In pursuit of a cuckoo

Every year it's the same - have you seen a Swallow, are the Bluebells out yet, who’s seen the Orchids in the field on the corner, is it the Ash or the Oak or have you heard a Cuckoo? Of course the smug inquisitor has clearly heard or seen all of the above and are at pains to prove that they are the keenest naturalist among us.

Competitive by nature, I thought my moment had arrived last Friday morning when I heard a sound a little like a wooden steam train whistle issuing urgently from across the fields. I was off in the general direction with my phone out ready to record this elusive sound, keen to prove my ‘Spotify’ skills. Hurrying along the hedge-line where the Cuckoo was flying along in front of me, I caught a quick glimpse before it disappeared over the fields cuckooing as it went. Not much of a pursuit but the soulful sound left in its wake was sublime.

What is it about the Cuckoo that intrigues us? Being uncompromisingly parasitic, it might never make it into Britain’s top ten nicest birds and it’s not as if it sticks with us through thick and thin – arriving in April and off again soon after to warmer climes. Nevertheless we do seek the Cuckoo every year, as it gives us hope as we want to hear its plaintive call at least once to prove that Spring is with us, indeed it’s said that in our twilight years, if we don’t hear a Cuckoo in Spring, we won’t be around to hear it the next.

Part of our DNA, it must be the unearthly sound combined with their elusive quality that moves us, responding to a primeval feeling deep in our souls of longing and sadness with an optimistic song.

But as if to fulfil its ethereal prophesy, the Cuckoo is disappearing; numbers in Great Britain are reported to have declined by 50% over the last 15 years. It’s thought that climate change and modern farming are the causes; what a world we live in where such a unique bird may disappear simply because humans are a bigger and more effective parasite! 

To watch my video, please click here and to read more about the Cuckoo's decline click here.