A further eight years on, and after covering the area now for 15 years, we have decided to update our Cuckoo records from the Eakring and Kersall area and monitor its continued decline.

The sound of the Cuckoo could be heard from almost anywhere prior to 2004 and for many years, it was possible to stand outside our house in Market Warsop and hear the Cuckoo most mornings. Things are different now and although there are still Cuckoos around the Sherwood Forest CP and Budby SF areas, possibly fewer than three wide-ranging males account for these records.

The famous Cuckoo call, is probably the most symbolic sound of Spring. In the late 1990's and early 2000's, this same distinctive sound echoed around much of the Eakring and Kersall area from late April, through to early June. It was in 2003 when the number of Cuckoo records here first dropped noticeably and raise alarm bells.

At first it was thought to be simply down to it just being a poor year. But worse was to follow a year later, when there were even fewer records. Our travels around the north of the county around that time, also showed that there were fewer Cuckoos at all of the traditional sites we knew of. Now widely accepted to be in decline, when we asked locally about Cuckoos in Nottinghamshire back in 2004, the majority of responses were along the lines of "there's plenty here", "no decline in numbers here" etc.

A similar request was put on the visible migration Yahoo group, to determine whether the decline at Eakring was a local decline, or whether there was a decline on a much larger scale passing unnoticed? Of the numerous replies recieved, it seemed that a decline was evident elsewhere. One site in Yorkshire had not had a Cuckoo for over seven years, whilst a few observers from some wetland sites had not detected any noticeable drop in numbers. Unless observers at wetland sites had actually made a count of the number of male Cuckoos (where there could have been two or three birds holding territory previously) it is possible that if just one wide-ranging male called on any number of days, then the local population could have been presumed as normal. Maybe the decline in the number of male Cuckoos at wetland sites was slower to become apparent, or Cuckoos found in arable areas were declining at a quicker rate.

Eakring and Kersall Cuckoo records

The first table charts the arrival dates of what are thought to be the same two returning males. Both birds held the same territories in their respective areas for six years. Although it must be borne in mind that this cannot be confirmed, each male was observed to use the same trees each year for calling, although not habitually or on a daily basis like some species do. Both birds held large territories centered around Eakring village and Eakring Flash and Eakring Meadows and Kersall village from 1998-2003. The latter male failed to turn up in 2001, or if it did, only appeared for one day, or held a different territory outside the recording area. Our general feeling though, is that this was not the same male as in previous years, but just a one day passage bird.

In 2008 there were no records at all and all records have involved brief passage birds. The Cuckoo is now a very rare bird at Eakring and current circumstances appear to show no signs of improving in the future.

The general decline in the number of Cuckoos across the UK is now well known and accepted. At the moment there is no physical reason to explain this decline, but it possibly corresponds to a decline in one or more of the Cuckoo's host species. The two species thought most likely are Dunnock and Meadow Pipit. The Meadow Pipit does not breed at Eakring, but there is still a healthy Dunnock population here.

Cuckoos are becoming harder to find and the only place we can be certain of hearing them is in parts of Sherwood Forest and if the non-birding public notice a lack of Cuckoos, then this has to be a serious problem.