Written by Pauline Kidner
Charity Founder and Advisor
Mother’s Day in March reminds me of the strong bond that wildlife has. That desire to save their young can be amazing. If you come across a nest while working in the garden or discover a beautiful fawn curled up in long grass, as long as they look healthy and aren’t crying, the babies are really best left alone. This will give the mum chance to come back to them. In many instances, the mother will return and remove them one by one to a safer place.
We have often been able to return badger and fox cubs, fawns, hedgehogs and birds to the mother, although this is done with a lot of work and monitoring. About 50% of the time the mother will return and the young will have a better chance of survival with a parent to show them life skills.
Sometimes mums work over and above the usual bond with their young. Next month is the time to hear the cuckoo, which is the male calling. It is often the taken to be the sign of summer on its way. The cuckoo is a dove-sized bird with blue, grey plumage and a barred belly. It is now considered to be on the red list as this bird is seriously in decline. The poem I know is:-
The cuckoo arrives in April, it sings its song in May, by June it will have laid its eggs and July the cuckoo flies away.
Cuckoos usually choose the same species as the nest that it came from as it can mimic the colour of the eggs. The females will lay anything from 15 – 22 single eggs so that’s quite a few nests to find! Once hatched the young cuckoos will force the correct chicks of the species out of the nest, growing at a fast rate. Still being fed for two weeks once fully fledged and out of the nest, the cuckoo juvenile will be many times the size of the parents that are usually working tremendously hard to find enough food for this ever-hungry chick. The adult cuckoos fly away to Africa in June but the young ones are a little later to leave once they are in good condition.
A favourite nest chosen by the cuckoo is often one built by Meadow Pipit. This bird will only weigh 15-20 gms whereas the adult cuckoo can weigh 105-130gms. A juvenile cuckoo will be eating almost twice the amount of food that an adult will need. Anyone with teenage children will know the food forever disappearing from the fridge or cupboard! The adult cuckoos fly away to Africa in June but the young ones are a little later to leave once they are in good condition.
So, this month, remember that thank you for your mum for all that she has done for you – and mums put your feet up just for one day, you deserve it!
