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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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Selborne on the west coast of France

26 Jun 2018
Selborne didn't stay very long in northern France. He is currently on the west coast, to the east of Rochefort.

Selborne heading south again

22 Jun 2018
Having successfully completed a full migration to and from Africa Selborne is on his way again. He is currently in the area he used as a stopover last year and close to Chateaubriant.

Selborne still in the New Forest

20 Jun 2018
Since arriving back in the forest in April, Selborne has remained in the area around his tagging site. He is currently using the area of forest between Beaulieu and Brockenhurst.

Selborne arrives back in the UK

17 Apr 2018
The first of our satellite tagged Cuckoos has successfully made it back to the UK! Tagged in the New Forest in the spring of 2016, Selborne travelled the remaining 500 miles or so from southern France and arrived back to the UK on 14 April, two days later than in 2017. PJ is not far behind in Brittany and could be back any day.

Will PJ or Selborne be back first?

12 Apr 2018
With both PJ and Selborne in France, the bets are on as to which will be the first back to the UK. While Selborne was the first to arrive in Europe, PJ has now leap-frogged his last location and is further north and closer to home. The weather looks set to take a turn for the better this weekend so perhaps they will time their arrivals to coincide with the arrival of spring!  

Selborne heads north

09 Apr 2018
During the afternoon of 7 April we received a location from Selborne's tag that showed he had left Spain and was in southern France, just south of Tartas. He is 811km (503 miles) south of the New Forest, Hampshire, where he was tagged in the spring of 2016.

Selborne in Spain

04 Apr 2018

Selborne is the first of our Cuckoos to return to Europe this year. Having successfully crossed the desert he spent a few days resting north of Morocco, but was on the move again in the early hours of 3 April. By lunchtime he had crossed the ocean and was in southern Spain, just north of Linares. He is on the edge of the Sierra de Andújar Natural Park, part of the immense Sierra Morena mountain range which stretches for 400 kilometres east-west across southern Spain. It's heavily covered by Mediterranean forest and scrubland and is home to endangered species such as the lynx, wolf, black vulture and imperial eagle. 

Selborne completes desert crossing

28 Mar 2018

By 23 March, Selborne was on his way north and embarking on his desert crossing, having flown over Mali and into Mauritania. Signals on 25 March show he headed northwest slightly, towards the west coast of Morocco and the latest signal, received yesterday, revealed he had sucessfully completed the crossing and was north of Marrakesh.

He has taken a much more westerly route this year compared to his route through Mali and Algeria last year, though the timing is very similar. By 28 March 2017 he had left Africa and was in Spain, arriving back in the UK by 12 April 2017. 

Could Selborne become the first tagged Cuckoo back to the UK this year? And if so, let's hope he brings the spring with him!  

Selborne and PJ head east

13 Mar 2018

After having travelled so far west, two of our Cuckoos have turned around and gone eastwards. From the Guinea Highlands, Selborne has travelled north-eastwards 125km (80 miles) while PJ has also headed east 190km (115 miles) within Ivory Coast. This may be to do with conditions being more favourable here. 

Selborne in Guinea

15 Feb 2018
Selborne has only travelled a short distance since the last blog but, by flying 75km (50 miles) north-east, he is now over the country border and into Guinea. He's already covered an incredible journey of approximately 5760km (3,500 miles) from his wintering location in Angola. Go Selborne! 

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