He Calls Cuckoo

Not she, notice. The female has a different call but generally keeps quiet as befits her secret mission. He was calling across much of the woodland and other parts this morning. He tends to like sunshine as I've said before.

This is not a cuckoo, in case anyone was deceived.  But I could not get a photo of the cuckoo this morning so substituted this crow. Substitution is something cuckoos know a lot about so should not be offended. The crow anyway needed recognition for the patience shown when being pestered by a noisy offspring of its own.

I was away from Blacka staying in Shropshire, surrounded by farmland, attractive enough in its way. On return, the first thing I heard not a minute after stepping onto Blacka was a cuckoo calling. Seconds later I saw him flying off to another perch. This made me realise that in the whole week away I had heard no cuckoo at all. Hard not to draw a tentative conclusion that this bird and much other wildlife does not enjoy farmland as much as land that is less managed, preferably very little managed at all. Even the depredations of a restless and relentless conservation agenda has not yet reduced the whole site to the level of farmland. The ghastly sheep enclosure apart that is.  Time will come doubtless for the rest of it, so enjoy it while we can.