After a public vote, the Broads Authority, who have funded the cost of the satellite-tag, have chosen to name Cuckoo 128301, Nelson, for its Norfolk associations. Nelson was tagged St Benet's Abbey at Holme on the Norfolk Broads.
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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128301 named Nelson
128296 named Ken
Cuckoo 128296 has received a name from Essex and Suffolk Water, who have made a generous contribution to the project. Staff voted for Ken, after Ken Saul, a volunteer at Burgh Common, the site where the cuckoo was caught, for over 30 years.
Catching the Cuckoo Class of 2013
Finding Chris
The end of the journey for Lloyd
Transmissions from the last few days show that all four Cuckoos which have returned to their breeding grounds are still in their respective areas. They are likely to remain in and around these areas looking for breeding opportunities for at least the next month.We now assume Lloyd has perished in Morocco as there is no reason for him to remain in his current position for so long. Last year, the earliest Cuckoo to leave the UK was Chris, on the 11 June, while David and BB left on 18 and Chance on the 22 June. Wallace, one of the birds tagged in Scotland last year, was the last to leave, transmitting from outside the UK on 23 July, just one day later than the last bird, Lyster, in 2011.
David returns to his tagging site
As suspected, David has moved on quickly from his position on the south coast and transmissions received early this morning show that he is back at Tregaron, the site where he was originally tagged. He is the only tagged male Welsh Cuckoo to have made it back. There are concerns for our other Welsh bird, Lloyd, who also wintered in the Democratic Republic of Congo as transmissions show he has not continued on from Morocco.
Chris leaves France for the UK
Chance and BB close
Just a few miles now separate Chance and BB, who are both in the area of Loch Katrine. The weather in Scotland has been less favourable than in the south but it is currently sunny and pleasant though wet conditions are forecast over the next few days.
David returns to the south coast
David was still in the Centre region of France on 2 May but by the evening of 6 May he had covered 345km (215 miles) and was on the north coast of France, close to Cherbourg. Three hours later and he had covered around 114 km (71 miles) across the English Channel and was 40km (25 miles) south of Bournemouth. Shortly after this, further transmissions indicate he made landfall.
No movement from Morocco
Lloyd remains at his previous location in the Fes-Boulamane province of Morocco. As the conditions in this area should be quite good at this time of year (there are areas of trees and irrigated farmland in the area) we are not unduly concerned about this. We have noted that the temperature of his tag is tracking the environmental temperature a little more closely than expected, which may be a sign that all is not well, but so far we haven’t seen anything that confirms this. We will have to wait and see how Lloyd fares….
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