Exmoor Lockdown Diary 28 - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
View to Grabbist and Alcombe Common - with Dunkery in the background - favourite places for the cuckoo
It won’t be long now before we begin to hear the haunting call of the cuckoo. If we are lucky, that is. The bird has suffered massive declines in numbers in the past few years so that now many country people don’t hear a single cuckoo call, let alone one echoing across the hills as early as April 12.
That is the date when the migratory bird is sometimes first heard on Exmoor - an area which has better luck with its cuckoos than most places in the UK.
Staff from Exmoor National Park Authority told me a couple of years ago: “On Exmoor, cuckoo populations are doing quite the opposite to what we see nationally.
“Despite their decline across the UK, populations on Exmoor are thriving. The latest Breeding Bird Survey (2014) highlighted a promising an 82 per cent increase in cuckoo abundance across the national park, since the previous survey in 2008.”
“Traditionally, good places to hear cuckoos on Exmoor include Croydon Hill, Alcombe Common, Ley Hill and Webber’s Post,” said the ENPA expert.
As most people know, cuckoos are migratory birds which visit the UK during the breeding season between March and July after spending the winter in South Africa. Survey data suggest that across the UK cuckoo numbers dropped nearly 50 per cent between 1995 and 2012, and they are a species that remain on the “red list” meaning they are of conservation concern.
During a survey not long ago, Exmoor’s first reported cuckoo was above Porlock on April 14 closely followed by other sightings at Simonsbath and Dunkery. In just a week, there were over 90 sightings of cuckoos in the area.
Simonsbath - another favourite haunt of the cuckoo
The last summer dates when cuckoos are heard calling is just as important as those dates when they are first heard, because the data helps tell ornithologists the story of how their behaviour might be changing in response to factors such as climate change or breeding success.
Traditionally, good places to hear cuckoos on Exmoor include Croydon Hill, Alcombe Common, Ley Hill and Webber’s Post.
Woods at Webber’s Post - another favourite cuckoo haunt
On Dartmoor the first cuckoo is often heard near Burrator Reservoir - at the aptly named Cuckoo Rock. I’m told it is also a good area for meadow pippets - which is a favourite victim when it comes to the cuckoo’s not so pleasant habit of chick-removal.
Hills above Burrator Reservoir with shallow valley containing Cuckoo Rock in the background
On The Quantock Hills Dowsborough is the place to hear and see cuckoos. It was on a walk there last year that I heard my first cuckoo of 2019. It's the male bird which utters the familiar call - the female has an altogether different warble. Cuckoos like areas where trees give way to moor, and that's exactly what they get at Dowsborough. I heard him loud and clear and stalked forth, determined to find his perch. Just when I thought I must be about to stumble upon him, he was calling from across the valley. And so on. Until I'd crossed Lady's Combe and taken the track due north around the western contours of Dowsborough. And when I reached the top, that elusive cuckoo was back on the main hill again.
Track near Dowsbrough on The Quantocks - ideal place for cuckoos at this time of year
