It’s cuckoo o’clock as two-note call heralds bird’s arrival

IF you heard a cuckoo in November, I’m afraid you were mistaken. It was probably the cooing of woodpigeon. And if you heard a cuckoo in December and January and February the same applies. If you heard a cuckoo in March it was also, most probably, wishful thinking. But if you hear one from now on... well, it’s time to celebrate their return.

The cuckoo spends the winter in central and southern Africa and they are just beginning to arrive back on their breeding grounds – a BTO tagging scheme means the progress of a select few can even be followed online.

I am fortunate in getting cuckoos close to where I live on west Dartmoor, and heard my first on Friday.

The national park remains a stronghold for the species, but for far too many people across Britain their two-note call is now absent as this declining species has vanished from many areas.

We have lost over three-quarters of the UK cuckoo population since the 1980s, yet it is uncertain exactly why. Factors are thought to include a lack of sufficient food as insect numbers have declined – particularly the hairy caterpillars they eat that other species find distasteful. The changing fortunes of host species that cuckoos target with their egg laying could also play a part, as could problems during migration.

Intriguingly, changes in cuckoo numbers vary dramatically across the UK, which has a total population of some 15,000 pairs. The Scottish population is faring well, while numbers have fallen across England, including the Westcountry.

Studies show that they are increasingly found in areas of heathland, especially in the uplands, rather than in the farmed lowlands. So listen out, the time is now right – it’s cuckoo o’clock across the land.