A recommended read

I'm not a huge reader - more of a bedtime reader, however I've just finished reading a book which I couldn't put down and would thoroughly recommend.

Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo written by Michael McCarthy is one of those books which you must read, whether you are a nature enthusiast or not. The basic premise of the book is the story, survival and the plight of our Spring-Bringers, from Cuckoos to Nightingales, Turtle Doves to Spotted Flycatchers, Swifts to Wood Warblers, basically all those birds which we so look forward to seeing each and every spring and there lies the problem - for how much longer will we be seeing these birds arrive each year on our shores?

The author meets with a variety of people for whom these Spring-Bringers mean so much to in different ways, from the experts who study individual species to Julia the County lady with her Hunter wellies, array of gardening books and walking sticks in her umbrella holder, who had heard a Cuckoo at her home in the Ashdown Forest in Sussex on the day of her daughters' birth at the end of April, and every year since then on or around this date for 15 years, until 2007 when that expected sound never happened and the call of the Cuckoo fell silent, and the feeling of loss that Julia felt, being absolutely traumatised - like her life blood was being taken away.

Michael McCarthy also tries to understand and discover the reasons why these birds are in such steep decline from habitat loss, persecution, shifting weather patterns and global warming, with some startling statistics. By 2007, forty one per cent of Britain's Swifts had failed to return since 1994. Thirty-seven percent of the Cuckoos. Forty-seven per cent of the Yellow Wagtails. Fifty-four per cent of the Pied Flycatchers. Fifty-nine per cent of the Spotted Flycatchers. Sixty per cent of the Nightingales. Sixty-six per cent of the Turtle Doves. Sixty-seven per cent of the Wood Warblers. All gone already in thirteen years with the remainder on the slopes of decline!

When did you last see or hear a Cuckoo?

I purchased my copy of the book from Amazon for a very reasonable £5.99 including free delivery, this seems a very small price to pay for such an important and enlightening read.