Updates from our Cuckoos

On Thursday (16 June) afternoon Clement was 12km (7 miles) east of Toulon, very close to the southern tip of the south coast of France.

By Thursday afternoon, Martin had moved slightly south and was in the area 5km (3 miles) inland from Great Yarmouth, just north of the River Bure near Runham.

Rob Martin reports that on the morning of 7 June he and Daniel Watson found a Cuckoo with a transmitter antenna visible coming from its back in Winterton Dunes. Clearly this was Martin and provides nice confirmation of his stay in the area!

As of 1600hrs on Friday afternoon, we have received no new locations for Kasper. His tag should start to transmit anytime now - at 1000hrs on Saturday any new locations from this transmission period will appear on the maps.

On Thursday afternoon, Lyster was still close to Reedham.

Clement has continued to move south in France – by midday on Tuesday (14 June) he had almost reached the southern coast and was located in a range of wooded hills 30km (18 miles) ENE of Toulon.

Chris is still in the Sedlescombe area of East Sussex.

We have been contacted by Mr Patrick Roper who lives in the Sedlescombe area and he reports that the area has been good for Cuckoos this year, unlike other places nearby. He wonders whether Chris might have homed in on the area because of this? It could well explain why Chris hasn’t moved further south.

At the time of writing, no further, accurate positions have been received for Chris.

No further accurate positions have been received for Martin but he appears to still be in the area inland of Winterton Dunes, Norfolk, not too far from where the tag was fitted.

Lyster remains in the same area that he has been frequenting - the most accurate recent position received puts him close to the village of Freehope.

Two fairly accurate locations received for Kapser in the afternoon of 15 June suggest that he remains in the same vicinity of Antwerp docks.

Although we initially wondered whether Kasper might have made part of his journey to Antwerp docks via a boat, our colleague Lyndon Kearsley who lives close by, says he thinks this is unlikely. The area is apparently a ‘migrant trap’ that funnels migrants that have arrived on the coast down towards the docks. Many of the areas between the industrial installations are managed for conservation and so make very good habitat for birds. Apparently the area is good for Cuckoos throughout the breeding season - perhaps Kasper has been lured by these? The particular area that Kasper is in is out of bounds to the public so Lyndon is waiting for further news on his whereabouts in the hope that he might be able to track him down in the field.

Having remained in the same area since he was tagged, Kasper surprised us all by turning up on the morning of Monday 13 June 240km (150 miles) to the south-east in an area of wooded scrub in the middle of an oil storage facility in Antwerp docks! We wonder whether he might have made part of this journey on board an Antwerp bound oil tanker? Kasper is the third Cuckoo to move away from his tagging location and the first to do so in a directly south-easterly direction.