A very interesting BBS survey this morning on my square above Tal-y-bont, with cuckoos very much in evidence.
On arriving at the farm in my van, a cuckoo could be heard calling nearby, but off the square. Halfway along the first transect, I heard a cuckoo calling ahead of me, again off-square. Then it was calling from my square (!) as I reached the beginning of the return transect. I suspected that each bout of calling was from the same bird, even though it had travelled some distance from its original location.
Then I noticed it on a fence post actually on the transect, only about 30 yards away, so I had no alternative to stand and watch. It was squatting down with its wings both lowered, and was raising and lowering its tail in a rhythmic fashion. As it did so, it rotated round on the fence post, and called quietly. Absolutely fascinating! It was clearly a male. The local meadow pipits were all on fenceposts as well, appearing to be fascinated (or perhaps horrified) by this spectacle. Then I realised there was a second cuckoo, more brownish, on another post nearby.
I had to move on - after all, this was science! The male cuckoo flew off, and could then, I thought, be heard calling from the direction where I had first heard it, possibly half a mile away. But there were still two cuckoos - both females, I thought, on fence posts not far away from me, with meadow pipits in attendance.
That was the narrative I put together for my cuckoo sightings; it may not have been correct, but there were definitely three birds, and there was breeding activity taking place. The cuckoo seems to be becoming a rare species, which makes it all the more exciting!
Also, one of the grasshopper warblers was still singing, it looked like wheatears were breeding, and the whinchat was still in its territory.
Jeremy Moore