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Cuckoos heard!

GrannybeeGrannybee Sunny South EnglandPosts: 300
in Wildlife gardening
I thought they might have abandoned us here in Hampshire but at 5.30 this morning we heard the first cuckoo. Joy! Anyone else heard them this year?
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  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    That is wonderful Grannybee, what a lovely sound to wake up to.  They must have flown past Guernsey this year as I haven't heard of any local sightings or hearing of the cuckoo which is normally reported on our bird watch site.  I remember when we used to have a few stopping off in Guernsey and we even had one calling on our chimney pot - it is a pity that their numbers have declined so drastically in the past 20 years or so.
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,293
    edited April 2019
    Not heard any cuckoos  (rare here) but just seen the first swallows! - flying round our chimney -Yay :)
  • wild edgeswild edges The north west of south east WalesPosts: 8,876
    I've heard a couple not too far away but none here yet. It's always a worring time until I hear them as there's sometimes 3 or 4 around here
    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
  • NollieNollie Girona, Catalunya, Northen Spain.Posts: 6,548
    Great news, I love the sound of a cuckoo, they are not here yet.
  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 28,567
    Nollie - our first cuckoo was heard on 27/3 and the first swallow seen 31/03, respectively 5 and 7 days earlier than last year.  No hoopoes yet.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • NollieNollie Girona, Catalunya, Northen Spain.Posts: 6,548
    Our swallows were very late this year Obelixx, only arrived last week. I think the vanguard of many birds fly past us up to Northern Europe and the laggards arrive here later!
  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 28,567
    For some reason I haven't noted hoopoe dates and this is only our 3rd spring here so I've no conscious recollection of their arrival.   We had nightingales our first year but not last year so I d hope the hoopoes are OK and maybe we'll get nightingales again.

    There is bird reserve between us and the Atlantic https://www.reservenaturelle-saintdenisdupayre.fr/ which has cranes and we do see some, and storks too, flying about and the latter nest in tall trees between us and La Tranche-sur-Mer.  I have yet to persuade OH to come with me to the bird reserve as we're usually by gardening, golfing or other but I will get him there by hook or by crook.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • NollieNollie Girona, Catalunya, Northen Spain.Posts: 6,548
    Our cuckoos arrived 26/3, bee eaters heard for the first time 27/3 and again today, plus also today, lots and lots of nightingales and (unusually early) golden orioles. Arrivals are usually more spaced out than that, with the orioles the last to arrive in May.

    Weather patterns have been weird and pretty stormy, I wonder if all were waiting for the wind to change and took their chances across the straits together...
  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 28,567
    Hoopoes have arrived here and I saw my first one on Thursday tho OH tells me they've been around a week or two now.   I've been away and been stuck indoors decorating and sewing so he's been outside more than me.

    No nightingales so far but then it is not exactly the weather for sitting out late at night watching the stars and listening to birds.


    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • NollieNollie Girona, Catalunya, Northen Spain.Posts: 6,548
    Our nightingales sing lustily and at great length during the day, but are silent at night. Perhaps the males are spoilt for choice and don’t feel the need to exercise their lungs at night to attract passing females...

    The night chorus here is scops and tawny owls, soon to be joined by nightjars.
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