One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.

Nidderdale Moorland Group

A now scarce summer visitor elsewhere, but still regularly found on our managed moorlands.

One who soon departs for warmer climates in Africa after only arriving here from April to May, the Cuckoo is always popular with our local bird watchers and wildlife photographers and we have very kindly been sent these two fantastic pictures from one of those talented photographers who spends many hours observing our moorland Cuckoo's each spring as they arrive back in the dale.

On our managed moorlands around Nidderdale the small, hard working and often over looked Meadow Pipit's are a favourite target for the Cuckoo's who are looking for nests to lay their single egg in.

With a short incubation period of only 12 days, this allows the larger Cuckoo chick to eject the eggs and young of it's host parent once it hatches.

As the Cuckoo does not rear it's own young this also allows adult Cuckoos to return to Africa a lot earlier than other birds who migrate as they leave the rearing duties of their chick to their chosen host species.

Cuckoo's are known as 'brood parasite's' as they can lay up to 25 individual eggs in the nests of other birds during a season, but play no part in the rearing of their own young.

Up to 20% of these eggs can be rejected by the chosen host parents if they spot the Cuckoo egg in their nest.

Once a bird of farmland, the Cuckoo has contracted it's range to our uplands, like many other Red listed species, where they find a higher number of their favourite host parent's, the Meadow Pipit, but also an abundance of their favourite prey species, the hairy caterpillars of several moorland moths.

Despite looking like a hawk the Dove sized Cuckoo is an insect eater.

UK populations are thought to have dropped by 69% since the 1980s with UK breeding pairs estimated at 15,000.

On the BOCC5 Red List and a Priority Species under the UK post 2010 Biodiversity Framework the Cuckoo is another threatened species which is thriving on our managed moorlands and if you want to see these spring and early summer visitors don't delay as many have already started their return journeys to Africa.