Is it farewell to the Cuckoo?

Cuckoos are familiar summer visitors to our shores; their very distinctive call is well known to us all during late spring. They used to be fairly widespread but there has been quite a distinct and dramatic shift in their fortunes over the last 20 years.

In Pembs, they were found in only 80 tetrads between 2003 and 2007 compared with more than 200 tetrads 20 years ago (a decline in distribution of about 62%).

A recent BTO report Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo? indicates a similar decline at the national level. The estimated cuckoo population in the year 2000 was about 14,000 pairs across the UK. During the period 1981-2006 they had showed a decline of 61% across the country. Because of this population crash cuckoos are now amber listed as a bird of conservation concern.

It is thought that the Cuckoo is the victim of a double whammy. They seem to be struggling to find enough food during the breeding season here in the UK and are thought to be suffering a similar fate on their wintering grounds in Africa.

Here are the 2008 plotted records of Cuckoo in Pembs, submitted in the first season of the national breeding birds atlas.


Dark pink dots = probable breeding,


light pink dots = possible breeding (ie cuckoo heard calling)


If you hear cuckoos this summer please remember to add them to the Atlas. You can do this directly on line to the Atlas project www.bto.org/birdatlas or via BIRDTRACK www.bto.org/birdtrack and please don't forget to add a code to show what the bird was doing.