It’s been a very busy orphan bird season with many, many garden bird species so it caused a surprise when we had a young cuckoo brought in. I personally haven’t heard the cuckoo sound this year which is sad as it usually heralds the start of the summer. Maybe not so bad for the host who has the cuckoo egg laid in their nest. It will look the same as the other eggs in the nest as a cuckoo will usually lay the egg in a nest built by the same species that she would have hatched from herself. Once the cuckoo egg hatches it will grow as an amazing speed very quickly becoming larger that the other chicks. The cuckoo will push the other chicks out of the nest. Should there be unhatched eggs, the cuckoo chick will get the eggs on its back and tip them over the edge of the nest. Meantime the parents continue to feed this chick which has a vividly red mouth to attract the parents over the other chicks and can eventually be twice the size of parent birds until it finally flies away.
There is a rhyme about the cuckoo which is : ‘The cuckoo comes in April, sings the month of May, changes its tune in the middle of June, and in July he flies away.’ So, the cuckoo will be starting its migration to Africa across 22 countries to spend the winter there.
July and August is the time that poultry moult and you will notice the mallard drakes will loose their vivid green neck and grey and become a drab brown. This is extra camouflage while they are unable to fly. Time to look for feathers and see if you can find which bird they have come from.
We will be open for the August bank holiday for three days – 26th, 27th and 28th August so we hope to see you there. It’s the last weekend of fun and games so do join us. We are available for advice but please bear with us at this busy time of year as even with 3 people on reception, we are sometimes unable to keep up with all the calls – 01278 783250