Updates from our Cuckoos

Whortle looks like he ventured in to the Po Valley in Italy in the early hours of 4 July, travelling 85km (53 miles) in a north-easterly direction from his location in the corner of France. A series of transmissions show him moving around the area near Piampaludo over several hours but two days later he was retracing his steps and returned back to his last location in France. Perhaps he was unable to find a good source of food and so retreated back to the last good feeding site? 

Chris has covered another 75km (45 miles) heading south from the Venetian Lagoon to the Po Valley. His last transmissions revealed he was at a location close to the River Po, near Ariano nel Polesine in the Province of Rovigoa. This area has proved popular with other tagged Cuckoos, with three birds spending almost a month in the watershed of the River Po in the first year, and six stopping here last year.  Several British-ringed birds had previously been reported here before the project started and tracking them has confirmed this is a very important stop-over site for British Cuckoos.  In the first year of the project, Chris spent a month of feeding up in this area before quickly moving south, having put on enough fat to enable him to undertake not only the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea but also the crossing of the Sahara desert at its widest point. 

A poor quality signal on 28 June indicated that the last Devon Cuckoo still remaining in the UK was also on his way. Dart was transmitting during his crossing of the English Channel and further poor quality signals on the 30 June and 1 July showed him travelling down through Central France and then southern France, following a parallel line to Whortle’s migration south. A good location on 3 July placed him just over 30 km (20 miles) north-west of Montpellier, having covered around 930km (580 miles) since leaving his position in Devon. 

Nick has travelled to northern Spain, crossing the Bay of Biscay, from his last position near Le Mans. He is 30km (20 miles) to the east of Vitoria in the province of Álava. He is the first of this year's Cuckoos to venture into Spain. In the first year of the project both Clement and Lyster successfully took this route to their wintering grounds but last year all three Cuckoos who took this route perished; John died in France after travelling north from a location in Spain, Reacher in Spain and later, Lyster, failed to complete his crossing of  the Sahara Desert. The weather there last spring was especially dry and there were forest fires which would have made conditions tough. You can read more about this and what else we have learnt througout the project here.  It will be interesting to see which Cuckoos take this route and how they fare this year. 

Poor quality locations from Chris on the 1 July revealed that he had left his position in Belgium and was travelling in a south-easterly direction. Two days later when the tag next transmitted, Chris had crossed the Alps and was close to the banks of the Venetian lagoon, north-east of Venice. 

Locations on 27 June placed Sussex in Sardinia but by late afternoon on the 29 June he was in the north of Corsica. One keen Cuckoo tracking observer noted that it was possible Sussex and the Tour de France cyclists were travelling in the same direction at the same time - what a good view he will have had if he travelled in a straight line along the eastern side!  

These two Scottish birds are still in the area close to where they were tagged and have not yet followed Livingstone south. The Cuckoos from Devon, Wales and Sussex have all left. Who will be the last to leave, Cuckoos from the Norfolk Broads or those from Scotland? 

Apart from Skinner, the other three of our Cuckoos tagged in the Norfolk Broads remain in their tagging locations and have yet to move despite 12 out of 18 of our tagged Cuckoos having left the UK.  Lyster, one of the Cuckoos tagged in the broads in year 1 of the project was the last to leave that year on 22 July (while the other four all left in June) and earned himself the nickname ‘Lyster the Laggard’. Will our Broads Cuckoos be last to leave in year 3? 

Signals received on the 2 July show that Chance had left Scotland and was just 60km (40 miles) southwest of Berlin. He had flown 1200km (750 miles) from a location  just west of Stirling, Scotland, to a location near Treuenbrietzen, a town the Bundesland of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany.

The last signal received from Karma was on the 16 June.  While we are a little concerned that it has been so long since we have heard from his tag, this is not by any means unusual and the information sent with the tag did not indicate anything to worry about. We are hoping that we may receive a signal soon to reveal his whereabouts.