It looks likely that BB, Peter, Skinner, Waller and Whortle have failed to complete their migration this year, or their tags are no longer transmitting, and so we will be moving all of them to the inactive section of the website.

From time to time we ‘lose’ one or two of our Cuckoos only for them to reappear several days, or even weeks, later. We are never entirely sure why this might be at the individual level but during the course of the project we have noticed similarities between some of the ‘lost’ birds.

We have lost some of our birds just prior to them making a large movement and we think that this might be because they move into denser vegetation in order to feed up before embarking on a long flight. Moving into denser vegetation may mean that the solar panel that recharges the battery for the tag is in shade for periods of time and the battery receives a poorer charge, which in turn results in poorer performance from the satellite tag.

Once the birds have put on enough weight to begin their journey they move into the open and the tag begins charging again and the birds ‘reappear’. We also see the same thing happen, although to a lesser extent, when birds complete a long movement and presumably move into denser vegetation to rest and feed up

Several of our Cuckoo tags have not sent transmissions for over 10 days; BB, Hennah, Peter, Skinner and Waller. 

This means they are not currently shown on the main map by default, although can be switched on using the tick boxes under their photos. It's not uncommon for Cuckoos to disappear for up to several months during mid-winter as tag charging conditions in the forest are poor so we won't really know their fate unless we receive further transmissions. If they fail to move northwards when expected then either the Cuckoo may have died or the tag may failed or degraded. Our greatest concerns are still for Peter and Waller who were in the same area when signals were last received, all the way back in October.

Signals on 22 November show BB has moved a little further south-east and is now close to the border with Congo.

BB has travelled south and is now in the Congo rainforest. He has moved over 840km (520 miles) from his last location in Chad and is now in the south-east of Cameroon.  Despite being so much later than many of our other Cuckoos, he is in fact earlier than last year, when he moved to the rainforest on 9 December, travelling slightly further south and into Congo itself. 

Signals received on 13 September show BB had continued across the desert and was in Chad, roughly 380 miles north-east of Chris, who was settled around Lake Chad after completing his desert crossing.  A further signal on 15 September shows that BB had travelled 105km (65 miles) south-east. This new position means he still has roughly the same distance to travel again before he is on the same latitude as Whortle, the most northerly of the other Cuckoos

Chris is finally on his way over to Africa but BB is still in Italy.  Although 'late' like Chris, signals indicate he is still alive and so we hope that eventually they will both successfully cross the Sahara. It's really interesting that these older birds, Chris, who was tagged in 2011, and BB, who was tagged in 2012, have changed their schedules this year to leave so much later. Is age proving a factor in being able to put on enough fat to to make the tough journey?  

This year, because there are so many Cuckoos and routes to view on the map, individual birds only show by default if there has been a signal in the last 10 days.

Currently Gowk, Gilbert, Meavy, Waller and BB have all stopped being shown by default as we haven't heard from them in this period. Don't worry, it doesn't necessarily mean anything bad has happened. There are often periods where the Cuckoos are in dense undergrowth, where the tags don't receive enough light to charge or send signals to the satellites, often just before and after big movements.

You can still view these Cuckoos on the map by ticking the box underneath their pictures. Once we receive a signal, they will automatically reappear on the main map. 

We are still following twenty-two birds. Currently two cuckoos are in France – Walpole and unnamed cuckoo 134957.

Five birds are in and around the Po Valley in northern Italy – BB, Chris, Stanley, Waller and Livingstone.

Six birds are in Spain – Two of these are big movers this week. After finally leaving the UK, Derek hasn’t hung around. After a brief stop in central-western France, he is now in central-northern Spain, just south of Tolbanos de Abajo. It is Maji that has provided the biggest surprise though. He seems to be taking a tour of the European mountain ranges. Having spent a time in the Austrian Alps, he is now in the central Pyrenees!

David is still in Montenegro and Ash is still in Croatia; both of these birds could make the move to Africa any day now.

We now have seven birds in Africa, six of them south of the Sahara. Emsworthy is the latest to arrive here and he is currently just south of Lake Chad, in an area that Chris also favours. Three other Cuckoos – Peter, Hennah and Dudley – are also close to Lake Chad.

BB has left Germany and flown over Austria to reach Italy and is close to Venice.  He joins East Anglian Cuckoos Stanley and Chris, and fellow Scottish Cuckos Livingstone and Waller, all of whom are in different areas of northern Italy.

With three un-named birds left we are letting you choose what to name one of our Sherwood Cuckoos!  Anyone who sponsors a Cuckoo before the end of June will be entered in to a draw. We’ll then pick one entry at random and will contact the winner who can then suggest a suitable name*. Find out how you could name a Cuckoo. 

Stanley is now on the move and, while the maps show him over the English Channel, we've received further (low quality) locations which place him south-west of Paris, France. Meanwhile BB is a little further behind but has left Scotland and, as of early this morning, was north-west of Newcastle. 

During the evening of 27 April BB left the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain.  When he next transmitted on the evening of 29 April he was in northwest France, 48km (28 miles) southeast of St-Malo and 648km (400 miles) north of his last position in Spain. From the information received it looks like he took a direct flight across the Bay of Biscay. His next transmission at 03.26 on 2 May showed that he didn’t hang around in France as he was on the southern shore of Loch Katrine, Stirlingshire, the site at which he was tagged on 17th May 2012. He is now just over 6,000km (4,000 miles) from the Congo Rainforest and the area in which he spent the winter, and that he set out from three-and-a-half months ago.

After completing his desert crossing around the 16 April, BB continued on from Algeria and by the 18 April was a further 685km (425 miles) further north and in Spain, at a location just north of Madrid.  He didn't stop here though and has continued north to the edge of the Cantabrian mountains. He is about 100km (60 miles) south of the  Bay of Biscay. 

Signals on 13 April showed that BB had moved northward but over the next few hours he appeared to move very little. We were a bit worried about this and so were relieved to see that further signals were received yesterday which showed that he had continued onwards and had crossed the desert successfully! They weren't of adequate quality to automatically update the map but given the number of signals received it looks as if these are accurate. They place him in the north of Algeria, near the city of Oran on the northwestern Mediterranean coast. 

By the 9 April, BB had left Nigeria and travelled 1000k (620 miles) in a north-westerly direction to reach Burkina Faso. He's remained there for the last couple of days.

Sometime between the early hours of 24 February and lunchtime on the 26 February, BB made another move north, leaving Gabon behind. During that time he covered 390km (240 miles) to reach  the Mbam et Djerem National Park in central Cameroon.  From the satellite images you can see he is now out of the thick cover of the Congo rainforest and in the edge of some forest, where the tree coverage thins out. 

BB has left Congo and as of 24 February was in north-east Gabon, having flown 345km (215 miles) north-west of his last location in Congo. He is now in the north of the Minkébé National Park.

BB has begun the first stage of his journey back to the UK. On 11 January he was 250km north of his mid-winter location. He is still in the southern part of the Congo Rainforest, just to the north of the Téké plateau and just south-west of the settlement of Makoua. We have seen in previous years that around this time British Cuckoos begin to make their way to north of the Rainforest, before heading to West Africa.

In the very early hours of 5 December, transmissions from BB's tag showed that he had left his location in Chad and was heading south over the Central African Republic, towards the area where many of our tagged Cuckoos have been for several weeks.

The next period of transmissions, on 7 December, revealed he was in Congo. This most recent movement has taken him 1125km (700 miles) from his location in Chad. He is now just 55km (35 miles) from Norfolk Cuckoo Derek and 90km (60 miles) from fellow Scottish Cuckoo, Livingstone.  Desite this move south, he is still currently the furthest north. 

Two of our Scottish-tagged Cuckoos, BB and Chance, from 2012 are currently in the most northerly locations of those we are following this year. BB remains in Chad, while Chance is still in Nigeria.

Chance did make a move south, almost reaching Nigeria's border with Cameroon, but for some reason retreated in a north-westerly direction again. He is currently just south of Gombe. By mid-October last year, he was further south, in Cameroon, but didn't move again until the beginning of November, when he journeyed to the Téké Plateau – the area of savanna and gallery forest in central Congo.. Will we see him do the same again in the next couple of weeks?  

As for BB, last winter he spent from 17 September to 4 December in the same area as his current locaion in Chad, before then moving south to theTéké Plateau. If he does the same again this year, it may be a while before we see any further movements.

In addition to BB and Chance, this wintering area was also used by four of the Cuckoos tagged in East Anglia in the first year of the project , who spent winter of 2011/12 in the Téké Plateau, with the exception being Chris who each year has wintered in the Likouala-aux-herbes area, where he is currently. Last year, our English Cuckoos fared badly on their southward migration and Chris was the only East Anglian Cuckoo to make it to his wintering grounds. It will be interesting to see how many move south to winter in the Téké Plateau this year.

Waller, Chris, Sussex and BB are all still in Chad and sending regular transmissions. Last year Chris was the first of our tagged Cuckoos to move south of Chad, arriving in the Central African Republic by the 18 September. Not long after this the Cuckoos moved on to the Congo Rainforest. 

BB, one of the Cuckoos tagged in Scotland in spring 2012 and Sussex the Cuckoo, tagged in spring 2013 are now only around 5km (3 miles) from each other within Chad – much closer than they are during their breeding season in the UK!  BB moved to a location just south of Dassik, having flown 250km (155 miles) by 8 August before Sussex also headed south, travelling 230km (140 miles), to just north of Dassik and BB’s location by 10 August.  They are so close together you can only see one icon unless you zoom in really close on the map! 

Signals on the 23 July show that from north-east Italy, BB journeyed south to the Calabria area in the foot of Italy but, just two days later on the morning of 25 July,  poor quality signals indicate he was crossing the Libyan desert becoming the fourth tagged Cuckoo to transmit from Africa. By the evening of 27 July he was in south-west Sudan and had completed his desert crossing.

From here he then moved west a further 355km (220 miles), into the Guera region of Chad.  He is 65km (41 miles) north-west of Mongo, the capital of the region.

The latest transmissions received yesterday evening (27 June) show that BB has left Germany and is now in north-east Italy.  He is near Valvasone, a comune in the Province of Pordenone in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia. This new location is 330k (200 miles) from his last position in Bavaria. 

From his location close to Loch Katrine, BB has become the second Cuckoo to leave the UK! Interestingly, he has timed it almost exactly as the year before. His last transmission from Scotland was on 18 June, the same day he was tracked crossing the North Sea last year, and the next one, received early on 21 June, showed he had made land at the Friesland Islands in The Netherlands.  As last year, he made a large sea crossing; from the east coast of Scotland straight across to The Netherlands,  not attempting to minimise this by heading south first and crossing at a point where the sea was narrower.  Last year, BB quickly moved on and was in Germany by 20 June.  Transmissions next week will show us whether he has done the same in 2013.   

BB and Chance both remain in the area around Loch Katrine, Trossachs National park, that they were tagged in last year.

Transmissions from the last few days show that all four Cuckoos which have returned to their breeding grounds are still in their respective areas. They are likely to remain in and around these areas looking for breeding opportunities for at least the next month.We now assume Lloyd has perished in Morocco as there is no reason for him to remain in his current position for so long. Last year, the earliest Cuckoo to leave the UK was Chris, on the 11 June, while David and BB left on 18 and Chance on the 22 June. Wallace, one of the birds tagged in Scotland last year, was the last to leave, transmitting from outside the UK on 23 July, just one day later than the last bird, Lyster, in 2011. 

Just a few miles now separate Chance and BB, who are both in the area of Loch Katrine. The weather in Scotland has been less favourable than in the south but it is currently sunny and pleasant though wet conditions are forecast over the next few days. 

Signals received late last night, 1 May, reveal that BB has now joined Chance back at Loch Katrine, having completed the last 415km (260 miles) from the final location we received as he left his previous stopping place near Nottingham. 

BB is the second of our tagged Cuckoos to make it back to the UK, following fellow Scottish Cuckoo, Chance.  From his position in the Centre Region of France on 27 April, BB has travelled 675km (420 miles), crossing the English Channel to arrive in the UK on April 29. Transmissions show that he was 10km (9 miles) south-east of Nottingham during the day but left to the north during the evening - according to the sensor data, he started his flight at about 2130hrs. It is a further 415km (258 miles) back to Loch Katrine so BB could be back there by the time his tag resumes transmissions late on Wednesday - being so close to his previous breeding location we would expect him to continue onwards fairly rapidly to arrive as early as possible. He may face competition for females from Chance who has a head start on him!

Early on 27 April, BB popped up in Centre region of France having moved 940km (585 miles) NNE from the location in central Spain where he was last recorded on 22 April. This placed him only 25km (16 miles) SW of David, who arrived from the NW that morning!

BB has successfully completed his desert crossing and, like Chance and David before him, continued on into Spain. At the time of the first location at 20minutes before midnight last night (17/18 April), he was about 45km (28 miles) due N of Sevilla. Further locations show he travelled a further 290km (180 miles)NNE over the next 5.5 hours before probably stopping around 105km (65 miles) west of Madrid.

Judging from BB’s trajectory during this transmission period and during his desert crossing, he may have taken a route around the west end of the High Atlas and along the Moroccan coast, like David, or possibly travelled through a pass at the western end of the mountains.

BB is still south-west of Madrid but could push north any day now. We last heard from him on 22 April so could well get an update early evening on 24 April. He has been in this general area for five days now so could make his move further north anytime soon.

A series of locations received yesterday evening (Monday 15 April) showed that BB was heading across the desert in northern Mauritania, about 460km (286 miles) E of David’s last position. Over the course of 5 hours he travelled approximately 160km (100 miles) more or less due N. If he follows a similar route to Chance, around the eastern end of the High Atlas, BB would have another 1,000km (620 miles) to travel before reaching the Atlas Mountains and 1,400km (870 miles) to the Mediterranean coast. If he went to the west of the High Atlas, he would come to hospitable conditions at Agadir on the Moroccan coast in 700km (435 miles). One possible advantage  of stopping over so far west in Africa would have been to reduce the desert crossing by 25% or so (from around 1,900km to around 1,400km) by taking a route west of the High Atlas and along the Moroccan coast, so we had wondered whether David & BB would  do this.

Locations received this morning (Thursday 11 April) show that BB is still in the Upper Niger NP in Guinea. He is within a few kms of both the upper reaches of the Niger itself and its confluence with a major tributary. Both watercourses are already quite large this far upstream (the Niger is over 100m wide), reflecting the very high rainfall that areas upstream in this corner of West Africa receive each year. 

BB has surprised us by moving quickly onwards and transmitting from the centre of Guinea! The last signals received show him in the National Park of the Upper Niger on the afternoon of the 6 April after covering 685km (425 miles) from his last position in Ivory Coast. This is the furthest west that any of the tagged Cuckoos has ventured on their northward migration and has come as a surprise given last year's Cuckoos from England have staged in Ghana or Ivory Coast. 

Having remained in Nigeria, close to the border with Benin, for two weeks until at least 1 April, the latest transmissions on the morning of 4 April show that BB has moved west, over Benin, Togo and Ghana and into Ivory Coast. He has moved around 790km (490 miles) west in two days and is currently in the Zanzan region, about 84km (52 miles) south-east of Chance's last transmitted location within the Ivory Coast and about 50km (31 miles) NNE of where Martin stopped over in March 2012. BB's previous stop over in Nigeria was the furthest east we have seen one of the tracked cuckoos fuel for the Sahara crossing - his current position is much more typical but other than re-fuelling from his latest movement, we wonder how much more fattening he needs to do before heading out north?

None of the Cuckoos began crossing the Sahara, as anticipated, over the Easter weekend but we still expect them to make a move soon. Stay tuned for further updates when we get news of any movements. 

Signals were received from BB’s tag yesterday morning and reveal that he has remained within Nigeria, in the Oyo district close to the border with Benin, where he has been for more than ten days now.

BB has continued moving in an approximately north-westerly direction. A location received in the very early hours of Sunday morning (17 March) showed that he was in south-western Nigeria, close to the border with Benin, about 600km (375 miles) WNW of the location he held on 14 March. As there was only a single location we don’t know if he was moving at the time this latest location was received.

The last transmission received for BB was on 3 March when he was in Cameroon. The newest signal, received yesterday afternoon, shows that he is now approximately 650km ( 400 miles) further NW and has joined Chris in Nigeria.  BB is now in the Akwa Ibom Region of the Niger Delta and is about 290km (180 miles) south of Chris.

BB’s previous transmission in Cameroon showed he was on the border between the East and South Regions of Cameroon but from here he continued 100km (60 miles) in a more northerly direction, transmitting from his new location on 3 March. David and Chris are similar distances away from his new location, 124km (77 miles) and 141km (88 miles) respectively, although in different directions.

BB is the latest of the Cuckoos to have started moving north-west! He has left Congo and transmissions received yesterday afternoon show that he is now in Cameroon. He is on the border between the East and South regions and has covered 417 km (260 miles) since his previous position.  David, who is also in Cameroon, is 197 km (123 miles) to the north of BB.  

Both Chris and BB remain in Congo, at the north end of the Téké Plateau and have shown no sign of moving north yet. We last received a location for BB’s tag this morning and for Chris's yesterday morning. Currently just 85km (53 miles) separates the two of them.  

Chris, BB and Lloyd have still yet to begin their northwards movements and have all transmitted, from the same positions, in the last few days. Given the pattern seen so far, we may expect to lose transmissions for a few days as they feed up before they then make their move north. 

There have been no further transmissions from David since the 2 February, just after his big move, however the tag charge was low then. Hopefully it may receive some sunlight soon and charge up enough to transmit his current location. Chance is about 270km (168 miles) away from David's last known location. 

BB's tag transmitted on the 29 January while Chance's tag sent locations in the early hours of this morning which show that they remain just a few miles apart - possibly as few as two miles.

Further signals in the last couple of days reveal that BB and Chance are now only 4km (2.5 miles) apart from each other – that’s closer than when they were first tagged at either end of Loch Katrine in The Trosssachs National Park in Scotland! From transmissions received yesterday, BB appears to have travelled 2km (just over a mile) to the west, while transmissions today show Chance has moved 2km north and then 1km east of his previous location.  They are so close now that you have to really zoom in on the map to be able to see both markers.

 A transmission on the evening of 10 January confirmed BB’s location as still being close to the river. A transmission in the early hours of 13 January showed he had moved 119 km (74 miles) almost directly north. He is now in the Cuvette-Ouest region. Chance is about 7.5km (5 miles) from this new position, his tag transmitting from this location a matter of hours after BB did so. Chance and BB have moved to the first block of continuous forest to the north of the grassland - gallery forest mosaics of the Teke Plateau and are now only 100km (62 miles) from Chris to their north-east.

There have been some small sighs of relief as BB’s tag starting transmitting again yesterday, after a silence of 11 days, confirming that all was ok. He had probably emerged from dense cover where the tag had not able to charge or transmit. The transmissions at around 10pm show that his new location is about 30km (19 miles) north-east from the previous location, and that he has remained roughly 8km west of the winding river. It is good to be receiving signals from him again! 

So far in 2013, we have heard from four of the five remaining Cuckoos. We received tag transmissions from Chris and Chance today and from Lloyd and David yesterday showing there had been no substantial movements to report.

However, we haven’t heard from BB since the 30 December - at this stage this is nothing to worry about, though, as at this time last year we regularly went longer than this without hearing from the Cuckoos. A combination of poor charging conditions and a gradual decline in battery charge mean that they are transmitting less often, whilst as they are within the forest interference from trees reduces the chances of transmissions being picked up by satellites. Once they move on, or the weather at their current locations improves, we should start to receive positions more regularly again. 

Transmissions were last received from BB's tag on the 30 December and show that he is still in the same area.

BB's tag transmitted in the afternoon on Christmas day. His position within Congo remains unchanged. Chance, the only other remaining Scottish-tagged Cuckoo, is the closest to his position, around 100 km (60 miles) to the southwest.

Now that BB has moved south, the five Cuckoos that we are still tracking all appear to be at, or close to, their final wintering locations. Although we can’t draw firm conclusions from such small numbers, the Scottish-tagged Cuckoos are wintering in the same area as the Cuckoos tagged in England (bar Chris) did last winter. The two Welsh Cuckoos are further to the east. This is really interesting but whether it reflects general differences in the wintering areas used by the different breeding populations will need to be confirmed by the results of further tracking work in the coming years.

Having been in the Chari-Baguirmi region of southern Chad since 17 September, where he was the most northerly of the Cuckoos we are still tracking, BB has now moved south to a similar latitude of the other four Cuckoos.

There are currently just five tagged Cuckoos from which we are still receiving regular transmissions. While BB, LLoyd and David have all transmitted in the last couple of days, none of them have moved from their previous positions. Chris's tag transmitted on 7 November and showed he had made a small movement south of about 34km (21 miles), taking him closer to the Ubangi river. Chance also seems to have made a small movement recently and is now south-west of the Faro Reserve and only 54km (34 miles) from the border with Nigeria. 

BB is still in Chad, with a transmission received late last night, while Chance’s tag transmitted the day before, on the evening of 30 October, from Cameroon. About 572km (355 miles) separate Chance and BB from each other.  

BB’s tag transmitted locations over the weekend showing that he remained in Chad.  Meanwhile, we have not received any further transmissions from Roy's tag since the 6 October. Whilst we had no cause for concern for Wallace when his tag last transmitted on the 14 September, the longer the silence continues, the more we wonder why.

BB and Chance remain in Chad and have transmitted in the last couple of days. Chance is still in the vicinity of Lake Chad while BB is further south. 

When we last received a location for him early on Sunday morning, BB was heading south and straight towards Central African Republic (CAR). We wondered how much further he would get that night and whether he would be the first tracked Cuckoo to reach that country this year. But when his tag began transmitting again this morning we found out that not only had he not got any further – in fact he had headed back north by about 75km (47 miles) to a location in Chari-Baguirmi region – but also that Chris had leapfrogged him and become the first Cuckoo in CAR!

BB has leap-frogged over all of the other tracked Cuckoos in Africa and goes from being the most northerly of them to the most southerly! On 13 September he was still at his position close to the border between Chad and Sudan but by the afternoon of Saturday 15 September he was 426km (265 miles) SW of here, in Guera Prefecture in southern Chad. That evening he headed off in a SW-erly direction again and when the last location was received in the early hours of 16 September he was 276km (171 miles) further on, in Tanjile Region. It will be interesting to see how much further he has got when his tag starts transmitting again tomorrow morning (18 September) – the last location placed him about 180km (112 miles) from the border with Central African Republic. Will he be the first tracked Cuckoo to make it there this year?

There have been no movements of note from our Cuckoos in the last few days. Transmissions have been received from Indy and Chance today and Lloyd, David, Wallace, Roy, BB and Chris in the last few days. Hopefully there will be more to report after the weekend! 

We have received signals from both BB and Roys' tags which show that they remain in the east of Chad, close to the border with Sudan. They are just 48 km (30 miles) apart and are the two most northerly of the tracked Cuckoos in Chad.

Signals received on August 24 and 26 show that BB remains in the same area within Chad, close to the border with Sudan. 

Wallace has flown 55km (35 miles) southwest within Germany and is now close to the village of Lauterbach in the Black Forest near Schramberg.  Mungo’s last transmission on 29 July locates him near Lake Chad but we haven’t received any further signals from him. BB is also in Chad and we last heard from him on 13 August.  

BB continued his movement south from Egypt and successfully completed his desert crossing during the early hours of Saturday 28 July, reaching south-western Sudan by the time his tag stopped transmitting, becoming the first of our tracked Cuckoos recorded in that country. By the morning of Monday 30 July he had moved 193km (120 miles) due W to a location just over the border in Chad. He is now at a very similar latitude to Chris and Mungo, who have remained just north of lake Chad, but he 764km (475 miles) to their east.

BB crossed the Mediterranean Sea and, by early yesterday evening, had made it to Egypt! His tag transmission showed him close to the border with Libya and it looks like he was continuing southwards when the transmissions ended. BB's movement into Egypt makes him our easternmost Cuckoo yet and the first to transmit from over Egypt. 

 Having arrived in northern Italy on 5 July, BB has been settled there ever since. However, a poor location from his tag indicates that he too may have made a bid for Africa. Watch this space!

With the exception of Roy, there has been little recent movement by the Cuckoos tagged in Scotland - Wallace remains in Ayrshire; BB remains in north-eastern Italy; Mungo remains in Switzerland close to Mont Blanc; Chance remains just south of Berlin.

BB has followed Indy and Iolo and arrived in northern Italy. Data received from his tag on the morning of 5 July show his location as north east Italy, in the Pordenone region. That's a total distance from his last confirmed data transmission on 30 June, from the Czech Republic, of approximately 500km (300 miles). Unresolved data received on 2 July suggests that he may have stopped in Austria on his way south. Despite taking a much more easterly route than Mungo and Iolo, BB's migration route has converged to join them in northern Italy.

The last transmission we received from BB's tag on the 30 June shows that he has moved around 85km (52 miles) in a south-easterly direction from his position in Germany. He is now close to the border between Germany and the Czech Republic and currently appears to be just inside the Czech border near Hranicná.

By lunchtime on the 20 June, BB was transmitting from Germany, having travelled 410 km (253 miles) from Friesland. He appears to have travelled 110 km (70 miles) east within Germany and, as of yesterday morning, was in the Sachsen-Anhelt region.

BB has become the first of our Scottish Cuckoos to leave Britain. On the 16 June he was still in Flanders Moss NNR (between Aberfoyle and Stirling), where he and three of his colleagues had moved from the tagging location. During the morning and early afternoon of Monday 18 June, however, a series of locations tracked his progress as he moved SE over the North Sea to the Friesland Islands in the Netherlands. This is the first time we have tracked or seen such a long a sea crossing by the Cuckoos – there is no indication that he attempted to minimise the distance he flew over the sea, as we have seen some of the Cuckoos appear to do last year over the Mediterranean. It’s not possible to say for sure where he started his sea crossing but it was probably somewhere between Edinburgh and Berwick-on-Tweed - this would make the crossing about 550-600km (342-372 miles) long.

The south shore of Loch Katrine, Stirling, was the catching site for Cuckoo 115591.  Caught on 17 May 2012 this is BB’s second summer in the UK, having hatched during the summer of 2011.