Cuckoo

[Ken's Deputy 4,459]

Thanks, Bear. But, fukk me; That is fukking heart breaking news!

I go by 'Official' shit. So, of course, it'll take them longer to verify and collate all this shit. Then tell the likes of me.

But, fukk!

[Nicepix 5,650]

10 hours ago, bell said:

Your a lucky man with those beauties round you.  You get hoopoe there mate ?

Yes, the hoopoes were early this year and there seems to be more of them. There are also two colonies of bee eaters that I know of. Virtually everything that we used to see in Cyprus except greater cuckoos and rollers can be found here.

It is really strange as to look at the countryside it doesn't differ much from the UK and we are only 500 miles south of the channel, but the bird species is totally different. Loads of buzzards and black kites about. There are ravens living nearby along with the usual jays, crows and magpies and yet the songbirds thrive. Don't see many wild pheasant and partridges though and rabbits are thin on the ground.

[smithie 2,443]

Today walking down the road I could hear 2 cuckoo's 

I'm sure that's the first and second  for me..ever

 

[Nicepix 5,650]

1 hour ago, smithie said:

Today walking down the road I could hear 2 cuckoo's 

I'm sure that's the first and second  for me..ever

 

When I was about 3 or 4 in the late 1950's we lived in a colliery estate that bordered woodland and there were always cuckoos calling in spring. Then they just seemed to disappear. By the 2000's I rarely heard them despite spending a lot of time out in the countryside shooting and fishing.

Hopefully the reduction in pesticides might reverse their decline.

[twobob 1,497]

[low plains drifter 10,394]

There's been a cuckoo cuckoo'ing all afternoon here in Northumberland, I like them

You know?

[Greyman 28,249]

Heard my first one a week ago

[Neal 1,857]

Here's what I never used to understand when I was younger: if hearing a cuckoo is the first sign of spring, and seeing a swallow is the first sign of summer...why did I invariably see swallows before I heard cuckoos?

And, with regards to the nest photos...I've been keeping an eye on several nests that I've discovered in my local wood and here's what's happened to them: 

wren x 3 = destroyed (presumably by squirrel, magpie or jay)

blackbird (I was actually watching this one daily as the number of eggs crept up roughly one per day until there were four) = destroyed (as above)

nuthatch (I watched them applying the mud around the entrance hole to customize the size of the entrance) = yep, you've guessed it, destroyed (as above) 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Neal

[Greyman 28,249]

6 hours ago, Neal said:

Here's what I never used to understand when I was younger: if hearing a cuckoo is the first sign of spring, and seeing a swallow is the first sign of summer...why did I invariably see swallows before I heard cuckoos?

And, with regards to the nest photos...I've been keeping an eye on several nests that I've discovered in my local wood and here's what's happened to them: 

wren x 3 = destroyed (presumably by squirrel, magpie or jay)

blackbird (I was actually watching this one daily as the number of eggs crept up roughly one per day until there were four) = destroyed (as above)

nuthatch (I watched them applying the mud around the entrance hole to customize the size of the entrance) = yep, you've guessed it, destroyed (as above) 

Get yourself a Larson trap put a chickens egg in and thin out the magpies

[twobob 1,497]

8 hours ago, Neal said:

Here's what I never used to understand when I was younger: if hearing a cuckoo is the first sign of spring, and seeing a swallow is the first sign of summer...why did I invariably see swallows before I heard cuckoos?

And, with regards to the nest photos...I've been keeping an eye on several nests that I've discovered in my local wood and here's what's happened to them: 

wren x 3 = destroyed (presumably by squirrel, magpie or jay)

blackbird (I was actually watching this one daily as the number of eggs crept up roughly one per day until there were four) = destroyed (as above)

nuthatch (I watched them applying the mud around the entrance hole to customize the size of the entrance) = yep, you've guessed it, destroyed (as above) 

Isn't just you the robbin never returned and they  perished cat or sparrowhawk I wreckon

[dytkos 17,784]

10 hours ago, Neal said:

Here's what I never used to understand when I was younger: if hearing a cuckoo is the first sign of spring, and seeing a swallow is the first sign of summer...why did I invariably see swallows before I heard cuckoos?

And, with regards to the nest photos...I've been keeping an eye on several nests that I've discovered in my local wood and here's what's happened to them: 

wren x 3 = destroyed (presumably by squirrel, magpie or jay)

blackbird (I was actually watching this one daily as the number of eggs crept up roughly one per day until there were four) = destroyed (as above)

nuthatch (I watched them applying the mud around the entrance hole to customize the size of the entrance) = yep, you've guessed it, destroyed (as above) 

Wrens often build several nests before the female chooses the one to lay in.

Despite having several corvids, mostly jackdaws and jays, woodpeckers and the odd squirrel, I've got several young birds coming to my feeders. Was watching a pair of coal tits feeding a chick this morning.

Got young robins, chaffinches, blackbirds all coming in.

Pics with phone on a mucky morning through a mucky window

Cheers, D.

 

[tatsblisters 9,529]

14 hours ago, twobob said:

Isn't just you the robbin never returned and they  perished cat or sparrowhawk I wreckon

Neighbours cat killed all the fledglings i had at the top of the garden the amount of fekin cats around me as well as magpies it's a miracle their is a song bird living.