Cuckoo gathering

Mark Bannister alerted me to an evening gathering of Cuckoos in a local reedbed where 3-4 birds had been feeding in recent days---tonight there were four birds present with at least one male singing occasionally; the birds perched in hawthorns and a small elder around and in the reedbed watching for prey then swooped down into the tops of the reeds emerging every time with a large brownish grey hairy caterpillar with yellow spotting on the sides; these appear to be Drinker Moth caterpillars which are climbing the reeds to pupate (info via Roy Harvey)---the gathering of adult Cuckoos seems to be related to the abundant food supply but I have not yet looked up how unusual it is or if it is a regular occurrence prior to their southbound migration---these rather poor pictures show some of the action