It's Cuckoo time.

[Icefever]

I mean the bird type....

We've been away this weekend and woke up this morning to lovely and the sound of the Cuckoo....first time this year for us.

[Phantom]

That'll be the male cuckoo then, as it's the males who make the cuckoo sound. The female call is completely different (it was on radio 4's "tweet of the day" this week - about 0555 in the morning).......

[Icefever]

Thanks J... didn't know that, you live and learn as the saying goes.

[Easydrinker]

He,or a bunch of he's,have been singing around here for the last week or so.Don't like the way they do the eggy thing,they are a bit like politicians,treading on the real workers for an easy life,but unlike politicians,I do like to hear them.

Robert.

Edit;Yesterday I liberated the third swallow of the year that had flown into my home.
Swallows may be dafter than cuckoos,but all of their crap is made up of flies,and so they remain my favourite bird of all time.

[Icefever]

When I very very young, I loved to sit & watch the swallows dipping & diving for insects, which the old folks said forecast rain.

A few years back we had house martins, trouble was one pair nested right above the back door, a bucket of hot water had to be used every morning while they stayed with us....

[Easydrinker]

Without wishing to start bird-watchers corner here,the best way I have found to deal with shit from Swallow and Martins' nests is to place or hang a piece of cardboard or plywood in the offending area,and leave it there until the end off the summer,and then drop it on a bonfire.
When feeding the young,the adults pick up poop sacks from the nest and drop them,nearly always in the same place,on an outbound flight.

Now,when they fledge,you will find the poop underneath the roosting perches,simply do the same.

There really is no need to lean out of an upstairs window and try and dislodge a fragile nest built from mud,unless you are that kind of person.

HTH!

Robert.