Written as a birthday present for the composer's eldest daughter, Sarah. The inspiration for the piece was a poem by Thomas Nashe:

SPRING
Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king
Then blooms each thing, them maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing -
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The short piece is in Sonata-Rondo form. The themes develop from the bird-calls in the poem, the cuckoo being clearly audible at the end. The piece is free and light in spirit with the markings Allegretto, delicatissimo, apiacere. Rather freely.

Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, 1995.

"...there was a haunting performance from Sarah Bevan Baker of an airy little solo her father once wrote for her birthday." The Herald

"...an enchanting evocation of the season's joys..." The Scotsman.