I saw a video this weekend about a cuckoo (named Colin) near Guildford that has been coming to the same spot for about 6 years. This makes him about the oldest cuckoo ever studied in the country. He’s not too bothered by people and so each year a lot of photographers to to have a look at him when he stops off in the UK on his migration. We had one free day so we got up early and had a go.
Colin can be found in Thursley National Nature Reserve. I’d read reports that it’s a bit of a gamble as you can get everything between a really good showing and nothing depending on the day. We had alarms just after 4am and got there for 6.30am so that we could be set up for about 7am. Dawn was quite a lot earlier but generally Colin doesn’t show until later in the morning.
We photographed a few small birds whilst waiting and there were some lovely stonechats. Around 6 photographers were at the spot when we arrived but this swelled to over 30 over the course of the morning. People were generally very well behaved and formed a large semi-circle around the one main perch which had been erected. Anyone walking by might have thought we’d all found the holy grail.
Colin eventually dropped by briefly at about 10am and though it was fleeting, he posed nicely and we had a lovely little bit of light coming through. I was worried that the light would soon be getting too strong anyway so even though it was short I was absolutely delighted.
Though around 70% of the group remained, we gave up and headed home around 11am because there wasn’t a cloud for miles and the sun was just too strong. If it had been bright overcast then I’d have considered sticking around.
This was my first ever sighting of a cuckoo as they’re usually very secretive and you always hear them but never see them. We’re actually hoping to see more on a trip up to some hides in Scotland later this week.