have not heard a real one this year,
but i have heard a Human Cuckoo.

WHAT? I don't want to sound disbelieving, Slugitt, but are you sure no-one is having a laugh by playing a recording? We are much further south than the UK, and we don't get our first cuckoos (and we hear a lot of them here) earlier than March, and some years not until April, almost May. Late February I'm prepared to believe, but the 13th January???????

Sadly I havent heard one for some years although it is still one of the defining sounds of spring. It winters in Africa and usually returns to the Uk in the spring.
The sight and sound of the cuckoo is becoming a rare event the RSPB's latest assessment of UK bird number reveals that cuckoo numbers are in dire decline and nationally we have lost 37% in the last 15 years.

I haven't heard a cuckoo since 1967...

I think someone was playing a recording... or you heard a collar dove which can sound similar. It simply isn't possible for a cuckoo to be in the UK in January especially when you consider how far they have to fly!

My partner thought he'd heard a cuckoo which turned out to be a collared dove.

I am not in the least bit surprised, Slugitt. On tuesday, I saw honey bees in a subirthella autumninalis (questioned by tugbrethrill?!), on sunday another magpie flew past with a twig in its beak, and the finches and blue tits have been singing! It is only since yesterday's frost that the birds have again gone quiet, and the bees have gone back to their hive. Once the temperature starts to regularly go over 10C, day and night, everything thinks spring is around the corner. Also, due to the drought, and high humidity, last summer and autumn in the west midlands, three gardens that I know of had snow mould in stressed patches on their lawns!!!

Given that cuckoos fly a 5,000km journey to and from Africa there is not a bats chance in hell of one being in the UK now; they haven't even set off from Africa yet.

I think there's a bit of a joker among us, MG!

Yup I agree!

I have a terrible confession to make.
One summer, a couple came to stay with us, and I had promised them that we'd take them down the back road to hear the nightingales singing, (They - the nightingales, that is - are very tuneful all through June), but by the last evening we still hadn't heard a peep from them, and the friends were terribly disappointed. I didn't say anything, but round about midnight, just after they had gone up to bed, I played a recording of one singing, just outside in the courtyard, under their bedroom window. Result - very, very excited and happy friends, and no-one any the wiser. I just hope they don't join Goy and read this......
The postscript to this is that two nights after our friends left, the nightingales were in full voice as usual.

lol Gattina

It was only a LITTLE deception and kindly meant, so I'm hoping I'm forgiven.

You are :-)

Slugitt, Due to our very warm and unusual seasons this past year, it could be, that the silly old cuckoo didnt fly south after all, it might be still here and therefore thinks that it is spring now!!! Mind you this week could be a bit of a shock to it! Lol

All migratory birds automatically fly south as the light changes...

Thanks to all for your comments. Obviously wishfull thinking on my part...... Hurry up spring, I say!

Hi. I typed 'I heard a cuckoo' into Google and it brought me to your question. Well, it's not January now, but I heard a cuckoo this morning!! I was thrilled, as I don't ever remember hearing one from the garden before. OH was working upstairs and when I came to see how he was getting on, he asked if I'd heard a cuckoo earlier. Very exciting as it's supposed to mean the return of Spring - at last. It's only just over a month to Midsummer tho', so Spring's going to have to get a wriggle on to fit everything in!

Ours arrived in Mid April, and has been gently cuckoo'ing ever since. It's lovely to hear and means that whatever the weather, summer is on it's way. Another one joined the first about a week ago, so it's like having surround sound. What better way to spend a sunny afternoon than sitting with a cuppa in a pretty (well-weeded-Huh!) garden, listening to a cuckoo? How's your weather back there in the UK? Ours is a bit grey, and the evenings (and quite a few of the days) are chilly, but we get brief patches of sunshine. Apparently we have a fortnight of rain on the way, though. What is happening to the blessed climate?