The Ventriloquist of the Ridge

The arrival of the Cuckoo on the Stiperstones is the ultimate acoustic prank. One moment, the ridge is a silent expanse of bruised purple heather and grey stone; the next, a hollow, two-tone call echoes across the valley, signalling that the great traveller has returned from the Congolese rainforests to the Shropshire heights.

For a photographer, however, the Cuckoo is less of a "herald of spring" and more of a high-stakes ghost hunt.

The first challenge is the "Cuckoo Illusion." Because of the way sound bounces off the jagged quartzite of the Devil’s Chair and Cranberry Rock, the bird’s call is notoriously difficult to pin down. You hear it to your left, move fifty yards through the sucking peat, only to hear it mock you from the gorse thicket you just left.

It is a ventriloquist in feathers. It uses the "Acoustic Bowl" of the Stiperstones to its advantage, making its presence felt everywhere while remaining visible nowhere.