Having pulled along the roadside in Stillington, I experienced an unusual sighting.

Being a bird enthusiast I first thought the bird in the next field was a sparrowhawk.

However, as the bird neared, I realised that it was undoubtedly a cuckoo.

Later, having spoke to my father - who also has an interest in ornithology - I learned that he too had seen a cuckoo only two days before in the same village. which left only very few explanations.

For many years the cuckoo, cuculus canorus, has been a spring and summer visitor to Britain often arriving in late March or early April, and migrating to the tropics of Africa and parts of Asia in July, with their offspring following later in September.

However, the sighting, which both myself and father experienced in November, may confirm an opinion shared by many of the world's scientists - that climate change is a reality and is having increasing effects upon the earth's plant and animals and their behaviour.

Ian Train,

Stillington Road,

Sutton-on-the-Forest, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.