taxi4ballet Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 I was wondering if anyone else had noticed a shortage of cuckoos this year? We normally hear them by the end of April, but so far, nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 My husband heard one in early April. We live on the Herts/Cambs border. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 We're in Bedfordshire, and there are usually several calling to each other. Perhaps they've flown over to you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Maybe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hfbrew Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Also in Bedfordshire, alas not one cuckoo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Total absence of cuckoos in our part of Berkshire too, sadly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akh Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 We have them in Hampshire, have been hearing one for a couple of weeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Can you shoo one over the border to us please? We haven't had any for several years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akh Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Will have a go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Many thanks - I'll be listening out ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Plenty of raucous Magpies here on the Herts/Essex frontier, but no Cuckoo heard in the 9 years we've been here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 I can lend you all some noisy mockingbirds and parrots. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 ....and free of charge.....I'll even pay the postage of a couple of really dumb cluck doves who for two years have failed at nature's most basic task. Â Watching these two is like a study in what not to do and how not to do it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 If the poor cuckoos are smart and not cuckoo they will have migrated south to avoid drowning in the biblical rain we are having here in the UK!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowlight Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Heard my first Cuckoo of the year yesterday (Yorkshire) Â Maybe they were just waiting for the sun to come out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 25, 2012 Author Share Posted May 25, 2012 Still no cuckoos, but the swifts arrived today 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanR Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 I have just come back from Austria & there were several Cuckoo's calling. Have also heard them at Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex, but did not see one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul N Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Still no cuckoos, but the swifts arrived today  Swifts are one of my favourite birds - I just love the way they chase each other, very fast, screaming, over the town. The aerial birds (which may sound daft, but by which I mean those that spend a lot or most of their time, or look their best in the air - so swifts, swallows, terns etc) are the best. I once saw a group of 18 spoonbills at Minsmere - they were flying round together for ages, in great swooping circles, high and low, near and far, gleaming white against a bright blue sky. Completely different to how you more usually see them, wading and feeding in a lagoon/scrape.  Oh, and then I was once at Eyebrook resevoir, Leics, in winter - about a dozen or so Bewick's Swans (now called Tundra Swans). Very nice. Carried on checking the rest of the water. Then I realised the swans were calling, and had in fact been calling for some time, but were now calling more and more excitedly. I looked up and was just in time to see them all heading off down the water and lifting up into the air, heading off north, in the direction of Rutland Water. An absolutely fantastic and memorable experience.  But enough rambling... Now, who has heard a Nightingale this year? A question for those in the south-east only unfortunately. I think Pulborough Brooks is a good place for them (?) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 No cuckoos in Camberwell but we do have a blackbird nesting outside our kitchen window. When she goes off for a break her guy sometimes comes and stands guard on the edge of the nest though he never deigns to sit in it. Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Five blackbird chicks hatched about a fortnight ago. Very assiduous parents. The last two dispatched yesterday - safely as far as I know. How rapidly they grow up compared to humankind! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I saw quite a large flock of oystercatchers on Crosby Beach this morning and, last week, a kestrel hovering over the dunes. That might not sound too exciting but it was only about 8 feet above me and a few yards away so I had a wonderful view! Â We saw four resident spoonbills and lots of baby avocets at Cley in Norfolk when we were enjoying ourselves seeing NBin Norwich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Total absence of cuckoos in our part of Berkshire too, sadly. We have them in Hampshire, have been hearing one for a couple of weeks Can you shoo one over the border to us please? We haven't had any for several years. Will have a go! Many thanks - I'll be listening out ... Â Well it's obviously taking the scenic route - no sign yet ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akh Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Well it's obviously taking the scenic route - no sign yet ... Sorry forgot to fit the sat nav 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Sorry forgot to fit the sat nav  Blast - it's probably on the Isle of Wight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regattah Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Â Â Blast - it's probably on the Isle of Wight. Â No - it's not here either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Hot news - 2014 must be a good year for cuckoos - I am listening to one right now as I type this! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 No cuckoos, but then I live in central London!  I played godparent to blackbirds 3 years running, while they raised their broods in my flowering currant. However, it got so big I had to trim it back so don't think they will be able to nest there this year.  I think I might have wrens in the ivy though.  My childhood home town used to get masses of house martins nesting in the eaves every summer in all the houses nearby, including the local police station. Then everyone stated putting up netting to prevent them building, I never knew why. Apparently the police station said some people complained about the bird droppings on the pavement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 Well that is early Taxi! I haven't heard one for several years now but apparently they like particular birds to dump their eggs on! So only go to certain areas. Â If anybody lives within reach of Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire.......not that far from Cambridge there are usually quite a few regular cuckoos there!! This because of the birds who live in the reeds there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted April 27, 2015 Author Share Posted April 27, 2015 Just heard a cuckoo this morning, literally a couple of minutes ago! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lottie Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Have a look at the link below for where the tracked cuckoos of the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) are: Â http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 None here in Saltdean unfortunately!! Â I used to go to Leonardslee Gardens (not far from Horsham) every time about this time of year largely because of the fantastic azaleas there and always heard a cuckoo. Unfortunately about three years ago this lovely Gardens closed to the public as the property was sold to new people so haven't had a cuckoo fix since then ......though about three years ago did hear some at Wicken Fen near Cambridge. Â Will keep a listen out for those cuckoos on their way to Norfolk then ......you never know. Looks like the Norfolk folk have got all the cuckoos....lucky them!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonrothbart Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 There's usually one or two near me every year, but not heard them this year up to now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 7, 2016 Author Share Posted May 7, 2016 Haha! Just heard the first one this year (Bedfordshire) - any reports from elsewhere yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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