A great loss to the british countryside

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Poacherman

Banned
Sep 25, 2023
437
213
31
Wigan
Anybody remember the cuckoo bird? I do it was synonymous with British summers just hearing the call takes me back to lazy days off my childhood sat under oak trees .Iv only heard it's call 2x in last 10 years once in edale in peak district and once on edge off Barnsley 2 yrs ago.
 

Ystranc

Nomad
May 24, 2019
477
359
55
Powys, Wales
We used to hear them here in spring each year but then a mouth breathing Neanderthal felled a large area of trees to build three executive houses facing the river Irfon and we didn’t hear it again this spring. Ask me next year.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Poacherman

Poacherman

Banned
Sep 25, 2023
437
213
31
Wigan
We used to hear them here in spring each year but then a mouth breathing Neanderthal felled a large area of trees to build three executive houses facing the river Irfon and we didn’t hear it again this spring. Ask me next year.
Huge shame.
 

Herman30

Native
Aug 30, 2015
1,376
1,067
57
Finland
They must be more common in Finland. Past summer I heard them a few times. And in my childhood (70´s/early 80´s) we heard the cuckoo quite often. Probably because we spent more time outside as young.
 

gra_farmer

Full Member
Mar 29, 2016
1,836
1,042
Kent
There’s a few round me every year :)
Elusive birds to spot though.
Luckily the same here....and I am in Kent, a poor suburb of London (or so Londoners think!).

I never heard cuckoos when younger, but I do now....must be the tossed KFC and burger van chips :)
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Dogoak

Ystranc

Nomad
May 24, 2019
477
359
55
Powys, Wales
I first heard one in StJohns in the vale up in Cumbria fifty years ago, I didn’t hear them again until I moved to my current home in mid Wales..I guess there are still pockets of them. There is more bird life here than I ever remember seeing elsewhere.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Poacherman

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,064
7,856
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
We've had cuckoos here this year; in fact, quite a few and over a reasonable period. We hadn't had them for a long time until a few years ago.

I walked up Cadair Idris in May this year and there was one a long way over on the other side of the valley - it was constant and became very annoying as we were slogging up the mountain side :)
 

Wildgoose

Full Member
May 15, 2012
781
434
Middlesex
Heard one in April/May on Hankley Common, Surrey. It’s an area of low horse and heather. Couldn’t spot it but was clear as a bell
 

Wander

Native
Jan 6, 2017
1,418
1,983
Here There & Everywhere
I hear the occasional one every year, but nowhere as many as I once did.
It all depends on where you are and where you go.
Last year I saw one sitting on a fence and I could have sworn I took a picture of it, but I've just checked my files and I can't see it there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Poacherman

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,186
1,557
Cumbria
We went walking in Scotland and kept hearing them all over the place. I think it was on Skye and we heard them all around the edges of the island but not inland so much. If not skye then knoydart.
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,391
2,406
Bedfordshire
Used to hear a few in south Leicestershire in the 1990s. Not for years, the 400 house estate built on the area didn’t help!

Last year, May, Borrowdale and the west side of Derwent, heard four separate birds while hiking.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Poacherman

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,500
2,910
W.Sussex
Quite a few around these parts of Sussex each year.
Heard a few around the Midhurst area while dog walking through the season.

The Cuckoo call was always one of those sounds that was noticed and commented on when heard, all throughout my life. So, not uncommon, but not an everyday thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Poacherman

Lean'n'mean

Settler
Nov 18, 2020
701
414
France
I haven't noticed a change in their population in my neck of the woods (though I am a bit further south than y'all )
Hearing the first cuckoo of the year is always something special (usually in April ) & a sign that Spring is inevitable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Poacherman

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE