Cuckoo Cuculus canorus
Breeding distribution change
Widespread but decreasing summer visitor from Africa
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Cuckoo maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
62
7%
Present to breeding
34
4%
Absent to breeding
7
1%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
134
15%
Breeding in both
7
1%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
311
34%
Breeding to present
43
5%
Breeding to absent
65
7%
Cuckoos breed in northwest Africa and right across much of Eurasia. They winter mostly in sub-Saharan Africa with a few also in southeast Asia. Their numbers generally are in decline: Bird Atlas 2007-11 recorded a 49% decrease in the summer population in the UK between 1995 and 2010, part of a 21% decline across Europe as a whole since 1980. The reasons for this are not clear: one, unproven, theory is that while the species they parasitise have been nesting earlier as a result of warmer winters, the Cuckoos have not advanced their arrival times to match and in consequence have found fewer suitable nests available. Other possible causes include reduced availability of prey species and unknown factors affecting their wintering grounds or migration routes.
The situation in Wiltshire is in line with the national picture. Birds of Wiltshire recorded Cuckoos present in 594 tetrads, with confirmed or probable breeding in 115; WTA2 recorded them in only 287 tetrads with breeding in 48.
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.