An email a few weeks ago from Liverpool University saying they were bringing a party of Evolutionary Biology students over for a field trip to Hilbre and could they visit the Obs had me juggling things around in my diary to make sure I could be there for them if no one else could make it. I'd been down to Devon for a few days to see my mum who, at 88, has just had a hip replacement, and was tired after the long journey back and didn't sleep well. Consequently I was awake at 05.30 but mooched around the garden with a brew listening to the dawn chorus for a while as I'd arranged to pick Steve up at 7.30. It turned out the students weren't prepared to get up early enough to walk across the before the high tide t 10.30 so we had the island to ourselves. It was cold but beautifully bright with clear blue skies. Not the best weather for ringing anywhere and especially not Hilbre where we generally rely on a bit of cloud and mist to bring birds down. Sure enough the first trap round was blank and apart from a single Wheatear that bombed through over our heads and a single Willow Warbler in the Obs garden there were only the local breeders around the island. Even these were strangely quiet. Steve remarked he thought there was a raptor around as the Oystercatchers seemed 'edgy' and were flying around in a tight flock calling.
The reason soon became apparent as we walked the traps again. Another blank until we arrived at the SK. Steve called ' raptor in, move Phil' as a bird flew low in front of him towards the catching box end. I caught a brief glimpse of a blue - grey back and my immediate thought was male Merlin! However I soon realised my mistake when I spotted the tail and yelled ' its a f***ing Cuckoo' as I tried to pick it up by hand as it tried to get through the mesh of the heligoland. Safely bagged we took it back to the Obs where Steve ringed it watched by an appreciative small audience. A ringing tick for Steve but I'd been lucky enough to ring one yers ago when I started ringing at Wicken Fen!
It was aged and sexed as a 2nd calendar year female before being photographed and released at which point it headed straight back to the SK paddock. Celebrating with a brew we headed out again to see the Cuckoo heading off the island east before flying back over our heads and disappearing to North Wales with the strong NNE breeze behind it.
Checking the ringing records for the Obs we found this was only the 3rd Cuckoo ringed on the island in the last 40 years and only the 15th in total since the Obs opened 1957. The majority were ringed in the 60's and 70's illustrating the sad decline in this iconic species over the last few decades.
