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Cuckoo Day! Get your coins ready.

(24 Posts)
keepcalmandcavachon Tue 14-Apr-26 09:29:57

Happy St Tiburtius' Day all, when the cuckoo starts to sing!
It's said that if you turn over the change in your pocket when hearing your first cuckoo good luck will be yours!
I don't always have change so might have to fiddle with my bank cardgrin.
I think they also are said to stop singing on St John's Day 24th of June.
After living away for decades I moved back to my home county and was walking along the river that first Spring when I heard a cuckoo.
I found myself crying, that sound seemed so nostalgic and seemed to say "you're back, home and safe and surrounded by all the familiar hills and rivers, spires and landscapes.
I must be a home bird, I wonder if the cuckoo feels that way too!

midgey Tue 14-Apr-26 11:06:41

I haven’t heard a cuckoo for several years!

Grannybags Tue 14-Apr-26 11:13:08

Unfortunately I can’t remember the last time I heard a cuckoo either 😢

Allira Tue 14-Apr-26 11:16:45

We had a cuckoo (must have been two!) around here for years but then they built a row of houses where there was some scrubby land with trees and I've never heard one round here since. ☹

nanna8 Tue 14-Apr-26 11:17:11

The last time I heard one would have been on my nanna’s farm in Kent when I was about 7!

Usedtobeblonde Tue 14-Apr-26 11:21:38

Like the rest of you, so many years since I heard one.
Have they mostly died out?

M0nica Tue 14-Apr-26 11:28:54

We used to hear one on occasion at our previous house, but now, living in a town centre, I am unlikelyto ever hear one again.

The bird I am currently grieving is the lark. Where we used to live there were so many larks on the downs behnd us, concentrated over 2 specific fields. I always knew that Spring was coming when I walked up the hill in March, once in February and heard their exuisite song in the air above me. At times I have counted up to 6 larks singing all at once.

Once again, you do not find larks in towns.

argymargy Tue 14-Apr-26 11:35:18

I have heard cuckoos recently (not yet this year) but I never have change in my pocket!

Rocketstop2 Tue 14-Apr-26 11:36:27

I like those old sayings , but alas they are dying out along with some of the animals they were first said about.
'One swallow does not a summer make' etc !

Greyduster Tue 14-Apr-26 11:39:40

The last time I heard a cuckoo was during Covid, when we were allowed to take short local walks. It had been a particularly grumpy walk. Then we heard a ocuckoo! Then another replying! Never heard one since. I’d rather hear the grating clackety song of the reed warbler than the cuckoo that predates its nest and young.

Usedtobeblonde Tue 14-Apr-26 11:50:33

In another life my H and I spent a lot of time walking in Derbyshire.
We would occasionally not see another person for hours but many times the larks would be there ,even if we couldn’t always see them we would hear them and I was always reminded of Vaughn Williams glorious music.
I can remember it all now, wonderful memories.

Witzend Tue 14-Apr-26 12:38:25

midgey

I haven’t heard a cuckoo for several years!

Me neither.

MiniMoon Tue 14-Apr-26 12:56:00

I haven't heard a cuckoo since I married and left my childhood home. Last summer though, my husband heard a cuckoo having had to stop in lay-by on his way to Hexham.
Here is some information about our tagged cuckoos if you are interested
www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/cuckoo-tracking/updates

monami Wed 15-Apr-26 13:56:58

everyone pays by phone. lol

Siptree Wed 15-Apr-26 14:03:01

I heard a couple last year walking along and old railway track close to the river and country park. That was the first time in years, lots of people were posting on the local Facebook page about them. I wonder if they'll be back this year. I saw somewhere a couple of days ago the first one arrived in Kent and after a few hours promptly left and went back to France!

missdeke Wed 15-Apr-26 14:13:10

A few years ago I had blackbirds nesting in my jasmine but the resultant chick was a cuckoo, not heard one since.

keepcalmandcavachon Wed 15-Apr-26 14:52:37

Thankyou so much MiniMoon for this fantastic link, its so very interesting especially all the cuckoo's profiles and pictures,
aren't they all photogenic!
You could easily get them mixed up with sparrowhawks with those beautifully patterned markingssunshinesunshinesunshine

AuntieE Wed 15-Apr-26 15:39:02

They won¨t be calling here before the end of the month.

I love the sound of them too.

Allira Wed 15-Apr-26 22:04:31

AuntieE

They won¨t be calling here before the end of the month.

I love the sound of them too.

My Mother used to say:

The cuckoo comes in April
She sings her song in May
In the middle of June she whistles a tune
And July she flies away.

Gran22boys Wed 15-Apr-26 23:16:41

We holidayed on the Isle of Mull and there were loads of them. It was a treat to hear them.

WithNobsOnIt Thu 16-Apr-26 04:35:02

Don't think there will be many Cuckoos knocking about in April.in the UK with this appalling weather we re having..

They are probably sunning them selves on the Costa. Del Sol.

grandMattie Thu 16-Apr-26 05:44:34

Thanks for the warning.
We had a lot of cuckoos in Sandwich, on the marshes, but I haven’t heard one since moving to Bristol.

BlueBelle Thu 16-Apr-26 06:51:37

I ve never heard a saying about coins, but like others I haven’t heard a cuckoo for a long time

Moth62 Thu 16-Apr-26 07:00:21

In this part of the highlands, we get them every year. I love to hear them. A couple of years ago, as I was walking along, I was listening to one calling somewhere just above me, when there was a sudden noisy flurry of wings followed by silence. A few minutes later came a very odd strangulated croaking-cuckoo sound! They’re obviously not popular with the other birds!