While out golfing yesterday, (Might i add I beat my best score by three strokes!) I heard the very distinctive call of the Common Cuckoo! I did not manage to see it though, but i could easily tell what it was by the call.

I am actually getting very frustrated at my golf club now! I can only hear the birds, I can't see them!

I heard a Greater Spotted Woodpecker; but I couldn't see it!
I heard a Cuckoo; but I couldn't see it!

Very frustrating!

Has anyone been lucky enough to see a Cuckoo in the wild? Any pictures would be nice!

This post was last modified: 03-05-2008 10:54 AM by Jamie Wade.

I have never seen a cuckoo before, even though I would love too. I heard some a few times last year but nne so far this year, fingers crissed though.

You are lucky to have heard it!

Here at home we have the incredibly annoying warblers which lurk in trees, are ALWAYS backlit, move with the speed of sound, are tiny, are always on the OTHER side of the tree--and can only be distinguished by call.

Arrrrggghhhhhh!

Did I mention that most of the warblers only make those calls during the mating season ?

Kingfisher

There are a few up here on Mull now, i have heard them calling but not seen any this year yet, but have in other years. It can be quite deceptive just how far away they are when you hear them, they always sound closer than what they are.
I ahev not got any photos of one Jamie but i will see if i can manage any this spring. (Wish me luck i think i may need it)

Didn't here a single cuckoo locally last year, but heard them on my travels. I've seen quite a few cuckoos, some very close, but not managed to get any decent photos. When I was living in a remote farm house here in the Peak District, there was one sitting on a fence post on the track up to the farm, as I drove nearer, it would fly a couple of posts further, then it was sitting on the power lines to the house, so had good views from the patio. Also on Lewis, I was trying to get close to a diver (black-throated if I remember correctly) when two cuckoos flew right over my head, just a metre or so above me.

Haven't heard any this year yet.

Jamie, if you have a look at my bird photo album, there's a picture I took last year of a cuckoo at my local patch:

Musclecat's Photo Album

Yes, I have just looked at your PhotoAlbum Musclecat. Some nice pictures on there; well done ;D

I've just added a picture of a Sedge Warbler that I took at Lee Valley this morning. The bird was very obliging. The only problem I had was creeping through a load of stinging nettles to get as close as the bird would let me. Ouch!

Wow, that picture of the Sedge Warbler is brilliant! Well done Mike, if thats your name !

Great shot of the Sedge Warbler Mike..where in the Lee valley was it? I saw one briefly at Hooks Marsh last week but it was too quick for a photo .
I did get this one at Rye Meads last year...

Near to the Goosefield hide. There are also loads of Sedgies on the path from Fishers Green across the bridge and then left towards Hall Marsh Scrape. I always think their song sounds like a demented Great Tit!

Ive ringed Cuckoo! Very beautiful in the hand.Heard one on Dartmoor this weekend but didnt see it!

Was at Cannock Chase over the Bank Holiday weekend, heard my first cuckoo of the year, too far off to try and find it. Going to Clumber Park this weekend, hoping to see some excellent birds, weather permitting, going to do a dawn chorus on Saturday.

This post was last modified: 12-05-2008 06:09 PM by wild canon.

Ah, Clumber Park! Great memories, one of my old stomping grounds. Had great views of a Hobby mobbing a Honey Buzzard there once. Also lots of Hawfinches.

Hoorah!! While down at my local patch last night at about 8:45pm, I saw my first Cuckoo!

When in flight, it looked like a bird of prey, and I thought it was this at first. But as it flew over me, I heard the distinctive cuck-oo cuck-oo.

I was thrilled, but I didnt manage to get a photograph.

I actually went down there to take a picture of the sunset, and I got this beauty: It is actually seven different exposures blended into one, and I tried to make it look HDR. Do you think it does?