Emporer moth

Emporer moth
By Peter Byles

Thursday 23 May 2013

Maybe Cuckoo's coming back?

Twenty years ago when I first settled here near Strumble, Cuckoo's abounded in the neighbourhood and were seen and heard daily from late April /early May, through June and into July. I would listen out for the change in its call to Cuk-uk-oo and the strange bubbling call of the female, as the season progressed .
It seemed that suddenly they were just gone, some time in the early 2000's. It may not have been so abrupt but I remember an Irish friend who lived in Rosslare asking me where they had gone around about 2004. Since then it seemed they had also pretty much disappeard from our neighbourhood. a kind of shrinkage from the western edge of its range. I have heard odd birds since then but all seemed to be passing through and I cant remember hearing any beyond May. Apparently cuckoo's have declined all over the UK and it is now a red list species.
This year a little late perhaps, I heard my first Cuckoo a couple of weeke s ago, but this week there have been at least two Males calling, heard first on Monday and then several times again! Lets hope things are looking up for cuckoo's!

No comments:

Post a Comment