The Vernal Jape

Available for over a year

Today the call of the vernal jape is seldom heard in the British countryside as Kate Humble recounts for Tweet of the Day. This now rare migrant was once thought frequent enough to be referenced by Shakespeare in Henry VII as the 'fair pollo on his nest of reeds'. The vernal jape has never knowingly bred in Britain. But, during the mating season the male will discard its normally flamboyant plumage and adopt the most perfect camouflage: with the most successful males being completely invisible to females. In modern times this charismatic bird can occasionally be heard in the estuarine reed-beds of Hertfordshire and Northampton or less frequently the highlands of Essex. Producer Bolondok Napja.