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A trip to Thursley Common 15th April 2021

Last week a famously tame Cuckoo, named Colin by photographers, returned to his territory on. Thursley Common. He is surely one of the most famous and photographed birds in the world as he will sit on perches of every shape and size before dropping down to gorge on mealworms left out for him. Due to Colin's age some people were expressing doubt that he may return but thankfully he proved them wrong and returned for his 8th Spring. I had heard many Cuckoos before but had never properly seen one, so naturally when I heard about this arrival I was very keen to go. Throughout the week others had been posting exceptional images of him on instagram, so the opportunity to gain some amazing images and get good views of this normally very shy bird coupled with other heathland specialists such as Woodlark, Dartford Warbler and Redstart proved too irresistible of a draw.


Our first views of the famous Colin


By 6:30 on Thursday morning we were on the road, aiming to arrive at Thursley just after 8am to give us the best chance of seeing the bird. Despite it being early in the morning inevitably there were some issues such as roadworks, slow lorries and somewhat dubious satnav directions down small country lanes. Eventually we arrived at 8:20 and set off towards the field in which Colin frequents. Thursley suffered a bad fire in May 2020 in which 470 hectares of crucially important peat bogs and heath were burnt and hundreds of reptiles and ground nesting birds perished; almost a year on and there were still signs of the devastation caused by this tragedy, such as bare, black patches of peat and charred tree stumps. Still, there were signs of regeneration: Heather and grasses had begun to regrow and Crossbills fed on the mature pines that had survived the fire. Hearing a Curlew's evocative, bubbling song from deep within the marsh was unusual to hear inland in the south east, although they do breed on the peat bogs at Thursley


Colin investigating us in between snacks


After a 15 minute walk, being serenaded by Redstarts and the liquid descending trills of the Willow Warbler we arrived at the field and joined a crowd of around 15 photographers. A Redstart sang from a birch behind us and a pair of Woodlarks were stuffing the beaks full of meal worms, presumably they had chicks to feed. Suddenly we heard a loud 'cuck-ooo' from the trees directly behind us and after a little searching we found Colin, high in the trees above the perches watching the assembled crowd. A few tense moments followed as we weren't sure what he would do but right on time a pristine male Redstart arrived on the perches to keep us occupied. Then, with a loud flap of wings Colin arrived and landed on a lichen covered branch. Cue endless volleys of camera shutters, everyone recording the very handsome bird as he inspected his admirers. He had a neat black and white barred belly, slate grey neck and back, a stubby downcurved yellowish bill and a beady bright yellow eye. After several minutes of staring at us from different angles he dropped down onto the grass to have his breakfast, with not a care in the world for all of the big cameras and very happy photographers. He entertained us for 15 minutes, before flying off and cuck-ooing from a copse the other side of the field. We remained a bit longer to see whether he would return, alas he did not but equally as good the male Redstart gave us another view of himself.

Liftoff for Colin, after eating a few to many mealworms!


The crowd slowly began to disperse and we decided to have a wonder around another part of the heath. We headed up a little ridge to a copse of scots pines, near where there was a decent area of gorse. Thinking this looked good for Dartford Warblers we waited around for a little bit, and sure enough a male erupted into song rather unexpectedly right in front of us! I was surprised but needed no further encouragement to fill up my memory card with shots of (in my opinion) the most handsome sylvia warbler in the UK. A true heathland sprite and superbly adapted to its home, it is really good to see the birds doing well here. Sadly, there is no doubt that last year's fire took its toll on this energetic little bird. We continued further along the track, finding another 'Darty' anxiously singing away trying to attract a mate, and glimpsed a beige and pale orange female Redstart. Further on the walk we found yet another male Redstart although with no attraction of mealworms this time it stubbornly remained hidden. A surprise was finding two handsome Reed Buntings which foraged on the sandy track ahead of us, splendid in the finery of a hazel back, jet black head and white collar. The birds then flew into a clump of reeds near a tanin, acid peat bog pond and a pair of Crossbills atop a pine brought an excellent walk to a close as we neared the carpark.


Dartford Warbler in full song


A flapjack and an apple juice later from a sweet little cafe and we were on our way home at 12pm, it had been a long but extremely fulfilling morning and for a change we had seen everything that we wanted to see, plus a few 'bonuses'! I spent the journey home happy but tired, slowly reviewing all of the photos I had taken that morning.


There was no shortage of birds when Colin was not visiting - here is a stunning male Redstart


Woodlark, clearly with hungry mouths to feed!


Willow Warbler, the long distance migrant cousin of the Chiffchaff





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