The first Cuckoo of Spring.

The iconic call of the Cuckoo is somehow a quintessential part of Spring in the UK and it is this fellow who seems to herald in the good weather and banishes the bad. Actually he is something of a 'baddie' himself, and so too his milk to dark chocolate plumaged wife who's call is more like a child blowing bubbles in a thick milk shake with an old fashioned sowing machine whirring in the background. She lays an egg in a host birds nest. Perhaps a Reed warbler in a marshy area, a Hedge sparrow in your garden or a Meadow pipet up on the Downs?

Recently I have joined The BTO (The British Trust for Ornithology) and was fascinated to read about the Cuckoos that have been tagged in England and tracked by satellite, in particular 'Chris'. A male who is on his way at this moment in time and should be in the British Isles in a week or so, having headed this way from his wintering place in the jungles of the Congo in Africa. So, are Cuckoos British, African or simply Nomads?

This amazing information reveals all but it is ongoing and please do join in by adopting a cuckoo via the BTO if you can. Actually this seems rather appropriate seeing as the cuckoo's host birds are tricked into adopting a cuckoo haha!