Sumer is icumen in

As I left my house at four-thirty this morning, to lead the Hawk and Owl Trust's dawn chorus walk at Sculthorpe Moor, I heard at last a cuckoo. Sumer, though you would never know it from the weather, is icumen in.

Tomorrow morning a dawn chorus walk for Norfolk Wildlife Trust in King's Lynn, followed by an all-day bumblebee workshop.

Is it any wonder I look haggard?

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med

And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu cuccu;

Ne swik þu nauer nu.

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