On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring.
New for 2020 is our Conservation Documentary Award sponsored by Gitzo. Paul Sterry gives a guide on the sort of entry this award seeks to attract with this piece on the Cuckoo.
The Cuckoo is arguably the UK’s most familiar summer visitor but according to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) since the early 1980s numbers have declined by a staggering 65%. If Frederick Delius were alive today and living in southern England he might soon have to compose a new tone poem ‘On hearing the last Cuckoo in Spring’ to reflect this downward trend. The reasons for the Cuckoo’s woes are unclear but BTO research is helping unravel the story and identify potential factors.