Northamptonshire Biodiversity Records Centre

The home of quality ecological data for Northamptonshire

Listen out for Cuckoos!

Cuckoo image with logo's

Submit your records of Northamptonshire’s cuckoos this spring and summer.

Travelling all the way here in spring from Central Africa, cuckoos are an iconic species of the UK countryside with their loud and distinctive call.

Did you know that it is only the male that makes the “cuck-oo” call? This call is both a sign to other males that he is in the area and holding a territory, and to any potential females that may be around. This call can be confused with that of collared doves.

However, the female also makes a call, often described as a bubbling chuckle, which is thought to mimic sparrowhawks and frighten host species off their nests.

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Enter the date in dd/mm/yyyy format or select the date of the record.

You are submitting a record of Cuculus canorus
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Further details about where the sighting was within the main location, e.g. a road name, footpath, a compartment of a wood, or area of a nature reserve.

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Or simply click on your rough position on the map.


An Unlikely Pairing

Authored by
David James – Northamptonshire Butterfly Recorder
Date
24-08-2023
Image
Photo of Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Earlier this year I received a couple of butterfly records from a survey carried out near King’s Cliffe in 2022. A Meadow Brown and a Small Tortoiseshell. However, this record really stood out because, amazingly, they were mating. Not mating with members of their own species but mating with each other!

Look Out for Beeflies 2022

Authored by
John Showers
Date
02-03-2022
Image
Beefly distribution map 2021

It will soon be time to look out for and report beeflies in Northants. They usually emerge in mid-late March but it is possible that some could be found in late February in mild, sheltered spots. Until 2018, we only had one species in Northants. This was the widespread Dark-edged Beefly, Bombylius major.

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