Today is Cuckoo Day in Sussex, as celebrated in Rudyard Kipling’s Cuckoo Song:

Cuckoo, bring your song here!
Warrant, Act and Summons, please,
For Spring to pass along here!

Kipling’s home was not far from Heathfield, where a cuckoo fair was held at which an old woman was supposed to let a cuckoo out of her basket, a sign that spring had arrived.

The cuckoo migrates north from tropical Africa, although their route is not certain. The traditional date of its arrival varies in different parts of the country. The first sighting is often in the far South West, in the Isle of Scilly. The bird then gradually moves northwards. In fact, the cuckoo now arrives on average five days earlier than usual, because of climate change.

The cuckoo population has fallen markedly over the past 30 years. It has gone down by about 20 per cent in farmland areas and by 60 per cent in woodlands. The birds may be suffering fluctuating food supplies caused by unpredictable weather in Britain or in its winter home in Africa. However, its decline could also be due to fewer host nests and loss of suitable habitat.