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Cuckoos are back in Herefordshire
12:42pm Thursday 17th April 2008
Our summer visitor from Africa was heard on Tuesday afternoon at The Weir Gardens, Swainshill, near Hereford. There, Bird Patrol recorders said they have also received visits from Swallows, house martins, chiff chaff and blackcaps
Last year the Hereford Times successfully launched its own dedicated website, called Bird Patrol, in an effort to monitor how many of the rarer breeds of migrant birds were finding their way back to Herefordshire – and where they were choosing to nest. Cuckoos, although in fewer numbers, swallows, chiff chaff and even nightingales were recorded in the county in 2007. The response from readers was tremendous, with a daily stream of messages on our website.
We have launched Bird Patrol for a second year and ask you, the reader, to help us build up a picture of their spread throughout the county and border areas.
So, when you hear, or see, one of our migrants – cuckoo, swallow, house martin, chiff chaff, black cap or, if you are very lucky, a nightingale – add your comments here. Don’t worry if the interesting sighting is not of a rare migrant, still let us know. “Birds such as cuckoo and house martin are becoming increasingly rare in the county, and it’s valuable information if register your observations on the Bird Patrol website,” says Louise Pedersen, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Your Say Your Herefordshire
Jane Radford, Bircher Common Leominster says...
4:47pm Thu 17 Apr 08
The Weir Garden, Swainshill says...
12:40pm Tue 22 Apr 08
Heather Phillips, Luston says...
8:58pm Tue 22 Apr 08
Several birds in the garden are either nesting or preparing to do so including a male blackbird with a white collar and white markings on his head. He has been guarding his territory very aggressively all winter.
Two swallows were seen today flying across The Broad, Leominster.
Janet Crook, Pool Redding Yardro LD8 2RP says...
12:37pm Wed 23 Apr 08
TINA BENNETT, lyonshall says...
8:03pm Thu 24 Apr 08
Kevin Tillett, Hereford says...
9:50pm Thu 24 Apr 08
Malcolm Reeves, Ross-on-Wye says...
8:53am Fri 25 Apr 08
On our four-acre smallholding we have several pairs of yellow hammers, up to three pairs of song thrushes and almost a plague of house sparrows. Our old barn floor and contents are covered in their droppings but we wouldn't be without them - the sparrows that is!
One other point, all my life the song of a mistlethrush in late winter and early spring has always been a 'taken for granted' pleasure and although our old mistletoe covered apple trees have been visited all the winter by mistlethrushes, not one bird has been heard singing so far, which I find most strange.
We are still waiting for our swallows to return, which usually arrive about April 10-11 (according to our reords over 20 years) so this is going to be a very late arrival.
Heather Phillips, Luston says...
8:56am Fri 25 Apr 08
Does anyone else have martins nesting in artifical nests?
The Weir Garden, Swainshill says...
12:56pm Fri 25 Apr 08
howard magness, bridge sollars says...
5:46pm Fri 25 Apr 08
Jeffrey Burkin, Hereford says...
3:33pm Sun 27 Apr 08
The Weir Garden, Swainshill says...
4:29pm Mon 28 Apr 08
Phil Geoghegan, says...
7:59pm Mon 28 Apr 08
Vera and Dez Bromage, says...
8:02pm Mon 28 Apr 08
We moved here in November last year from Manchester and have been privileged to see and hear many birds we have only ever seen on TV.
The best move we ever made.
Mrs Judy Brown, Bishopswood, Ross-on-Wye says...
8:07pm Mon 28 Apr 08
All the above were recorded around our house and fields which is just below Howle Hill
Nick Smith, Herefordshire Ornithological Club says...
8:14pm Mon 28 Apr 08
Firstly it might be that the territory the bird (pair) hold is not under any competition from other Mistle thrushes this year and, secondly, the bird present is not male but an unattached female without a mate this season.
bird watcher, Leominster says...
11:15am Thu 8 May 08
By the way, has anyone heard the cuckoo in Leominster this year
Heather Phillips, Luston says...
7:35am Sun 11 May 08
8th May. Today I saw and heard my first swifts of the year over Broad Street, Leominster.
Jean Hughes, Leominster says...
2:55pm Sun 11 May 08
Selena Grundy, Eardisland says...
11:37am Tue 13 May 08
The Weir Garden, Swainshill says...
9:25am Fri 16 May 08
Alan Nash, St Owen's Cross says...
10:41am Mon 19 May 08
Your sayYour Herefordshire
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Cuckoos are expected in the county soon. Picture by Nick Martin, martinimages.co.uk
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bird watcher, leominster says...
1:52pm Thu 17 Apr 08