I know it's a bit OT and rather late in the season but I'm curious as to whether there are there any others like me who haven't heard a Cuckoo doing it's call for maybe three years now?

I live in East yorkshire and used to hear them calling every year but for the past two or three years I've not heard one in my area.

When I was a kid and fished the North Eastern rivers, I distinctly remember each year, listening for and hearing them call every evening when we went out and fished in late spring/early summer.
It was one of those sort of defining moments of the trout season when you heard your first Cuckoo of the new season and something I sort of miss!
Maybe I'm just getting nostalgic or possibly deaf in my old age!

Tony

I've seen loads this year, especially while I was on Skye but also on the fens.

Not seen nor heard one this year. They obviously don't want to come to Wolverhampton...................can't blame 'em................birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

They're in very serious decline, like many other migratory song birds.

See here for a bit more:

Tracking Cuckoos into Africa | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology

I used to hear lots of them, even where I now reside - I just wonder if the proliferation of Sparrow Hawks in my area has depleted the hosts that the Cuckoo relies upon for it's parasitic nesting habits?

There is certainly a reduction in the small and song birds in my area which I would put down to the growth in the numbers of SH's...well except for the ubiquitious Black Bird, which never seems to be affected!

I notice too that whenever small birds come to feed in my garden, they always immediately take the food I put out for them to places like under shrubs or my hedging to eat it - they never eat in the open and they are constantly looking skyward and very uneasy whenever they fly down to get the food.

The Sparrow Hawk is a wretched bird and is decimating the small bird populations around here - they also play havock in the local pheasant rearing pens when they can find their way in!

I try to encourage Crows to come to my garden as they usually drive off the SH's and it's the only time the small birds seem comfortable when feeding!


Tony

Sorry, you're talking nonsense. Sparrowhawks, like any other raptor have a place in the food chain. There is no direct link between the decline in song bird species and raptors. It's largely down to habitat, food and modern farming methods. That is based of sound scientific evidence. Crows probably kill more songbirds that raptors ever will. You'll probably find it's something else getting in the pheasent pens.

This kind of misguided attitude is usually proliferated by those who are looking for a scapegoat or have a vested interest which is in conflict with nature.

For small song birds.....anybody that has feeders in the garden, make sure they're cleaned every month if not more as its spreading disease throughout the UK....spreading from the south east mainly.

also mouldy nuts or seed can be fatal to small birds.

As for cuckoo's....I havent hear one for more than 20 years here in north yorkshire. Not heard any woodpeckers recently either.

I've seen many more woodpecker in the south than in the north. When I lived near london there was quite often a lesser spotted woodpecker inthe garden.

Since moving back north i've not seen any.

Barn owls and tawnys though there are many.....(nice to see (or hear) the barn owl, it seems to be making a come back)

Corvids are weel known to take sond birds eggs and there young but again its shown not to have a serious affect on there population.

I only reseached this because we have a massive rook colony in the trees in the garden, also alot of jackdoors nesting in nearby stone buildings.

It does appear that the song birds are getting wiped out by disease and intesive farming (although the latter i'm not too sure about)

I saw 4 cuckoos heading to stocks from scotland never again:d:d

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fishing or the wife she is history orry dear]

Agreed, I was just using corvids as a comparison against raptors.

Incidentally it's been a better year for songbirds. Some species have actually shown an increase in population.