Change of plan

I quickly decided against a longer ride this morning (after I'd set off for a longer ride).  I knew migraine hangovers were a 48 hour thing really but it's raining tomorrow! Anyway, as I was circuiting back home over the Cow & Calf, I heard a cuckoo in a similar place to where I'd seen it almost two years ago. I formed a plan right there.

Little Dog and I headed up to the moors and took a stroll into the quarry.  Not hearing anything, I concluded they'd moved on.  But, a few steps later, you're going to guess what I heard!  A cuckoo - right opposite on the other side of the beck.  I thought I might have heard the peculiar call of the female and sure enough, I caught a couple of sightings of them both dashing through the boulders together.

We headed up and traversed quietly and slowly in to my little hiding place here.  And waited. And hoped.  I watched them for some time in the sunshine flitting around (you can play 'spot the pair' in the extras if you like!)  And then my luck was in! I had a quite a few moments with him not too far away and then he landed probably 6 metres in front of me, briefly while being chased by a wheatear.

I'm not sure if this is their tactic but the male seemed to blatantly cuckoo from high perches attracting attention of the little guys who didn't want him around, only for the female to nip in and lay eggs.  That's my assumption but I liked the idea of stealth and coordination.  Eventually, they headed over towards White Wells so we moseyed on down.

I was expecting rain by now so the lawn received an unexpected haircut before I headed out again on errands.  I met a traffic warden taking multiple photos of a car in front of me and I joked that he wasn't getting away with it!  We had a lovely chat which was followed by the sorting office guy offering to take my parcel despite being shut.  Fortunate timing and a generous man. 

My altered agenda turned out rather well.