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First cuckoo?

Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 586
in Wildlife gardening

I heard my first cuckoo this morning.

Now I have to keep my eyes peeled as each year they fly across the field behind my cottage as though they heading towards a regular egg laying area. I was very surprised when I saw my first one, cucking as it flew, so much bigger a bird than I expected.

Posts

  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,057
    Yup they are big! And -

    The cuckoo comes in May
    He stays a day
    Then flies away

    I haven't heard one (in Hampshire) for a few years and didn't hear one last year (in Devon).
  • Singing GardenerSinging Gardener EssexPosts: 832
    I heard one today - first for several years!
  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 17,156
    Our first one was heard on April 1st which, even in a late spring like this, is a lot earlier than the earliest in our old garden in central Belgium which was a 25th of April.   The swallows and house martins arrived that same afternoon and the hoopoes early evening.   Big day.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,057
    Obelixx said:
     and the hoopoes early evening.   Big day.
    I've never seen a hoopoe, but would love to :(
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 586

    Have heard further cuckoos almost every day since hearing my first but they are much further away.

    Hoopoes are rare annual, visitors to our shores and I believe they score high on twitchers "birds to be seen" list.

  • NollieNollie Girona, Catalunya, Northen SpainPosts: 2,267
    The cuckoos arrived a few weeks ago here and the little Scops Owls are calling constantly. I have one ear cocked when in the garden for the Bee Eaters, due any day now - such a glorious sight as they soar overhead and their cheery twittering always lifts my heart. Once they arrive, the Golden Orioles will not be far behind. For such striking birds, the Orioles are very difficult to spot as they are so well camouflaged at the tops of riverside trees. You certainly hear there raucous screeches and courting whistles though.
  • BeefleyBeefley SE DartmoorPosts: 27
    Cuckoo here on 18th April - two days later than last year
  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Posts: 1,486
    We used to see Hoopoes all the time in Spain,and the Bee Eaters nested in the sandy cliffs at the back of our house,Red Kites were also always around,after next doors young chickens!! Although there were blackbirds around,they never actually sang very much,so I'm really enjoying hearing them singing now.
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
  • wild edgeswild edges The north west of south east WalesPosts: 3,261
    I heard the first cuckoo here yesterday, 10 days later than last year.  In a good year there will be at least 3 that I can hear from my garden at the same time.
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