No cuckoo,s ??

I don't know whether it is just in my area (somerset) or has anyone else not heard cuckoo,s this year? We are well into March now and I haven,t heard a single cuckoo. Very strange.

Also I saw a white egret fly by yesterday, even stranger.

Mrs Chopper

 

Mrs Chopper was you supposed to write March today or should that have been May?{Not trying to be picky :D}

We heard our first one a couple of weeks ago when out walking along the river where we used to live,heard one when we were walking along Stanage Edge in the Peak District two weeks ago and last night when walking round this village of ours we heard another one :yess:

We never heard any last year but the year before that we heard several and now seem to find that we miss one year of hearing them and then the next hear loads to make up for it:D

Have also seen a few Swifts up in Derbyshire but have not seen or heard any round here where we are in the East Midlands.:DMore and more birds seem to be in decline but we are trying to do our bit by feeding them all throughout the year but it is sad when you don't hear the call of what once was very common birds to our shores

 

I heard one in the middle of April here in East Sussex and another only yesterday. Perhaps you've said something to offend them in Somerset Mrs Chopper?!

Chris

 

I heard one on my allotment plot yesterday here in Northants .. Must admit first this year ..
Dave

 

Hi Mrs C

I have had both the cuckoo and the little egret plus testerday late afternoon Swifts about 50 screaming through the sky amazing

Spruce

 

Sorry yes I meant May :o
Loads of house martins and swallows just no cuckoos, not that I'm that bothered as they are fairly anti social birds, it's just one of those signs of spring that we all look for.

Are white egrets on the increase in this country as I have seen a couple this year, or maybe the same one twice.

Mrs Chopper

 

We heard our first cuckoo on the 16th March, but we are in Portugal! They are still about now, but not so many, it,s lovely to be able to see them fly over us. My brother in Hampshire has,nt heard any for a couple of years now.

 

I think the swifts are earlier this year. Last year, I thought they were never going to appear.

 

Not heard a cuckoo for a few years now.

 

Declining very very badly. a few in North Suffolk but mainly in the wetlands.

One of the reasons for decline is that songbirds are declining and are adapting their breeding cycle to avoid the cuckoo's visit.

I have studied the Cuckoo for many years and predict in another ten years they will be extinct as a breeding bird in the UK.

On another subject House Martins are rare this summer too.

 

Little egrets are very frequent in the UK now and the Cattle Egret is starting to colonise too.

 

Still waiting to hear my first Cuckoo this year.
At the garden where I work in south Suffolk, we have a pair of white Egrets which turn up around November each year and then hang about until February or March before disappearing again. They certainly brighten up a dull winter's day.
I'd love to know where they spend the summer, any ornithologists out there who could hazard a guess?

 

Yes! I am an ecology consultant so can help, they breed in North Suffolk in large numbers, spending time on the breeding site and nearby estauries. Funny enough overwintering birds are normally continental migrants from Holland.

Little Egrets have increased from one or two in 1994 to several hundred in Suffolk alone.

 

There are still loads down here. They nest every year under the eaves of the house over the road.
Mrs Chopper

 

This year volunteers are watching out for the home owners who destroy House Martins nests, Observers will be trained to write statements and the Police will be prosecuting them.