By this date last year, Cleeve was already making steady progress and was in northern Spain. However, he has taken his time so far this summer and only left Norfolk on Saturday. 

By this morning (7 July) he was on the Belgian / French border in the municipality of Wallonia. If he follows last year’s route he should head into north-eastern Spain in the next few days.

Since leaving eastern England a few days ago, Scottish-tagged Cuckoo Norman has made steady progress. He has covered just over 400 km (250 miles) and is currently in the sprawling agricultural landscape just to the east of the French city of Reims. 

Joe finally set off on 28 June and has made swift progress. His route took him straight over Thetford, and indeed BTO headquarters (!) before making his way toward the south coast, where he left the UK at Harwich. A direct flight took him across The Channel to Dunkirk, from where he powered on toward the alps, making a short stop in northern Italy, around 40 km (25 miles) from Mont Blanc. 

Joe then made a move due south, and by yesterday evening was on the French coast, in the hills above trendy Saint-Tropez. 

In the past couple of days, Frederic has moved a further 260 km (161 miles) south-west, and appears to be heading for Spain. Currently south of Bordeaux and in the Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park, famous for its wintering Cranes, he is just 130 km (80 miles) from the Pyrenees and the Spanish border. 

Will Frederic be the only one of our tagged Cuckoos to take the western route this summer, or will others follow?   

Scottish bird Norman, has toured the English east coast since we posted our last update. He left Northumberland on 22 June and made his way leisurely south along the Yorkshire coast, passing Spurn three days later. 

From here, he cut across to Weybourne, Norfolk and then pushed on into Suffolk. He is currently by the River Waveney, just north of North Cove Nature Reserve.    

Another newly tagged Cuckoo, Frederic left Norfolk five days ago, and headed determinedly south. After a day on the south Kent coast, he set off across The Channel from Dungeness, arriving on the French coast near Le Tréport, Normandy.  

From here he continued south into central France, bypassing Paris, before veering slightly west. He is currently just north of Limoges, near the town of Le Dorat, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, having covered around 810 km (503 miles) since setting off. 

Sayaan is still in central Italy and has spent the last 10 days in the wooded hillsides and farmland around 40 km (25 miles) to the south-east of the city of Perugia. He is roughly on schedule, compared to his location at this time in both 2023 and 2024. 

If all goes well, and he follows the previous two years’ patterns he will likely cross the Mediterranean into Libya in around three weeks… 

Since our last update 10 days ago, Cuach Cores has moved down to the south of France and is currently just west of the town of Orange, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. By this time in both 2024 and 2023, he had moved eastwards into Italy, so can we expect to see a similar move in the coming days?

It’s almost two weeks since Wingston set down just to the north of Montpellier in southern France. Tracking data show that he has been exploring over quite a wide area, hopefully finding lots of food to fuel the next leg of his journey.

Jim seems to be quite happy in the lush hills north of Montpellier, where he has remained since our last update on 20 June. As one of our newly tagged birds, it will be interesting to see where he goes from here!