Heard one this morning, very near, for about five minutes.
Anyone else heard one yet? I'll be listening for it tomorrow.
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Not yet. I have coast to coast across Scotland mid May over 12/14 days and the cuckoo seems to have followed me on those walks. Always a joy to hear.
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Not heard a Cuckoo yet in Carnwall, and I sleep with the bedroom window open but, I have seen a Yellowhammer two days running = well pleased at that :)
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Cannot remember hearing one here in Northants at any point on 25yrs o residence. OTOH they're ten a penny on Lewis or Harris
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No cuckoo but did hear a couple of woodpeckers in the Hirsel at Coldstream today.
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>> No cuckoo but did hear a couple of woodpeckers in the Hirsel at Coldstream today.
>>
There were a pair of Greater Spotted playing around in our garden yesterday morning.
They kept flying between two adjacent trees, jostling each other as each began to peck at the trunk. After a while they flew off together.
We've had them before. One is slightly smaller than the other.
No cuckoos yet. In fact I can't remember hearing them in recent years.
The swallows returned to the barn a few days ago, very suddenly with a lot of noise to announce their arrival.
They were very late leaving last year, raising a second brood long after all the others had left.
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Been here since April 12. Early even though we're further south.
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Never heard a cuckoo here.
LOTS and lots of woodpeckers: hear them every day... not one but several - lots of old woodland round here... and dead trees..
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Red kites are becoming tedious. I counted nine of them wheeling over the house a few days ago.
They seem to have driven all the buzzards away, which is a shame as buzzards make homely mewing noises like cats but the kites are silent.
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Swallows starting to appear round here now and warblers noticeable when out/about yesterday. I've seen/heard odd House Martin though they seem to be on passage, the residents down usually arrive until second week of May with Swifts even later.
Which Kite population are you visited by Cliff. We're between the Chiltern and Rockingham sites and I only see the very odd one. Buzzards very numerous here now - always see them if we're out in the car.
Several Kites seen yesterday though while caravan hunting in Finedon.
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There's a pair of greater spotted woodpeckers living in a pine tree I can see from here, and they often come to herself's garden bird dining facility. One hears them from very early on. Less often there's the odd green woodpecker.
Herself heard the cuckoo again this morning but I didn't.
The pesky grey squirrels have stolen one of the seed containers, the one all the birds like best, and taken it away to open in their lair, no doubt with small angle-grinders. I may shoot a few of them if they carry on appearing.
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>> Which Kite population are you visited by Cliff. We're between the Chiltern and Rockingham sites
I've no idea - how can one tell?
I assumed they were locals.
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>> I've no idea - how can one tell?
>> I assumed they were locals.
As Roger says they were, until quite recently, confined to Wales.
They began to be reintroduced to England in the nineties. Firstly near Stokenchurch in the Chilterns ans subsequently at other sites including Rockingham Forest (Northants), in the North of England including Tyne/Wear, Cumbria and I think Wharfedale. Also in Scotland.
They've thrived in those areas and as you've seen become common and spread out from original sites, breeding as they go. Still relatively localised though. We don't get them in South Northants yet except the odd sole, probably juvenile, example exploring.
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>> Red kites are becoming tedious. I counted nine of them wheeling over the house a
>> few days ago.
Red Kites, a few years ago were very rare indeed. There were a few pairs in Ceredigion and mid Wales and I remember the excitement at actually seeing one as I drove around that area.
Humans intervened with a planned breeding program and now the Red Kite is much more common and, dare I say it a bit hum-drum.
Should humans interfere like this?
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>> Should humans interfere like this?
>>
I'm not really sure what exactly we have changed to make their populations suddenly take off. It's not as if their habitat has been suddenly improved, or a new source of food introduced, or a competitor iradicated.
It seems all that has happened is that a few feeding points were established, and that has been enough to cause them to spread out and establish themselves in other areas entirely without human support.
So they could have done that naturally, without our intervention? It's not as if they were extinct and then reintroduced, just given a little nudge.
They are magnificent birds, but don't have that effortless joie-de-vivre of buzzards. I could laze and watch and listen to circling buzzards all day. Kites are too energetic. :)
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>> Should humans interfere like this?
It was earlier human interference either persecuting them as vermin or poisoninig their food chain that drove them (and many other species of raptor) to the margins.
Absolutely right to take action to reverse decline.
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Cuckoo - legacylad
