Not so Common cuckoo

We went back to see Colin today, confident that he would make an appearance. We had to wait a couple of hours but he didn't let us down and arrived at about 2.30 pm. When we got there, a couple who had come down specially from Milton Keynes to see Colin were already waiting, excitedly, it being their first time. Then a couple of birders came along and stopped for about quarter of an hour before heading off, and then a young man came along, having already got some good pictures of the hobbies which are now feasting on the dragonflies down by the boardwalk. Finally, shortly before 2.30 pm another photographer turned up with a non-digital camera, most unusual in this day and age. He had discovered the location of a Dartford warbler nest this morning and had been staking it out, getting some really good photos, he reckoned (although I guess he'll have to wait for his slides to be developed to be sure).

After waiting for two hours I was getting a bit restless and decided to stretch my legs a bit as it was quiet. Just as I was walking away I saw a bird fly into the top of an oak tree behind us and realised it was a cuckoo so I said, 'Cuckoo!' and legged it back to my position just as Colin cuckoo-ed and swooped down on to one of the perches. Then, as is his usual routine, he posed on all the perches in turn and, after about 15 minutes, off he went.

When we were there on Friday, as well as the various logs and branches people had put up as perches there was a wooden gate complete with post! The other people there at the time didn't know how it got there and today, oddly, it had disappeared.