I BELIEVE that The Times still records through its letters page the first cuckoo of the year as reported by its readers.

I wish to report a much rarer sighting. I heard a cuckoo last year and every year for as long as I can recall, but this was a City of York Council mechanical road sweeper working in the street where I live, a definite first sighting for me let alone outside my house.

This set me to thinking what had brought this marvel out of hibernation, was the council declaring spring had arrived.

If not that perhaps a royal visit, unlikely on this small estate. Then the answer struck me: it must be an election year.

Now my I am eagerly awaiting what other treats are in store between now and May. Perhaps weeds cleared, pavements levelled, hedges trimmed, who knows where it will all end.

Keith Woodland, Galtres Road, York.