I had been invited by a friend to join him for a day of hide photography at Tom Robinson's hides near Bourne Lincolnshire. The morning session was at the Wired Hide with a family of Kestrels. Well, this is wildlife and things do not always go to plan. The young had fledged and moved to the far end of the field, accompanied by the male and too distant for any photography.

After a time, the female flew in and stayed for a while, tearing apart a mouse

before flying off with it to feed to the youngsters.

Apart from one other visit, that was the sole action for the morning.

In the afternoon, Tom had arranged for us to photograph a Cuckoo in a  Reed Warblers nest in a private location.

The cuckoo was too large for the nest and it's gape seemed to be enormous although we soon got used to that is it was almost incessantly open , begging for food.

The Reed Warblers seemed to be feeding the Cuckoo chick every 5 minutes or so but it was insatiable.

as well as attending to the toilet requirements.

The chick was expected to fledge in a couple of days time so we were lucky to get the opportunty of witnessing the early life of a Cuckoo.

Later on, we needed to return to the farm and spent another couple of hours with the Kestels - still no young showing close but the female was collecting food to take to them remaining on the far side of the field.

Surprisingly, the male never came in.