Mother Nature is way more clever than we are

Springwatch host Michaela Strachan talks to NICOLA METHVEN about the joy of presenting the nature show

- NICOLA METHVEN

A cuckoo chick which turfs out other eggs from the nest of a pair of reed warblers sums up what Michaela Strachan loves about Springwatch.

The presenter treats every series of the nature show as if it’s the last, in case the plug gets pulled. So she is delighted to see the footage captured by wildlife filmmaker Robert Fuller after 30 years of trying.

Michaela says: “The thing I find mind-blowing is the fact that the cuckoo chick hatches first in the nest, and it knows to kick the other eggs out. You know it’s hours old, or a day old, and it knows to do that. I find that just incredible.

“The other astonishing thing is that the eggs match those of whatever host bird they've laid in - and they lay in different host birds. How does that happen?