Kitchen Garden Forum

Has anyone heard the Cuckoo yet....I can't remember when I first heard it last year, I think it was about the 22nd.

"Our" cuckoo usually arrives between 20th and 30th April, occasionally a little earlier (last year it was 19th) and sometimes a little later. Just for interest, in 1908, the first cuckoo was heard in the area on 30th April, so not much change.
We have seen the first swallow (7th April), chiffchaff (9th April) and blackcap (today). Our son, a little further west from us, has reported a number of swallows, lots of sand martins, wheatears, a few willow warblers, one sedge warbler and an osprey.
Looking forward to any cuckoo reports!

Haven't herd a Cuckoo for donkeys years. Nor seen a jackdoor or mistle thrush.

A cuckoo would be just that to turn up here, I'd recommend going back to Africa, snow and below minus five overnight, snowing again now.

I know, Geoff, I feel sorry for the poor birds trying to find insects in this weather. We also saw the first pipistrelle bat out about 10 days ago (when it was a lovely warm evening!) and hope it's gone back into hibernation. Snowing here at his minute.

We've been listening to a cuckoo for the past 3 days, usually around 6am.

Still no Cuckoo here yet...hopefully soon. Looks like I will be going to stay with Chantal, at this rate...

No sound of a Cuckoo this way as yet....but one swallow arrived this afternoon at my work location and was perched, chattering away, up on the electric wires across the old woodyard.

C.

First cuckoo heard on Ilkley Moor this morning, not too far from us!

Cook has heard the Cuckoo ...but I wanted to hear it first...

I always feel rather wistful when I read cuckoo threads because iur local one which came every year disappeared several years ago and has never been replaced.
Do the same birds return same location every year? If so I assume that once they die, there is unlikely to be a new tenant in the area.

We don't have cuckoos here I'm sorry to say. However, the Robin finally landed on my hand this morning, I had a few mealworms to tempt him. It's taken us weeks of 'training' to get to this stage. Hopefull he'll stop for a second tomorrow and actually take a worm away with him.

How thrilling Retropants. I suspect that as the ever growing urgent need to feed hungry babies increases, the sight of an open hand containing mealworms or si flower seeds will grow too overpowering to resist.
If you can manage to make his/her first experience as stressfree as possible you may find that its confidence is soon increased. That would be a lovely experience but you probably need to be available out in the garden regularly enough while they're foraging for food to get this to happen.

It is indeed! He comes to the back door asking for more, he knows where its all coming from. He has been dive bombing us as we go outside the last few days! There is a new chick, I saw it yesterday, so yes, he needs all the food he can get.

Lucky you! A lovely experience to have on your doorstep. If you left your kitchen door open he'd probably come in and help himself!