Martin remains in the floodplain of the river Po, 50km (30 miles) SSW of Milan, close to the town of Voghera.
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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Martin unmoved in Italy
13 Jul 2011
Clement in Africa!!!
13 Jul 2011
After surprising us by moving into Spain over the weekend, Clement has provided even more excitement overnight. Shortly before midnight (our time) he was located over the western arm of the Mediterrranean Sea, 25km (15 miles) SSE of Cabo de Gata, the south-easternmost point of Iberia. Three hours later, the next position put him 180km (112 miles) to the south-east - 45km south-east of the Algerian coast. Clement had become our first Cuckoo to make it into Africa! As of this morning (0900 BST 13 July), Clement had settled in a scrub-covered northern slope of the Atlas mountains in the Sidi-bel-Abbes region of north-western Algeria – one of the very last vegetated locations before the vast sandy and rocky expanses of the Sahara…..
Diana de Palacio (BTO Ringing Office) reports that her mother, Maria Elena, flew to visit her from Almeria Airport, just 20km (12 miles) from Cabo de Gata, last night. She took off in the opposite direction from Clement just one hour before him and reports that weather conditions were very hot, humid and cloudy at that time.
Chris at the Po Delta World Heritage Site
11 Jul 2011
Chris continued his movement from Florence until he was 150km (94 miles) to the NNE. This morning (11 July) he was 55km SSE of Venice, on the edge of the Po Delta World Heritage site. The Po watershed drains the part of northern Italy in which three of our Cuckoos have been residing, and its delta is part of a huge complex of wetlands that includes Venice lagoon. The area is an important wintering and passage area for large numbers of waterfowl and other wetland birds. Where will he go from here?
No word on Kasper
11 Jul 2011
We have received no new messages from Kasper. We would imagine that his tag will re-charge and resume transmissions when he moves on, as happened with Chris and Clement after their recent ‘blackouts’, so we are waiting to see where he will pop up!
Lyster reluctant to leave
11 Jul 2011
Lyster appears to still be in Norfolk, in the Reedham / Loddon area, although on the last ‘on’ period of his tag we didn’t receive any accurate locations. He could start his migration this week.
Martin near Milan
11 Jul 2011
Martin remains in the same area SSW of Milan, where a fairly accurate location received on the afternoon of Saturday (9 July) placed him.
Clement surprises us in Spain
11 Jul 2011
After receiving only two messages from Clement’s tag this month and no accurate fixes, it was a relief and a surprise when his tag began transmitting yesterday afternoon. Even more surprising was the fact that he was in Spain, having moved 640km (400 miles) WSW from his previous position!
To date there have been only two ringing recoveries from Spain, one of which was in the Valencia region, slightly further south than Clement’s current position. Until now we thought he would continue his migration in a south-easterly direction, as we expect Kasper, Martin and Chris to do once they leave northern Italy, so to find him here, 100km (62 miles) north of Valencia itself and 45km (28 miles) inland from the Mediterranean coast was a big shock!
Having initially moved in a south-easterly direction out of the UK and through France, as expected, this movement in to Spain has left us intrigued to see what he will do next! – will he continue moving towards the south-west and enter West Africa, or will he resume a south-easterly heading and move into Algeria or Tunisia before crossing the Sahara?
Chris getting a move on
08 Jul 2011
Chris has continued his migration south – on Wednesday afternoon (6 July) he turned up a few km’s north of Florence, having moved 600km (375 miles) SSE since Monday morning (4 July). He was still close to here at 2000hrs that evening but then surprised us with a twilight sprint 85km (53 miles) NE over the next hour and a half! Unfortunately the ‘on’ period of Chris’ tag ended then – could this have been the start of an unexpected north-eastwards migratory movement? We await the next transmissions, due Friday night, with great interest…..
Kasper unmoved
08 Jul 2011
Kasper’s tag is still not charging well but we received good quality fixes for him on Monday evening (4 July) and yesterday morning (7 July) which place him in the same area, near Serramazzoni 50km (30 miles) west of Bologna.
Lyster still on breeding territory
08 Jul 2011
As of the evening of Tuesday (5 July) Lyster was still in the Reedham area, several fixes putting him very close to Reedham village itself. His tag has just started transmitting this morning (8 July) and the first positions suggest he is still in the same area. Dave Leech (BTO staff member) found a freshly laid Cuckoo’s egg in a Reed Warbler’s nest earlier this week, so there may still be some mating opportunities for Lyster – we would expect him to set off on migration within the next week or so though.
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