Auks, Pigeons, Parrots and Cuckoo

Guillemot (Common Guillemot) Uria aalge

While around 15,000 pairs of Guillemot breed on the cliffs at Bempton, very few birds seem to enter the Humber as far upstream as the Hull area. Just two birds were reported between 1960 and 1966, probably as tideline strandings, and the next were not until 1985 when regular watching at Saltend and the docks gave an indication of the true status of the species on the Humber in our area. The 1985 sightings, added to those from continued coverage in 1986, revealed the Guillemot to be a scarce winter visitor and regular autumn passage migrant, albeit in small numbers. After the occasional single birds seen in January and February there were no more sightings until autumn when movements began with odd birds in September before peaking in November. A maximum of 14 birds moved downstream on 4^th in 1985 before sightings petered out and just the occasional bird was seen again in December. Daily counts were mostly less than five and usually just one or two, but it was also felt that the same few birds were probably involved in several of the sightings. The only recent reports of Guillemeots in the Hull area are of a lightly oiled corpse on the tideline just west of the Humber Bridge on 25^th July 1997, though it might well have been brought up on the tide already dead, while another was in much finer fettle as it flew downstream past St. Andrew's Quay on 15^th January 2001.

Despite the general lack of records a handful of birds are seen most years at the head of the estuary, at Blacktoft, between September and December and these must have passed Hull at some point. Small numbers are also seen flying west at sites downstream of Hull, such as Sunk Island, at this time of year and some of these might also carry on to pass the city's waterfront. The lack of recent records from the Hull area, therefore, probably means that nobody is really looking.

Razorbill Alca torda

The Razorbill is much scarcer than the Guillemot in Yorkshire, though over 3,000 pairs breed at Bempton Cliffs and many thousands pass along that coast during autumn. Even less Razorbills than Guillemots enter the Humber, however, and there are just five specific records from the Hull area. On 19^th November 1984 two Razorbills were seen on the Humber off Saltend, with two again on the 24^th. A badly oiled Razorbill was found alive at Saltend on 17^th January 1985 and an untarnished bird was seen offshore on 15^th January 1986, while two flew downstream on 16^th February. As with the Guillemot, though, the one or two autumn birds that are seen flying upstream at sites such as Sunk Island may well carry on past Hull and the lack of coverage must be at least partly responsible for the lack of sightings.

Little Auk Alle alle

Nesting in the high Arctic, most Little Auks also spend the winter in the Arctic Ocean but unknown numbers winter as far south as the North Sea. Autumnal and winter winds with a northerly or easterly element in them bring variable numbers within sight of the coastal seawatchers and Little Auks sometimes pass offshore in their thousands. So-called 'wrecks' of dead and dying birds occur now and again on the coast and also inland after very bad weather. The numbers of Little Auks appearing in the Hull area is usually an echo of what is happening at the coast, with a scattering of singles and small flocks during large flights and often none reported in more average years. Most Hull area records are from November and all dated occurrences were between October and February, with a significant proportion being of birds that came to grief on land.

The first record was of an unfortunate bird that flew into the side of a shed in a timber yard at Victoria Dock on 15^th January 1913, promptly shattering its beak and killing itself. One was found dead at Cottingham in February 1916 and others were recovered in Hull in November 1948, 1^st January 1956 and again on 10^th November, with one picked up alive on 12^th November 1958 and another dead in October 1959. Boylan (1967) gave 10 autumn and winter records for Hull up to 1967 that probably included the 1950s records at least, mentioning that all were after north-easterly gales.

The first specific record of live birds in something like a natural setting came on 10^th November 1979 when nine were in the mid-Humber off the western waterfront. On 29^th October 1983 huge numbers of Little Auks were seen from the Yorkshire coast and a record total of 36 birds seen the same day at the head of the Humber, well upstream of Hull, undoubtedly passed our waterfronts unseen. Another good autumn on the coast in 1984 produced a grounded Little Auk at the eastern docks on 7^th November. It was taken to the RSPCA for treatment but unfortunately died the next day.

The autumn of 1985 was less than memorable on the coast but regular observation at Saltend made it the best autumn for the Hull area so far as recorded individuals go. Little Auks were observed flying up the Humber on four days in the first two weeks of November, with three birds on 2^nd, one on 3^rd, five on 4^th and a total of 47 on 13^th. This record day count for the Hull area still stands. The lack of regular observation and recording from around the Humber since then has resulted in a near complete lack of reports, the most recent being of 16 birds flying downstream off Saltend on 9^th November 1989 while a typically grounded bird was found in a West Hull garden on 10^th November 1999. Like most of the others, this bird was taken into care but died two days later. Enormous movements on the coast in the early 1990s must have surely seen more Little Auks entering the Humber or crash landing throughout the Hull area but, alas, they were not recorded.

Puffin (Atlantic Puffin) Fratercula arctica

The Puffin is one of the few birds known to most everyday people and its comical appearance and colourful bill ensures it a special place in the public’s affection, though it is surprising how many people comment on how small they are in the flesh! The nearest breeding Puffins to Hull are on the cliffs of Flamborough and Bempton and it is a very scarce bird on the Humber. On 4^th February 1887 H. J. Robinson Pease, of Hesslewood Hall, shot a winter-plumaged female Puffin on the Humber near Hessle, bagging yet another on 14^th at the same place. There was one sighting during the first half of the 1960s and just one more in the 1970s when a single bird was sat in the middle of the Humber off St Andrew's Dock. An adult flew downstream past Saltend on 23^rd June 1986 and four flew upstream at Paull on 13^th July. As with the other auks and seabirds, however, many of the handful of autumn Puffins observed heading upstream further down the estuary, and certainly those already upstream of Hull, could have been seen from the Hull area had anyone been watching.

Pallas's Sandgrouse Syrrhaptes paradoxus

Pallas's Sandgrouse breed on the steppes of central Asia and are extremely rare vagrants to Britain, with just seven records since 1958. The late 19^th Century saw a succession of huge invasions into Britain when vast flocks dispersed westwards across Europe as snow and hard frosts forced them from their homeland. The first really big invasion was in 1863 but there no records from the Hull area, although the next one in May and June 1888 saw flocks of up to 100 birds on all sides of Hull from Hollym to Beverley and Market Weighton. Up to 500 were estimated to have been present in the East Riding, with two pairs even nesting near Beverley, and despite the absence of documented records some must have surely passed through the Hull area. A hand-written note in Thomas Nelson's personal copy of his 1907 The Birds of Yorkshire, reported in Ralph Chislett's 1952 Yorkshire Birds, mentions a flock of "several" Pallas's Sandgrouse in a field at Dunswell in November 1908. The Hull area can, therefore, confidently add the species to its list.

Feral Pigeon/Rock Dove (Rock Pigeon) Columba livia

They may get under the feet of shoppers around Victoria Square, make a mess on the Cenotaph and pester people feeding the ducks in Queen's Gardens but Feral Pigeons are a part of Hull bird life just as much as any other species and there is a lot more to them than meets the eye. Feral Pigeons were semi-domesticated from the wild Rock Dove of the sea cliffs several thousand years ago, traditionally being provided with elaborate dove cotes in which they would nest and the fat youngsters, or squabs, could be harvested for their meat. The pigeons we see around the streets today are the descendents of these birds that have totally reverted to the wild, with the addition of many absconding homing and racing pigeons. All of the varieties of feral pigeon and all of the colour types, from the virtually black birds to the white 'doves' and the red-coloured ones, black-and-grey chequered ones and combinations thereof, are all the same species as the Rock Dove and some still resemble their wild ancestors. These 'wild-type' birds, with their silvery-grey backs, white rumps and double black wingbars, make up around 10% of the Hull population but differ from true Rock Doves with their thicker beaks. Melanistic birds, with sooty or chequered backs, seem to be the dominant colour form around Hull, as even the wild-type birds will produce young of this variety much of the time due to the dominance of the dark genes that they all carry.Feral Pigeons have always been very common in the city centre, around the docks and in the inner suburbs and industrial areas although they are currently quite uncommon in the outer suburbs of Bransholme, Orchard Park and the like, probably due to the lack of feeding and nesting opportunities and increase in predators. The old housing areas backing onto Spring Bank and the town ends of the Holderness, Beverley and Anlaby Roads, many with derelict attic spaces and gaps in their roofs, are perfect breeding sites for Feral Pigeons. The loft space of one property down Albany Street, off Spring Bank, that I visited in the 1994 held a large colony of pigeons that gained access through a hole in the roof. When the roof was repaired after several years of negligence I was called in to take away young pigeon chicks that were found running about the place; I gathered five chicks but there were around 20 other chicks and eggs that had died after their parents were shut out. I hand-reared the five lucky youngsters and later released them, but the story indicates the source of the many thousands that visit the city centre and surrounding places to feed. In the 1960s at least there was a large feeding flock of several thousand Feral Pigeons that gathered around the grain silo on King George Dock alone, and up to 3,000 could still be found throughout the eastern docks and Saltend area in the 1980s. In recent years I have seen flocks of up to 1,000 birds around Albert Dock and there are always several hundred around Queen's Gardens, Victoria Square and up King Edward Street. Feral Pigeons are also common around parts of Cottingham and northwest Hull, the Avenues and in the Hull parks, though they never occur in any great numbers.

In the city centre it is difficult not to stand on pigeons sometimes, as they are so tame, while in Queen's Gardens they will actually sit on your hand if you offer them grain. Indeed, I have occasionally demonstrated to companions the tolerance that Queen's Gardens pigeons have for people by showing how easy it is to pick them up as they feed at your feet, a useful trick if you spot twine or such like trapped around its leg. Closer observation of these city centre birds, however, will reveal their propensity to gather in a swirling flock, spiral high over the rooftops and head purposefully out of town. These flocks are heading for the outlying fields to feed on grain and shoots, particularly in autumn, and, away from the relative safety of the city centre, they become very different animals. Now shy and wary out in the open, the flocks often join up with Wood Pigeons and Stock Doves and they are then subject to the same dangers, such as shooters, Sparrowhawks, foxes and power lines. During my days of regular observation at North Bransholme I often saw fairly large flocks of Feral Pigeons heading into and out of Hull between July and March, with many over a hundred-strong. These flocks often dropped down to feed in the fields and it was then possible to confirm that these were Hull pigeons, rather than part of the large population that breeds on the Flamborough cliffs, by the number of 'pure' wild-type birds. As mentioned above, around 10% of Hull birds resemble the ancestral Rock Dove whereas at Flamborough this proportion is more like 60%. A flock of 114 at North Bransholme on 7^th November 1993 contained 17 with wild-type colouring while 400 at Saltend and 75 at Alexandra Dock on 14^th April 1998 also obeyed the 'roughly 10%' rule. These outlying feeding flocks can be quite large, though nowhere near as large as the estimated population around the eastern docks and Saltend in the 1980s, mentioned above; 600 were feeding at North Bransholme on New Years Day 1993, with 270 there on 20^th November 1993 growing to 400 by 27^th while 700 at Saltend in December 1997 is the maximum there in recent years. Exactly how far into East Yorkshire the Hull birds penetrate in their quest for food is not known, however. Flocks of up to 200 have been seen as far out as Tophill Low, between Beverley and Driffield, though in the absence of any information on the numbers of wild-types among them it is impossible to say if they were from Hull or Flamborough.

Stock Dove (Stock Pigeon) Columba oenas

Boylan (1967) said that this species was resident in Hull but there were few records. The Stock Dove tends to keep a low profile, but it is possible that it was genuinely scarcer in those days. After a lone record from near Kirk Ella in 1975 Stock Doves were noted to be increasing at Hedon Road Cemetery in the early 1980s. This coincided with a dramatic decline in the number of Woodpigeons, but the Stock Doves later decreased as the Woodpigeons recovered. Up to 14 were regularly seen around the nearby eastern docks and Saltend areas in 1984, with at least five pairs breeding in 1985. Large flocks were also noted around Saltend and the docks in 1985, with up to 45 in January, 30 in March, 50 in October, 100 in November and 90 in December. Small numbers were breeding around Cottingham throughout the 1980s but they were generally absent in winter. In the late 1980s and early 1990s up to 15 could be found at North Bransholme throughout the year, with a peak in winter and a maximum of 21 in January 1994, and one or two pairs regularly bred. A lack of suitable nesting sites, in the form of tree holes or nest boxes, is certainly limiting the species in less wooded districts such as this. Breeding was reported from unnamed Hull suburbs in 1997 and at least one pair was still nesting at the Hedon Road Cemetery in 2000. In April 2001 a total of around 10 birds could still be found in the fields east of North Bransholme and the pylons along the Foredyke Stream are still a good place to find a pair or two. Around the same time, spring 2001, two pairs seemed quite attached to the mature trees in the grounds of the old Haworth Hall, off Beverley Road.

Stock Doves are clearly thinly distributed residents throughout the Hull area and breed wherever there are suitable nest sites in old trees, even well into the suburbs, as well as in the outlying woods and plantations. They seem to be more abundant and widespread in winter and often associate with foraging flocks of Woodpigeons and Feral Pigeons, and a close look through such flocks will often reveal a few Stock Doves.

Woodpigeon (Common Wood Pigeon) Columba palumbus

This is one of the most widespread resident birds in the Hull area, breeding wherever there are trees and tall shrubs and feeding on any open fields or areas of short grass. Large numbers flood in from the Continent in winter, when big flocks are common around the city outskirts and the villages. In January 1940 huge flocks of Woodpigeons were hindering the war effort around Cottingham and Skidby by raiding gardens and allotments and damaging the vegetables. An organised cull on 31^st saw groups of men shooting at the birds all day long, which they sold for tuppence and threpence each. In the 1960s Boylan described Woodpigeons as widespread breeders in small numbers, once again mentioning their tendency to descend on gardens in large numbers during severe weather, but they were noted as being only occasional visitors to Northern Cemetery. Bonavia (1990) described them as still being abundant around Cottingham and northwest Hull in the 1980s, though S. L. James found them to be quite scarce around Saltend and the eastern docks in the mid 1980s with just three pairs breeding and small flocks of 25 or so in autumn. Large numbers were noted passing over Saltend in hard weather movements, however, with 425 heading north on 14^th December 1985 and 310 following them on 28^th. The thick hedgerows and copses east of North Bransholme appear to suit them better and up to 20 pairs were breeding in little over a square mile between the housing and the Holderness Drain in the early 1990s. Large midwinter foraging flocks are also a feature there, with 200 in the early months of 1993 and 300 at the back end of that year. Many hundreds roost is the woods at Woody Carr and Long Carr, between Wawne and Swine, but they are heavily shot over for both sport and for damaging crops.

P. Milsom's survey of the birds of the Priory Road fields in 1995/6 revealed Woodpigeons to be a daily sight, building up in autumn to 70 or more before a January peak of 150 and then a rapid decline to around 20 by spring. Further into Hull, H. Crowther's survey of the birds in the Avenues in 1996 found Woodpigeons to be fairly common in parks, gardens and along the railway. Their flimsy nests can frequently be found in trees and bushes along many of the major roads in the city, with nearby lampposts being favourite perches for the adults. The pair of pure white eggs and young squabs are vulnerable to predation, however, and Carrion Crows, Grey Squirrels and Magpies are top of the list. In 1998 I kept a close eye on a relatively open nest site in an apple tree in the grounds of the University of Hull on Cottingham Road, being able to watch the progress of the two fluffy squabs from below. Right at the point of fledging I was saddened to find both chicks lying dead under the nest, having been mauled around the head. A Grey Squirrel appeared to be the most likely culprit.

In 1992 I found a young Woodpigeon squab, too young to be off the nest, wandering on the Highlands School playing field on North Bransholme. Probably a victim of local children who had robbed the nest, I took it upon myself to hand feed the bird to maturity, this being one of the easier species to succeed with. When it was fully grown and feeding itself I released it at the Bransholme Sewage Works where, weeks later, I came across an immature Woodpigeon sat in a tree in the plantation off Thomas Clarkson Way. As all birdwatchers know, Woodpigeons are very nervous and will explode into the air with a clatter of wings before you get anywhere near them, but this bird sat quite calmly on a low branch as I approached within ten feet of it. I like to think it was 'my' bird and it recognised me, but I just hope it was not that confiding with everybody. I had been at great pains not to let the bird get too tame and with good cause, for Woodpigeons are a favourite quarry of the airgunner and are fairly good to eat. The species absorbs the losses well, however, and continues to spread into urban areas in the Hull area, now being a fairly common sight in Queen's Gardens.

Collared Dove (Eurasian Collared Dove) Streptopelia decaocto

The history of the Collared Dove in Britain is truly astonishing, and no more so on a local scale than in the Hull area. It is incredible to think that less than fifty years ago this species had never been seen in Britain, yet after the first breeding in Norfolk in 1955 they were nesting in every English county by 1970 and were being destroyed as pests in some areas soon afterwards. The East Park roost, though fluctuating in size from year to year, has lasted up to the present time and hundreds of birds can still be seen arriving to settle in the trees in and around the animal enclosure and the eastern islands in the lake from late afternoon onwards, particularly in winter. Sample counts over the years have been 187 on 11^th August 1970, 117 on 27^th March 1984, 620 on 20^th January 1989, 277 on 8^th December 1998, 120 in January 1999 and around 150 in the animal enclosure alone on 29^th December 2000. The East Park roost is the largest regular concentration to be found in the Hull area, and perhaps East Yorkshire. Collared Doves are now so familiar, so common and so widespread that it is difficult to grasp the suddenness and scale of their arrival in Britain and around Hull. They owe their success to being opportunistic feeders, taking seed from bird tables, farmyards and waste ground alike, while nesting in all local habitats where a suitable bush or tree exists, from Queen's Gardens to Wawne gardens and all areas inbetween. Able to breed throughout the year (the pair nesting in my former Bransholme garden in 2000 were doing so at Christmas), the soft cooing song can be heard anywhere anytime and has led more than one Hull resident to think they've heard a winter Cuckoo!

Turtle Dove (European Turtle Dove) Streptopelia turtur

While the number of Turtle Doves in Britain has plummeted in recent decades, it seems that the species was never very common in the Hull area anyway. Despite recording such species as Cuckoo, Yellowhammer and Pied Flycatcher in and around his Hull garden in the first few years of the 20^th Century, John Nicholson makes no mention of the Turtle Dove. By 1910, however, the species was reported to be increasing in the East Riding and spreading ever closer to Hull as a breeding bird. Spring migrants were being seen in the 1940s and no doubt before, with the first East Riding bird of the year in 1944 reported from Hull on 3^rd May. During the 1960s members of the Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club recorded the species only twice in the old city boundary, although spring migrants were regular in May at Kirk Ella’s Kerry Woods throughout the 1970s and 80s and may still occur. Spring passage migrants are regularly seen passing up the Humber from mid May to mid June, but few seem to stop off in the Hull area in recent years compared to previous decades. Five new arrivals were at Saltend on 6^th May 1985, with up to three on several dates until five again on 8^th June. One pair probably bred there that year and five were seen yet again on many dates until the last bird on 26^th September. In The New Atlas of Breeding Birds for 1988 - 1991 breeding is clearly recorded in the Hull area, very likely around Saltend and/or the western villages, and a handful of pairs bred throughout the 1980s just outside the Hull area to the south of Beverley.

A pair of passage Turtle Doves were at the now demolished High Bransholme Farm on 6^th June 1992 and a singleton was at the Bransholme Sewage Works on 2^nd June 1997. Passage birds have also been recorded from the Priory Road fields, Priory Sidings and no doubt elsewhere, but they rarely linger for more than a day. On 17^th June 1993 a farm worker saw an unusual bird land in a tree just north of Wawne. Not recognising the species, he mindlessly shot it with his airgun. I was shown the body and it proved to be a male Turtle Dove, the crop being full of poppy seeds.

Autumn passage is usually much lighter than the spring movement, and an immature feeding on stubble at Bransholme in mid September 1995 was the only record for that season in five years of observation. Despite the possibility of the odd breeding pair on bushy ground to the north or west of the Hull area, the Turtle Dove is now generally no more than a scarce passage migrant. The peak time for seeing them around Hull is from May to mid June, the earliest record for the area being one on 25^th April at Kirk Ella.

Ring-necked Parakeet (Rose-ringed Parakeet) Psittacula krameri

Ring-necked Parakeets have been living and breeding in the wild in southeast England for several decades now, with winter roosts of over a thousand birds occurring in Surrey since the 1990s. The origins of this feral population stem from escapes and deliberate releases from cages and aviaries all over Britain throughout much of the 20^th Century. It is thought that all of the birds recorded in Yorkshire so far have been recent escapes and not members of the wild group. The only documented Hull records are one at Kerry Woods, west of Kirk Ella, on 11^th March 1978 and another at Bransholme Sewage Works on 4^th May 1992, with both birds sharing the dubious origin although it is impossible to know for sure.

Cockatiel Leptolophus hollandicus

As with the Budgerigar, the Cockatiel is a common cagebird from Australia that has long been domesticated and regularly escapes from captivity. Less colour varieties exist than for the Budgerigar and many birds show the natural colours of grey body, white wing panel and yellow crest with an orange cheek-spot. Yellow and white varieties are also frequent and such birds are encountered not uncommonly each summer in the Hull area after escaping through open windows and the like. Often attracting attention with their characteristic whistle, imitating the call can often draw them closer and hopefully enable them to be recaptured; although Cockatiels can survive for some time by feeding on buds and blossom during summer they are highly likely to attract the attention of predators before too long. Escaped Cockatiels, along with Budgerigars, Zebra Finches and other cagebirds, can turn up anywhere in the Hull area and usually do so in hot weather when doors and windows are left open.

Budgerigar Melopsittacus undulates

This small Australian parrot, known to everyone, is hugely popular as a cage and aviary bird in Britain and large numbers are bred each year. Wild birds stopped being imported many decades ago, so the long history of captive breeding means that the domesticated birds available today come in a huge variety of colours as well as the original bright green with black and yellow trim. The large number of Budgies kept in Hull, and the tendency of many owners to allow their birds occasional freedom of a room or to place their cage in the garden on a sunny day, means that they regularly escape during the summer months. These escapees are often completely bewildered by their new surroundings and may sit calling forlornly on a roof or tree, though they can maybe find enough food during summer to keep them going for a while. The biggest risk they face is not bullying by Sparrows or Starlings, as many people believe, but being eaten by a passing Carrion Crow, Sparrowhawk, cat or other predator. In March 1993 I found an owl pellet under a Tawny Owl roost on North Bransholme that contained the turquoise feathers and distinctive skull of a Budgerigar, and later that summer a characteristic pile of green and yellow feathers nearby was all that was left of another bid for freedom that was cut short, probably by a Sparrowhawk. Several Budgerigars are probably at large in the Hull area at any one time during summer, and the best thing to do if coming across one is to try and catch it if it allows close approach. Of those that defy capture most probably only survive for a matter of days.

Cuckoo (Common Cuckoo) Cuculus canorus

The Cuckoo is another of those birds that is well known among the general public despite few having seen one or even knowing what they look like. It is, of course, the song that is famous and the "cuc-coo" of the male Cuckoo is a regular spring and early summer sound throughout the Hull area. The song is predominantly heard in the outlying fields and hedgerows but also in the suburbs of Hull and the satellite towns and villages along railway lines, drain banks or wherever there are lots of trees and bushes. Along with the Swallow, the Cuckoo is a classical harbinger of spring, but as it arrives later than the Swallow and often sings only in good weather then it is perhaps more justified in being so.

Cuckoos generally arrive in the Hull area from their African wintering grounds around the last week of April or first few days of May and John Nicholson reported them among the visitors to his garden near Pearson Park, when this was one of the outer suburbs, as long ago as the beginning of the last century. In the 1960s they were regular yet uncommon breeding birds within the old Hull boundary, with Northern Cemetery often being visited. One or more Cuckoos could be heard singing in Hedon Road Cemetery and along the nearby Hull to Withernsea railway line every spring throughout the 1970s, while up to three together could be found at Kirk Ella’s Kerry Woods in the same period. A few pairs bred around Cottingham and northwest Hull during the early 1980s, with one usually in fields north of the Recreation Ground, and one was reported from a Cottingham garden on 19^th May 1982. Breeding was occurring around Saltend in the mid 1980s, with up to five birds present in May and June, while four young were reared in 1985. The last adult seen that year was on 30^th June although the juveniles stayed on until 21^st August.

Birds were still being heard at the Kerry Woods throughout the 1980s, if a little less frequently than in the 1970s, while sightings at Hedon Road Cemetery were becoming few and far between until they petered out completely by the 1990s. Birds can still be heard along the old Hull to Withernsea railway line as it passes behind Hull Prison and makes its way through Marfleet, but they are now much scarcer here too. Cuckoos were regular but thinly distributed around North Bransholme throughout the 1990s, though one or two juveniles were occasionally seen in July and August between the housing and the Holderness Drain. An impressive six were counted around the Priory Road fields on 1^st June 1996, favouring the Pickhills area between Priory Road, Hull Road and Wood Lane to the south of Cottingham. All were gone by the end of the month, however, and none were heard from the regular haunts in the Avenues area of Hull that year.

Dunnocks were reputed to be the favourite host species for the Cuckoo around Cottingham in the 1980s but, while there is a wide range of known host species available throughout the Hull area, there are no reports of eggs or young being found in the nests of other species. Reports of the rufous form of the female Cuckoo are also very rare but I was lucky enough to see one at North Bransholme in the spring of 1988.