Cumbria Naturally
  • Home
  • Blog
  • My Books
    • Cumbrian Contrasts
    • A Lakeland Experience >
      • Introduction
      • Derwent
      • Langdale
      • Ullswater
      • Kentdale
    • About Scout Scar
    • Atlantic Odyssey
  • Other Writing
    • What Larks!
    • Further - Explore Shetland
    • Autumn Migration
    • Rydal and Nab Scar
    • Perspectives
    • The River Kent
    • Wings
  • Gallery
  • Contact

Cuckoo Watch- Stay Alert

11/5/2020

0 Comments

 
PictureWhitebeam and Ash - two in one

​Last night, the Prime Minister announces a new watch-word for Phase 2 of lock-down. 'Stay alert.' Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland  prefer the clarity of  ' Stay at Home.' They do not want visitors. Nor does Cumbria, which has one of the highest infection rates in the UK.
To see cuckoo this  morning,  staying alert is the  only way. Monday 11th May is cold and blustery.  Gathering clouds cast darkness over the land, then the sun breaks through- so light is fitful.  Difficult for bird watching.  

But the cuckoo presides in his traditional territory and he's putting a lot of energy into his constant call. I've seen the way his throat pulses, his whole body strains to emit the sound. 
​Stay alert,  and remember social-distancing.  Through a loud wind I listen for his call.   And I must take care not to disturb him.  With lock-down and a glorious spring, there are people walking in zones seldom visited and it puts pressure on wildlife.  In India, there are reports of turtles suddenly breeding in abundance on a beach which lock-down has made inaccessible.  Wildlife needs social-distancing, its own protected space where mankind does  not intrude. Cuckoo numbers have declined massively during my life-time, so it's always gratifying to know he has returned to Scout Scar to breed. 
Once again, I make use of a stone wall to come closer to the cuckoo's call.  I've barely time to take a couple of quick photographs before he flies.  In my mind's- eye I retain an image: long, pointed wings and a swift low flight. He's still calling from the same area so I patrol the wall, to and fro listening- watching to see if I can spy him.  He is loud and so close, hidden  the other side of a leafy cluster of hawthorn.
Last night, Keir Starmer, leader of the Opposition, suggested Boris Johnson's announcement raised more questions than it answered.  That's true of the cuckoo, which is what makes the bird so fascinating.  I see the meadow pipit who senses he's a threat  and tries to see him off.  I've found him here every day for the last week. He's working this territory, seeking females (he's promiscuous).  His lingering in the same territory gives me hope there are females about, but it's hard to know as they're rarely vocal  and their call is different from his. One of my most exciting cuckoo sightings was here in Cumbria, I followed the call of a male, hid where two walls intersected and watched. He was up on the top-stones, so close I hardly dared breathe. Suddenly, he dipped down to the ground and mated with a female he'd been watching and I hadn't seen. Then the two of them flew up onto the wall and sat there for a while.  I had seen cuckoo mating!  Theirs is a brief encounter.  Their parasitic habit entails no pair-bonding, no nest-building, no rearing.  
Of course I hope for better images than today's. But they're all part of the story, of my personal cuckoo archive, images and images of my mind's-eye, memories. 
Enter 'cuckoo' in search, top right of page, for more images, more encounters with cuckoo.
Suddenly, I hear the cuckoo behind me and turn to see him in a distant tree.  The moment you make eye-contact with a cuckoo, he flies.  He's breeding strategy is deception and secrecy. Not only is there a photographer looking in his direction but a meadow pipit is following his every move.  He flies and she sees him off. Even at a distance the classic cuckoo- stance is clear: wings drooped, tail cocked a little.
A raven is clamorous, trying to oust a buzzard from its territory.  On Scout Scar, there's a pool where I've seen swallows skimming low, drinking.  And Welsh Black cattle drink there too. Not this spring.  After a wet autumn and winter spring has been warm and dry. There are deep fissures in the mud on the Race Course and grass is burnt where it meets rock or tarmac. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Jan Wiltshire is a nature writer living in Cumbria. She also explores islands and coast and the wildlife experience. (See Home and My Books.)

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    November 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    April 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009
    January 2009
    January 2004

    Categories

    All
    A Local Patch
    Birdlife
    Butterflies And Moths
    Flowers
    Locations
    Views
    Walks
    Weather
    WIldlife

    RSS Feed

Website
Home
Blog
Gallery
Contact



​Cookie Policy
My Books
  • Intro - My books
  • ​Cumbrian Contrasts
  • A Lakeland Experience
  • About Scout Scar
  • Atlantic Odyssey
    ​
Other Writing
  • Intro - Other Writing
  • What Larks!
  • Further - Explore Shetland
  • Autumn Migration
  • Rydal and Nab Scar
  • Perspectives
  • The River Kent
  • Wings
Jan Wiltshire - Cumbria Naturally
© Jan Wiltshire 2019 All rights reserved
Website by Treble3