pochard, Reed bunting, Reed warbler, Robin, Sand martin, Sedge warbler, Shelduck, Shoveler, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Redshank, Stonechat, Swallow, Teal, Tufted duck, Whimbrel, Willow warbler, Woodpigeon.
Please note that we take our recent sightings list from the visitor sightings board that anyone can contribute to. This is great as everyone can get involved, but obviously can lead to potential errors too as they aren’t always verified! We try to keep this list as accurate as possible but if you see something unusual feel free to comment here!