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Updates from our Cuckoos

Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.

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Larry's last stop

06 Aug 2019

On 3 August we received a further location from Larry’s tag showing that he had not moved from his reported position, in northern Libya. Unfortunately, there’s no way he could have survived for that long in the arid conditions so we must conclude that he has perished there. 

This is especially sad news as he was our longest surviving active Cuckoo, having been tagged in 2015 and entering his fifth year of tracking. 

David, first tracked in spring 2012, holds the title for longest tracked journey, having been tracked to mid-winter (December 2016) in his fifth year. Chris, our most famous Cuckoo, was in second place in regard to length and duration of tracked journey, with his last signal on 8 August 2015 in his fifth year.  Larry was just one successful desert crossing away from surpassing Chris, who also perished during his desert crossing, but had reached the Tibesti mountains in Northern Chad.

We are grateful to everyone who has supported Larry over the years and watched his incredible journey. 

Larry is in Libya

29 Jul 2019
Over the last few days Larry has departed Italy, crossed the Mediterranean and arrived in Libya. This is the fifth southern migration we have tracked Larry over and in all previous years he has passed through Libya, enroute to Chad where he usually makes his post-desert stop-off. If Larry successfully navigates the desert this time he will overtake Chris as our longest-serving Cuckoo. 

Larry crosses into Italy

12 Jul 2019
Data received from Larry's tag at 5am this morning showed that he had left his last known location in Croatia and flown 412 km (256 miles) south to southern Italy. He is now 80 km (50 miles) east of Naples, between Lioni and Vallata. Larry was tagged in 2015 and based on his movements in previous years we might expect him to stay in Italy until late July/early August when he is likely to fly directly across the Sahara to a stopover site in Chad. 

Larry in Croatia

03 Jul 2019
Larry has made a huge movement south and is already in Croatia, where he has stopped over in previous years. Looking back over his journeys, this is pretty much on schedule. Transmissions on the morning of 30 June show him over the sea, off the west coast of Rijeka. His last transmission from the UK was around lunchtime on 25 June meaning he covered over 1385 km (860 miles) in about 4 and a half days. He could be heading towards the island of Cres, where he has spent time in previous years, before then heading south into Italy later in July, and then embarking on his desert crossing over Libya to Chad in August. 

Larry still settled

19 Jun 2019
Since his arrival on his breeding site in Bowland, Larry has been pretty much settled in the area around Stocks Reservoir. During the last four years he has left Britain between June 20 and June 27 - he could be on his way any day now.

Larry looks busy

04 Jun 2019
Since he has been back in the Forest of Bowland Larry has been moving around his breeding site a lot. Whether this is because he is looking for female Cuckoos, or chasing female Cuckoos we don't really know but he is visiting every corner of his territory. In previous years Larry's departure date for his flight back to Africa have been 27 June, 2015, 24 June 2016, 20 June 2017 and 23 June 2018, so it looks like he will be around the Forest of Bowland for at least a couple of more weeks.

Larry is home again!

29 Apr 2019
We last heard from Larry on April 14 when he was in northern Algeria. An update received from Larry’s tag at 05:48 Sunday morning (28 April) showed that he had covered 2,035 Km (1,264 miles) and is now back at his breeding grounds in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire. Larry was tagged here in June 2015 so his successful return means he has now completed four full migration loops from Lancashire to his wintering grounds in Angola and back again. In completing each of his loops he covered approximately 16,000 Km (9,940 miles) so we have followed him over at least 64,000 Km (39,770 miles) – what a bird!

Larry is on his way back

11 Apr 2019
Larry has crossed the desert. He is 3,003km (1,866 miles) north and east of his last location in the Guinea Highlands and has crossed the desert at its widest point. He is currently in the Atlas Saharien Mountains in northern Algeria and close to the desert town of Brida. Fingers crossed, Larry will make it back to the UK and complete his fourth migration cycle since he was fitted with a satellite tag in June 2015.

Larry is back

15 Mar 2019
Having not heard from Larry for the last four weeks we were beginning to wonder what had happened to him; well know we know. During the evening of 14 March he popped up in Guinea, almost 3,000km (2,000 miles) from his last known location in Congo. He is now further west than any of our tagged Cuckoos and currently in the Guinea Highlands to the southest of the village of Boutoudou. He is now 5,000km (3,000 miles) from his breeding area in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire. He arrived back in the UK on 8 May in 2018 and on 4 May in 2017.

Where’s Larry?

11 Mar 2019

We haven’t heard from Larry since 21 February but at the time the data we got from his tag showed that he was alive and that the battery charge on the tag was OK. All we can do is hope that he will ‘pop-up’ again soon.

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