Cuckoo
The cuckoo like a hawk in flight
With narrow pointed wings
Wews oer our heads - soon out of sight
And as she flies she sings
And darting down the hedge row side
She scar[e]s the little bird
Who leaves the nest it cannot hide
While plaintive notes are heard
[from The Cuckoo]
The cuckoo is a fascinating bird, not least because of the short space of time in which it is with us. Many adult birds arrive in early May and have left our shores by mid July, indeed there is an old rhyme that states
In April I open my bill
In May I sing night and day
In June I change my tune
In July away I fly
Cuckoos are well known for laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, but it is less well known that they remain loyal to a single host species, individuals lay their eggs in the nests of the species they themselves were brought up by and are able to produce eggs that mimic those of the host ! The most common host species are the meadow pipit and dunnock.
Cuckoos are the subject of much folklore. One theory was that cuckoos passed the winter deep inside hollow trees. Another that they transformed themselves into birds of prey during the winter.
Nor were such tales just the product of ignorance. The eminent British Ornithologists Club was long divided between those convinced that cuckoos laid their eggs on the ground, picked them up in their mouths and then deposited them in the nests of their hosts and those who argued for a more normal manner of egg laying, directly into the host nest.
Those in favour of the 'carrying' method argued that it was physically impossible for the large cuckoo to lay eggs normally in the small nests of its hosts. In fact the cuckoo is able to literally squirt the eggs into the nest in a matter of seconds.
In the last few years the best places to see and hear cuckoo around Helpston have been Castor Hanglands , Southey Woods and Bainton Pits. Three birds, two males, were seen at the Hanglands in May 2006.
Sadly the village itself hears the sound of the cuckoo much less frequently than in the past. Up until very recently its evocative call was a frequent sound across the Heath Road paddock and from Royce Wood, but since 2004 it has become much scarcer, although one was heard calling along Heath Road in mid May 2006. This is part of a wider national decline of up to 40% in the overall population.