BIRDS of various kinds have been much in evidence during the days preceding compilation of these notes.

A surprising variety has visited our garden including blue tits, great tits, coal tits, marsh tits and long-tailed tits.

We’ve had crows and jackdaws; robins, song thrushes and blackbirds; a female great spotted woodpecker; swallows and swifts (but still no sign of house martins); goldfinches, chaffinches, bullfinches and greenfinches; wood pigeons and collared doves; chiff chaffs and willow warblers; a tree-creeper, nuthatch, lots of dunnocks, a pair of pied wagtails, a tawny owl and other unidentified species flying above, sometimes in flocks - but no cuckoos.

Nonetheless, my mail continues to include letters and emails which refer to the welcome call of the cuckoo. A correspondent living near Darlington reports hearing the cuckoo annually for eight or nine years around the Merrybent/Coniscliffe area, actually seeing him and videoing/photographing him. But there was no sign of one this year – until a few weeks ago when my correspondence heard the familiar if distant call of the cuckoo not far from the southern banks of the River Tees near Manfield.

I’ve had other reports from the southern edge of the Hambleton Hills near Coxwold, one from near Wass in Ryedale and another from Hawnby above Bilsdale. In all these cases, it suggests cuckoos do return to their previous locations year after year despite not building their own nests. As most of us know, the female lays her eggs in the nests of other small species such as dunnocks, meadow pipits and reed warblers, the solitary chick later physically throwing out the resident eggs or even the chicks which then perish. Those small foster parents are then left with the mammoth task of rearing and feeding their huge bullying lodgers.

One fascinating report comes from a friend in Ampleforth. When she recently visited the site of the famous World War II glider landings at Normandy, France which occurred on June 6, 1944, she heard the familiar call of the cuckoo – and she had heard it on another visit during the previous year. This supports the belief that cuckoos return to their previous locations and reminds us they do not belong solely to Britain.

In noting that interesting link between cuckoos and the Normandy glider landings which were critical to the allies’ success in World War II, I learned more about that astonishing achievement. To halt the advance of the German army through France, it was necessary for the British to seize two vital bridges, one known as the River Orne bridge and the other the Canal Bridge, both near Ranville and Benouville in Normandy, now named Pegasus Bridge and Horsa bridge in honour of our artillery.

Our military leaders realised that any such attempt would alert the enemy unless it was done in total secrecy – which meant arriving in silence, impossible if conventional aircraft were used to parachute our soldiers into what could become a battlefield.

To deal with the problem, our British 6th Airborne Division produced a scheme whereby our troops would travel to the locality in gliders. These silent engineless aircraft were not the small craft that fly from Sutton Bank or other local airfields, but were large enough for each one to carry 28 troops. Alternatively each could transport a jeep and trailer, or a jeep and six-pounder gun. More effective than parachutes and more silent than powered aircraft, the idea of using those huge gliders was adopted.

On June 6, 1944, six gliders were towed aloft to a point above the English Channel from where they could glide silently into France with their complement of artillery from our Sixth Airborne Division. The feat was successful – their expedition was unknown to the enemy and the troops had no difficulty seizing those vital bridges before a counter-attack could be launched. It was a major contribution to the success of our war effort, hence the bridges being named in honour those troops.

Sadly, the gliders could not be re-launched for a return trip to base and so they were abandoned to become firewood for the local French people. And that’s where my friend has twice heard the cuckoo.

Despite the cuckoo’s thuggish reputation, we still welcome its famous call which echoes its name. In different parts of this country, there are beliefs that hearing the cuckoo for the first time in the year will bring good fortune. But to ensure that fortune, certain actions were also required.

In some parts of the country, it was necessary to roll in the grass, and if a second call was heard whilst rolling, this was a considered a guarantee of success. In the North York Moors where I spent my childhood, we had to turn the money in our pockets upon hearing the cuckoo, and this was supposed to bring health and wealth. On hearing the cuckoo, lovesick girls would remove a stocking and look at the foot where, it was believed, a hair of the same colour as your future spouse might be found!

In some districts, the cuckoo is regarded as the rain-bird where its appearance heralds bad weather and there used to be a belief that in winter, cuckoos turned into hawks and slept in holes that were created in the ground or in trees by fairies.

Stone mystery

One mystery that often surfaces in magazines and newspapers features a standing stone in the village of Nether Silton. This is five miles or so north of Thirsk on the western edge of the Hambleton Hills and the site of the stone is not far from the church and old manor house.

It is a sturdy stone pillar some six feet (2m) tall, and its face overlooks the Vale of Mowbray. On the face are rows of capital letters which do not form known words, but also the date AD1765.

The letters and date are arranged as follows:

HTGOMHS

TBBWOTGWWG

TWOTEWAHH

ATCLABWHEY

AD1765

AWPSAYAA

One suggestion is that the meaning of those words is, “Here the grand old manor stood; the black beams were oak, the great walls were good; the walls of the east wing are hidden here; a thatched cottage like a barn was here erected AD1765; a wide porch spans a yard and alcove.”

I have never found any other translation of those letters nor do I

know who compiled this version of them. Bearing in mind the locality

of the post near an old manor and church, this translation does seem

likely to be genuine. Even so, the puzzle remains – why go to all

the trouble of carving such neat rows of letters in stone which do not form

words? Whatever the reason, they have stood the test of time and are

still legible even if their message is still not understood!