A busy day today and I only managed to spend an hour at NwH RSPB reserve. After ten minutes a Cuckoo sang just opposite the office-track, probably on the over-head wire partially obscured by the surrounding trees. I then saw it fly into the wood followed a second later by another. In flight and unless they 'cuckoo' it is fairly difficult to sex them.
I think I would be safe to describe the Cuckoo as iconic, encapsulating a very British part of these Sacred Isles, that said a similarly British icon flew over as the Cuckoo sang. A Spitfire with an equally instantly distinguishable sound flew south from across the Thames no doubt on its way to a bank holiday weekend display.
I followed them into the wood and heard a male singing and the grunting gawk of a female nearby.
Listening for another ten or so minutes two Cuckoos started singing a hundred metres apart as a duet almost, needless to say at this stage I saw none of them, either a male and female initially or a female with two males, but I shall continue on.
The North Kent Marshes are a very special area and worth preserving at all cost.