The cuckoo is a dove-sized bird with blue grey upper parts, head and chest with dark barred white under parts. With their sleek body, long tail and pointed wings they are not unlike kestrels or sparrowhawks. Sexes are similar and the young are brown. They are summer visitors and well-known brood parasites, the females laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, especially meadow pipits, dunnocks and reed warblers.
Their recent population decline makes this a Red List species. Numbers have declined by 37% in the last 15 years, making this call even more important to have heard.
Cuckoos can be seen throughout the UK, but are especially numerous in southern and central England. Adults arrive in late March or April and depart in July or August, with young birds leaving a month or so later.
The Cuckoo song was heard in a woodland area close to my house in Ashridge, Hertfordshire.
Location : Alderton Drive, Ashridge Date: 1st May 2011 Time: 12pm Weather: Warm winds, sunny spells. Map Reference: SP 968132 |
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