Cleeve

Cleeve's movements

28 Apr 2025 - One Show favourite Cleeve returns

With decent weather conditions forecast, we’d anticipated the return of our final three tagged Cuckoos this weekend and so it turned out to be the case! By Sunday afternoon Cleeve was back at Cranwich Heath, where he was tagged in May last year.

Following a similar route to fellow Cuckoo Joe, Cleeve headed from the Bordeaux region up past Angers, making a sea crossing from Caen. Heading straight inland, he flew over central London, and continued on, passing the BTO headquarters in Thetford before arriving at his summer residence on the edge of Thetford Forest.      

Cleeve was the bird who gained a little fame after being featured on the BBC’s One Show, when presenter Hannah Stitfall joined BTO staff as they went out to catch and tag Cuckoos in the Brecks. It’s great to have him back, along with our other tagged birds!

25 Apr 2025 - Cleeve crosses into France

Cleeve seemed quite settled in the Soria region of north-central Spain over the last few days, preparing for the next leg of his journey north. However, he has now crossed over the French border and is now just 25 km (15 miles) to the west of Bordeaux, close to the Médoc Regional Nature Park.

With good weather conditions forecast, can we expect to see Cleeve back in Suffolk over the weekend?  

16 Apr 2025 - Cleeve crosses the Med

As anticipated, Cleeve made his way through Morocco, crossed the Mediterranean and entered Spanish airspace just east of Almeria covering around 750 km (466 miles) in a couple of days.

He is now in a remote area in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, approximately 100 km (62 miles) north-west of Valencia.

14 Apr 2025 - Cleeve makes a move

Like Joe and Sayaan, Cleeve has been in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) preparing for his northbound migration for the last couple of weeks, and like his Cuckoo congeners, he has now commenced his northward migration.

Covering approximately 2,900 km (1,800 miles) in recent days he has flown up through Burkina Faso, passing over Timbuktu as he crossed Mali, continued through western Algeria, and is currently on the eastern flank of the Middle Atlas mountains in Morocco. Next stop, Europe!

26 Mar 2025 - Cleeve closes in on Joe

Cleeve has made his way from Republic of the Congo, across the Gulf of Guinea, covering around 2,200 km (1,367 miles). He is now in eastern Côte d'Ivoire, hot on the heels of Cuckoo Joe!

Past updates from cleeve