Early call of the cuckoo.....
Thursday, 4 February 2010
A cuckoo comes in April,
She sings her song in May,
In June she has her young
And in July she flies away.
...Or so the rhyme goes. And with some of the earliest recorded sounds of the cuckoo reported locally last week, if the old wive's tale is to believed, we could be in for a hot summer this year!
Two people contacted the Strabane Weekly News this week to report hearing the cuckoo in Castlederg and Lifford.
The bird usually arrives on our shores from Northern Africa to nest in April. Their distinctive call is made by the male during the mating season, and, for us, heralds the beginning of Spring.
Collins Complete Book of Irish Birds lists its earliest recorded sighting of a bird here in late March, early April. Dig a little deeper online, and the archives of The Times brings up an article from the late nineteenth century when the cuckoo was heard in England in early March.
One woman claims to have heard the cuckoo last Tuesday morning (January 26) from her Castlederg home. She said while she found it unusual, she was convinced it was a cuckoo, hearing the bird again a number of days later.
“Last Tuesday morning at about 10am I heard the cuckoo and then I heard it again on Friday morning," she said this week.
“I was surprised to hear a cuckoo so early in the year as you usually hear them at the end of March or beginning of April.
“An old wive's tale has said that an early cuckoo is a sign of a good summer to come," she added.
Meanwhile another local man described hearing the male bird's call as he was walking in Roghan in Lifford last week.
“Myself and my brother-in-law heard in Roghan in the evening. He is into preservation and he did comment that it is very early.
“It's unusual, yes," he added.
Subscribe to read full newspaper »
Send to a friend
Please complete the following form to inform a friend about this page.
