Local Lynx No. 150 - June/July 2023

Refreshments will be available at The Old Rectory,
Church Street. Nearest car parking is in Market Lane and
opposite St. Nicholas Church in Church Street.
Admission to all five gardens is £6 payable at any of the
gardens. Contact Barbara Oliver: 01328 713066, mob:
07771 926866 or poachercottage2@gmail.com.
BALE
Contact: Maggie Thomas
maggie2403@icloud.com
BALE FETE
We look forward to seeing you at the annual Bale Fete
on Saturday 3 rd June in the garden of Manor Farm, opening
at 2pm. This has always been a popular local occasion, with
visitors coming from quite a distance to enjoy the
atmosphere and snap up a bargain. There will be the usual
array of stalls, sideshows and refreshments and the Cromer
and Sheringham Band is booked and set to entertain.
Contributions for sale, particularly of cakes, preserves and
plants, will be welcome on the day as will volunteers.
Contact Walter Hammond on 07778 620015 if you can
spare some time to assist with set-up, clear-up or help on a
stall.
PM
WILD BALE
The Cuckoo
I hear thee and rejoice …
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green
And thou wert still a hope, a love,
Still longed for never seen.
And I can listen to thee yet
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.
from ‘To the Cuckoo’ by William Wordsworth
The cuckoo is a fascinating bird, with its hawk-like
features and resounding summer goo-ko. The herald of
warm spring days, for many the cuckoo is a bird of their
childhood countryside.
A medium-sized land bird the adult cuckoo will travel
5,000 miles from its wintering grounds in the African
Congo covering the 2,000 miles of desert in one flight and
then resting and feeding in Spain or Italy before the final
part of the journey to the UK. On reaching the UK in early
April, and possibly finding the weather inhospitable, it will
return to warmer temperatures in Europe, feed for a few
days and then return to the UK to breed.
Its main food is insects and their larvae and in particular
hairy caterpillars, often dismissed by other birds. It is one of
the few birds that will tackle Cinnabar Moth caterpillars that
feed on ragwort. They have learnt to bite off the head of the
caterpillar, discarding the poisonous ragwort in the jaws of
the caterpillar, enabling it to eat the remaining body safely.
Cuckoos are birds of open country and woodland edges
where the females can find the nests of dunnocks, reed
warblers and meadow pipits in which to lay their eggs. They
are brood parasites, using others to raise their young. The
female lays an egg in the chosen host nest. The fact that the
cuckoo resembles an hawk allows it to do this with
impunity. Although larger than the host egg, the cuckoo’s
egg will look very similar in colour. The egg hatches after
eleven to thirteen days at which point the cuckoo hatchling
will eject the hosts’ eggs or chicks, rather unceremoniously,
out of the nest.
A single female cuckoo can lay one egg in 50 hosts nests
in one season which means the loss of something in the
region of 150 to 200 eggs or chicks of a species such as the
Reed Warbler. The young cuckoo in the nest begs for food
from the adoptive parents and makes enough noise for it to
seem as if there are four young to be fed. This continues for
about twenty days.
The cuckoo leaves the UK in July and August bound for
central Africa. As they live for between five and seven years
they may well travel over 50,000 miles in their lifetime.
When you next hear the goo-ko think of its journey here
and of William Wordsworth listening to its ancestors in the
1700s. Paul Laurie
BALE VILLAGE HALL NEWS
Our monthly fish and chips and Bale Oak Bar evenings
continue to be an excellent way of ‘catching up’ with
friends and neighbours. Although the village hall
committee successfully looks after these events, a recent
review of all the tasks that need to be covered in order
to make any gathering go smoothly made us realise that
there are many ways in which extra help would be
welcome. If you would be able to lend a hand, please
talk to a committee member the next time you are enjoying
an evening at the hall.
Upcoming fish & chips dates are 9 th June and 14 th July at
7pm. Get your orders in by 6pm on the day to 01328
878355 or Bale Village WhatsApp. The Bale Oak Bar
opens for business on 23 rd June and 28 th July, 6.30-9.30pm.
Please look out for, and respond to, a short questionnaire
which will be sent out shortly (with paper copies in the
village hall), asking your opinion on whether to extend the
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