I was woken up at a very early hour this morning - it was still pitch dark but something told me it was somewhere between 4 and 6 am. I thought I was hearing things at first, but when I listened carefully there was no doubt - a cuckoo was doing his thing (going cu-cu cu-cu cu-cu) incessantly somewhere nearby. It was the first cuckoo of 2008, and judging by the unearthly hour of the morning, it must have been the mad cuckoo of Kilmaley who comes every year and cu-cus at the weirdest times. So for the record I heard the first cuckoo of 2008 before dawn on 23 April 2008 in Kilmaley.

He’s earlier this year than he was last year - I recorded my first cuckoo of 2007 on April 27th last year.