Common Cuckoo by Tim Melling

With the apparent passing of 'Colin', the famous Common Cuckoo of Thursley Common, Surrey, that has entertained hundreds of birders and photographers over the past eight years and featured many times in the BirdGuides gallery, there has been a real lack of close-up shots of this species so far this spring. Step forward Tim Melling, who took this superb image of a flying cuckoo in West Yorkshire last week.

Captured in great light, with the bird flying 'towards' the photographer, has made for a truly arresting capture. This 'head-on' angle highlights the remarkable yellow eye of this species, while the slight blur towards the wing-tips adds to the impact of the photo. Many birders will have had close encounters with this species at times, but such sightings are usually very brief as the bird zooms by at speed – Tim has therefore done especially well to nail this encounter.

Other notable images

Common Eider, Baltasound, Unst, Shetland (Robbie Brookes).

Canada Goose, Alvaston, Derbyshire (Neil Loverock).

Red-footed Booby, Paracel Islands, China (M J Bond).

Grey-headed Lapwing, Low Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland (Lee Johnson).

Ruddy Turnstone, Walcott, Norfolk (Nick Clayton).

Little Gull, Barrow Haven, Lincolnshire (Graham Catley).

Grey Wagtail, Strumpshaw Fen RSPB, Norfolk (Lynn Griffiths).

Great Reed Warbler, Ham Wall RSPB, Somerset & Bristol (John Wall).

Ring Ouzel, Fair Isle, Shetland (Alex Penn).

Baltimore Oriole, Bloomington, Indiana, United States (Steve Bell).