Updates from our Cuckoos

Poor quality signals on 7 July indicate that Nelson has left Norfolk and crossed the Channel to France to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. We will have to wait for the next good transmissions to confirm his current location and for this to show on the map.  

On the evening of 6 July Waller’s tag transmissions revealed he was in Belgium! Poor quality signals received late on 4 July, just south of Port Augustus, may indicate the very start of this journey. Two days later he had flown roughly 1060km (660 miles) from his location on the Isle of Skye and was on the northern edge of the Ardennes mountain region, Belgium. Signals just a few hours later show he continued onwards, changing direction and heading in a south-westerly direction towards France over the Ardennes mountains. On the morning of 7 July and roughly 160km (100 miles) further south-west, he was close to Revigny-sur-Ornain, a commune in Lorraine in north-eastern France. 

From his position near Vitoria, in the north-west of Spain on 2 July, Nick has headed further south. By early morning on 7 July he was around 160km (100 miles) west of Madrid. He is still currently the only Cuckoo in Spain and is currently the most southerly tagged Cuckoo. It remains to be seen whether any of the others will also follow that way. Dart and Ryder are in southern France so it will be interesting to see whether they head to France or Italy on their next movement. 

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?