CUCKOOS

Heard one outside my house a couple of days ago and spotted it on the electric wire. It must have been passing through as I've not heard it since. Never heard one round us (West Lancashire) before.

Heard one in Kentmere on Bank hol Monday

Pipit

seymouraves said:

 

Hi,

I know cuckoos are thin on the ground generally, and the north winds and volcanic ash didnt help summer migrants this spring but I've been hearing reports ( and heard one myself) of late cuckoos in the last couple of weeks.

Any one else ?

 

S

Heard and seen six this year, also six last year?

All at different locations, so not the same bird!

Regards Buzzard

Hi guys- 

sorry - maybe I wasnt clear with my query/ comment :( 

Have you been noticing them arriving really late this year- as in just the last 2 weeks or so? I just wondered if they had been delayed and had sneaked in in early June :)

Cuckoos crossing europe do stop en route to parasitise nests as they migrate north apparently- so a batch of northerly winds might not necessarily make them halt migration permanently - they might just move north when the weather changed ? For instance my Turtle Doves only arrived here about 3 days ago- much later than normal- but at the usual tree:)

:))

S

S

We haven't heard cuckoos in our valley in the SW for a few years now.  However, I did hear one for a short time just a couple of weeks ago.  I remember thinking at the time that it was a very late arrival to this area.  I haven't heard any more calls so I presume it was passing through.

When we lived in Shropshire we used to hear cuckoos and bubblings all round from April through July. We once watched several cuckoos flying and calling over the fields behind our house for about half an hour.  I do miss them.

We heard a couple in Connemara while away the last 2 weeks in May and thought that would be it for this year.  But 1st week in June I heard a cuckoo at home - fairly distant and rather unexpected as we haven't heard one for a couple of years.

Can't guarantee it as a late arrival because of our hols though - and as I only heard it the once it was possibly either winding down or passing through

FM

My first ones I heard in Shropshire were about 3 - 4 weeks later than last year!

Hi,  I have had the best view of a pair of cuckoos today!  I was acting as visiting minister for a church near Sudbury (Suffolk) and about 7.20ish this morning I was quietly waiting outside for the church to be unlocked.  I could hear a pair of cuckoos in the wood nearby and realised that the sound was getting closer.  After a minute or two they both flew over my head, wheeling calling and displaying!  the show lasted for about 2 minutes -  it was fabulous!

I heard a single Cuckoo calling while on one of my local walks a couple of days ago at Priory Park, Bedford.  This might in the late Cuckoo league.

There again the favourite birds that the Cuckoo like to exploit are the Dunnocks, Meadow Pipits, and Reed Warblers, Cuckoos prey upon are late too because of the cold weather. 

The effect on all birds not just one species that need to succeed with all the changes in weather that we have going on.

The Cuckoo call was from the Sandy direction.  Ironically, I read that Cuckoos have been noted at The Lodge, Sandy so they are around the UK at the moment.

Great to hear from other members on this Forum that Cuckoos are around too.

Regards

Kathy and Dave

Hi Seymour

Yes I've heard late cuckoos this year. When I went out to Woolhampton gravel pits today I heard one, and I also heard one across the road from my house in the field a couple of days ago.

I've been to these places recently, but it's the first time I've heard cuckoos there this year. So I think they sound like they might be late cuckoos.

Best wishes Chris