Updates from our Cuckoos

The last transmission from Gilbert's tag was on 16 July and everything appeared fine with respect to tag charge and temperature. His last known location was in Spain, and now that all our other Cuckoos have completed their desert crossing and are safely in Africa, we presume that Gilbert has been unable to continue his journey and has probably perished there. 

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. 

Our New Forest birds seem to be taking very different routes. Gilbert has recently moved futher west to Portugal from his previous location in Spain, while Hennah is still north-east of Rome in Italy with Peter just a little further north, remaining in the Po Valley.

Skinner has left France and continued south to Spain where Meavy, Gilbert, Dudley and Chester are currently located. In previous years we have only seen East Anglian and Devon Cuckoos take this route but this year we also have Chester, one of the birds tagged in Sussex, Dudley, one of the Nottinghamshire birds and Gilbert, a New Forest bird, heading this way. 

The three Cuckoos which took this route in 2012/13 all perished but in 2013/14 5 of the 6 birds which took this route successfully made it to their wintering grounds. 

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. 

Gilbert, Meavy and un-named Cuckoo 134952 are all in Spain while Hennah is just over the border in the south of France. It looks like it won't be long until he joins them. 

Whortle, Chester and as yet un-named 134952 are the most recent Cuckoos confirmed to have left the UK. All three of these birds have travelled to north-western France, transmitting these updated locations on 19 June.   

Poor quality signals received on the same day indicate that two further Cuckoos have started their journeys. Hennah and Meavy look like they are in France too but until further locations are received to confirm this the maps won't update.

So we have at least 8 and possibly 10 Cuckoos which have left the UK. If the unconfirmed locations are true, then interestingly, all three Dartmoor birds (Emsworthy, Whortle and Meavy) and all three New Forest birds (Peter, Gilbert and Hennah) have left.  In addition one Scottish bird, 2 Nottinghamshire birds and one of the Sussex birds have also left the UK. 

Gilbert was still in the UK on 14 June but by the 16 June ha had travelled  285km (180 miles) almost directly south and was to the west of Rennes in Brittany, France. he continued on during the evening and early hours of 17 June and the next transmissions reveal he was on the Oléron Island in westen France. 

Bolderwood, New Forest, Hampshire -  Six Cuckoos caught between 04:30am and 11:00am - the first three of which (two tagged, one too small) were in the first round, one in the middle of each of a triangle of nets set at Bolderwood. The other three were caught a couple of miles to the north and four were selected for tagging. This meant we completed our tagging in Hampshire during day, in a brief weather-window.