What’s happened to the cuckoo?

I have been writing about nature for over 40 years and I cannot recall before asking the question: Where is the Cuckoo? And the swallows, swifts, house martins, turtle doves, even the hare, badger and humble rabbit. Years back, I could walk through an April wood where the cuckoo’s call was persistent throughout the day, this year I have not heard it at all. Swallows too seem woefully short in numbers. I am just thankful that I am of an age when my childhood was graced with the company of so much wildlife, and it would be comforting to hear that others have been more successful than me in these sightings. As I fear that this may be generally how things are now – and will be, and how sad and regrettable is that. Audrey Keen Bunce Forstal Cottage, Faversham