For the first time in three years----

How lovely- but very late surely. Ours arrives around 21st April without fail every year. I love to hear her but I do feel sorry for the bird who has to raise her chick.

I haven't heard one since I left Cheltenham in the early 2000s. There was one arrived every year down the lane north of the village.
Since then I lived in Worcester for some years, then retired to Somerset. And I don't think you get cuckoos by the sea.

I always used to hear one when biking to and from work. It got so persistent I couldn't stand it in the end!

In this part of the village you can't hear it so much but I did hear one yesterday. Possibly getting desperate for a mate and going further afield?

Have heard one in this area for the past week. Perhaps it's been a bit chilly?

Have heard one here (Essex) for the past 3 weeks or so and last year was fortunate enough to have one fly right past me quite lowish across the field I was walking the dog through, cuckooing (if that’s a word!) as it went. Had a lovely view of it. Whether it is the same one returning each year or not, I don’t know but have heard one there for a few years now and always heave a sigh of relief and pleasure when I hear it once more each spring.

I heard a cuckoo early last week,i live 4 miles from a city.

Oh I wish I could hear a cuckoo ?

I hear them with mixed feelings...

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201905/medium-139974-cuckoo.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201905/medium-404188-shining-cuckoo.jpg

Yes, CrazyH I miss that too. And church bells.

The cuckoo is a pretty bird
She singeth as she flies
She bringeth us good tidings
She telleth us no lies
She sucketh at white flowers
To make her throstle clear
And when we hear her singing
'Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
The summer draweth near.

There are more verses - I used to sing this at school.

New Zealand has a Shining Cuckoo with the same parasitic habit but its call is more of an elongated peeping.

nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/shining-cuckoo#bird-sounds

I totally understand your joy chicken.
We regularly used to hear kookaburras (I'm in Australia) as part of our daily experiences. Just recently I heard one after several years. I was so excited. They are still not as regular as they once were but at least I know they are still here.

Cuckoo is cuckooing a lot here. It's lovely to listen to it.

The cuckoo comes in April
It sings its song in May
It changes its tune in the middle of June and then it flies away.

Oh such lovely little ditties about cuckoos.

We went for a walk in our local bluebell wood 2 weeks ago. (Crackly Woods - isn't that a lovely name for a wood ...?) We heard a cuckoo. Also heard a woodpecker, although, try as we might, we couldn't spot him. We're so lucky to have all these wonderful things around us - and the woods were absolutely beautiful - a sea of blue. And, oh, the smell ...

I never hear them at home
but was on holiday last year in May on the small island of Colonsay in the Hebrides where we heard Cuckoos constantly.
Thanks for reminding me. It was a joyful sound.

Heard one yesterday in Argyll, a little later than previous years by about a week. We have heard them every year we've been here. Seen them too occasionally.

I think birds are so uplifting. I've been thrilled recently by the reappearance of swallows and swifts and by the skylarks singing on the nearby common.

I haven't heard a cuckoo yet but I'm hoping.

I haven’t heard one here in South Manchester but I did hear them some days in Malaga two weeks ago! Lovely sound.
❤️

None heard yet this year; but a woodpecker is drilling away endlessly in the wood behind our home.

Until last year and now this year I had regular swallow visitors who would make their home and rear their families in my out buildings and where they would get a constant supply of insects from surrounding agricultural land. These lands are now being taken over by housing estates and dual carriage ways.

We definitely started talking "cuckoo" at least 2 weeks earlier last year. So it would seem that they are a bit later this year. I wonder if that bodes good or bad for the summer to come.

www.gransnet.com/forums/aibu/1247429-The-humble-cuckoo-In-April-come-he-will-In-may-he-sings-all-day?pg=1&order=

I think birdsong is a joy. We have less trees around our new house but I still love to hear birdsong. I love the sound of a wood pigeon. So calming

Lucky you! I haven't heard the cuckoo for a long time. Sad decline in numbers both the cuckoo and for other birds

Lovely post :-)

I haven't heard a Cuckoo for years and reading this post has left me feeling happy and sad.

Happy that the cuckoo is still around to be heard and sad that where we live I'm not likely to hear one.

DGD heard a Woodpecker while camping in the Lakes and was so excited to tell me she'd heard one for really not just on a DVD, bless her.

Do we know the reasons for the sad decline in numbers?
1: Farmers rooting out hedges and bushes where birds might nest, and spraying poison on their crops.
2: Gardeners using toxic slug pellets when there are safer alternatives available in all garden centres.
3: Gardens kept too tidy, so there are no weeds or wild flowers to attract insects.
4: Killing swallows and martins and willow warblers in their hundreds of thousands all across the Mediterranean and especially North Africa and Egypt, by means of fine mist nets, quicklime, and shooting. See report in Mail on Sunday last weekend, May 5, page 21, by Robin Page.
5: People putting out peanuts at nesting times, as baby birds cannot digest these.
6: Cats! Which kill 30 MILLION birds a year.
7: People destroying birds nests, such as martins, because they make a mess. This is illegal, but it is still done.
8: Taking birds eggs. Illegal.
9: Killing rare prey birds such as ospreys and eagles. Also illegal.
10: Killing crows and ravens and even pigeons. Illegal.
11: Cutting hedges at nesting time.
There are probably other reasons too, but I can't think of any more at the moment.
It is a wonder there are any birds left in Britain.