Cuckoo question

[ardcarp]

OK maybe this should have been posted on the 'bird-watching' bit, but as no 'watching' was involved, here goes.
We were away for a long weekend on a lovely river on the South coast of Cornwall. Early on Monday morning I popped my head out and heard a cuckoo persistently calling. I didn't awake Mrs A as she'd have told me I was talking rubbish. We haven't heard a cuckoo there for maybe 15 years. However, the cuckoo obliged with another recital a couple of hours later which we both heard. And it gave yet another burst just before lunchtime...after which absolutely nothing.

So my question is, would a cuckoo on passage, on a route up the West coast and stopping for a rest at the first landfall, actually spend time and energy doing its call? I assume the 'cuckoo-call' is used either to attract a mate or to establish territory. Answers much appreciated.

[oddoneout]

OK maybe this should have been posted on the 'bird-watching' bit, but as no 'watching' was involved, here goes.
We were away for a long weekend on a lovely river on the South coast of Cornwall. Early on Monday morning I popped my head out and heard a cuckoo persistently calling. I didn't awake Mrs A as she'd have told me I was talking rubbish. We haven't heard a cuckoo there for maybe 15 years. However, the cuckoo obliged with another recital a couple of hours later which we both heard. And it gave yet another burst just before lunchtime...after which absolutely nothing.

So my question is, would a cuckoo on passage, on a route up the West coast and stopping for a rest at the first landfall, actually spend time and energy doing its call? I assume the 'cuckoo-call' is used either to attract a mate or to establish territory. Answers much appreciated.

I can't help with your query but I wonder if a local birding group - such as https://cbwps.org.uk/ - might be able to answer?

[Ein Heldenleben]

OK maybe this should have been posted on the 'bird-watching' bit, but as no 'watching' was involved, here goes.
We were away for a long weekend on a lovely river on the South coast of Cornwall. Early on Monday morning I popped my head out and heard a cuckoo persistently calling. I didn't awake Mrs A as she'd have told me I was talking rubbish. We haven't heard a cuckoo there for maybe 15 years. However, the cuckoo obliged with another recital a couple of hours later which we both heard. And it gave yet another burst just before lunchtime...after which absolutely nothing.

So my question is, would a cuckoo on passage, on a route up the West coast and stopping for a rest at the first landfall, actually spend time and energy doing its call? I assume the 'cuckoo-call' is used either to attract a mate or to establish territory. Answers much appreciated.

Cuckoos are summer residents in Cornwall so the one you heard wasn’t necessarily passing through. It might well be resident for the next few months. The key thing is an abundant supply of the relevant caterpillars. As a matter of interest was the cuckoo heard in woodland or near Reed bed ?
On a break in coastal Suffolk and have only heard one so far.

[ardcarp]

It (I assume it was one) was in fairly dense woodland bordering a banked river. There is no doubt cuckoo numbers have declined sharply in the West Country over recent years. They are to be heard again on the Somerset levels, and my daughter has heard much cuckooing in the Northwest of the UK including the Lake District. I heard them regularly as a lad (brought up in the Midlands) and they were common in the West Country when we first moved here over 40 years ago. Their noise used to be almost annoying on the Isles of Scilly! But I think there is, overall, a national decline. Maybe it's starting to reverse?