We all know Cuckoos as the harbingers of spring – whose haunting calls proclaim the birds own name across fields and reedbeds. A bird much more often heard than actually seen, and often mistaken for a hawk or falcon when briefly glimpsed in flight. Cuckoos are also well known, perhaps even infamous, for their habit of laying their own eggs into the nests of much smaller species, such as reed warblers, who are then doomed to raise the enormous cuckoo chick rather than their own young, and whose eggs are ruthlessly thrown from the nest by the cuckoo hatchling.

But how does this complex behaviour act out in nature, and how did it evolve? What are the cuckoo’s special tricks and what counter-measures have the host birds developed to resist the depredations of cuckoos? In this book the authors delve into the stories behind what we see, and into the complex and ever evolving evolutionary arms race by which the nest parasite and its hosts constantly try to leapfrog each other into prime position. The natural history of the cuckoo-host struggle is illuminated with detailed explanations of the results of behavioural and ecological research to provide a comprehensive, but highly readable, account in which an insight into one puzzle constantly reveals a new question begging an answer.

The whole story is brought vividly to life through the astonishing photographs of Oldo Mikulica, who has watched cuckoos and their various hosts from hides for almost four decades. The result is a unique and beautiful book which both informs and delights.

Colin Speedie has the sea in his blood. Born in Aberdeen within sight of the North Sea, he began his nautical apprenticeship as a child in Devon, sailing small boats around the local coastline. As time went by, a love of exploration led him to extend his horizons beyond the English Channel, altering course northwards through the Irish Sea to the wild waters of the Western Isles of Scotland. A professional yacht skipper for much of his life, he took a circuitous route to marine conservation, skippering scientific research vessels on projects studying whales, dolphins, sharks, seabirds and turtles. He is best known for his pioneering work spearheading one of Britain’s longest running boat-based citizen science studies on the whereabouts of the Basking Shark through Britain’s western seaboard. His findings have enabled government agencies, university teams and fellow sea-users to better understand this enigmatic creature.

With sailing, wilderness, history, conservation and writing as his life’s callings, Colin’s destiny has become entwined with the fate of the Basking Shark. This book, in which he compellingly documents our changing attitudes to the shark through true tales of adventure and drama on the high seas, is a tribute to the many people who have contributed to its protection. Their work can be deemed one of conservation’s success stories.

Colin and his wife Louise divide their time between their home in Falmouth, Cornwall, and sailing the world aboard their yacht Pèlerin – French for ‘Basking Shark’.