Updates from our Cuckoos

Severn reached Sicily on Sunday 18th, after several weeks in northern Italy.

He was at the north-eastern coast of Sicily at 6pm, carried on down the eastern side of the island and by 10pm was heading out to sea again.

He continued in a south-easterly direction over the Med from Sicily, heading towards the north coast of Libya. However, after about eight hours of flying and having covered some 400 km (249 miles) over the open sea, he suddenly started to deviate east. 

At 18:50pm on Monday 19th he was still over the Mediterranean between Libya and Greece.

However, by 4am on Wednesday 21st he was 880km (547 miles) to the north, in northern Macedonia, close to the border with Kosovo. Subsequent updates show that he has moved north into Kosovo where he is currently close to the city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo.

Severn’s lengthy Italian break came to an end a few days ago, after he set off from just north of Bologna, bypassing Rome and cutting across to Sicily.

Having worked his way along Sicily’s east coast, he set off across the Mediterranean last night (18) and just after 10am this morning, we received a signal showing that he was approaching the north-east Libyan coast.

Despite setting off along a westerly route through Spain, Severn has now changed course!

Since our last update just a few days ago, when he was in the Castilla–La Mancha region, he has headed eastwards and then up along the Spanish coast towards France, passing Marseille and Monaco and entering northern Italy! He is now just west of Parma, in the Piacenza region.

In just five days he has covered more than 1,100 km (683 miles).

Severn has continued to make his way down through Spain.

Since our last update, he headed west to Sepúlveda, in the Castile and León region, before switching south-east, bypassing Madrid and stopping in the arid plains near the city of Albacete, Castilla–La Mancha.

As he nears the coast, which route will he take from here?  

In recent days, Severn has moved swiftly through France, covering some 838 km (520 miles). He crossed the Pyrenees to the west of Andorra, entering Spain at the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park.

Severn then headed south-west into the Aragon region, passing Zaragoza and eventually settling in an area by the Grio River, just to the west of the town of La Almunia de Doña Godina.

Severn, tagged at the Gwen Finch Wetland Reserve in Worcestershire on 6 June, has swooped southward in the last couple of days, covering around 500 km (310 miles).

He passed over Southampton and the Isle of White, and headed out across the Channel, arriving in France just north of Caen.  He continued on until finally taking a break to the south-east of Le Mans, in the Pays de la Loire region.