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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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Ryder near Venford Reservoir

12 Jun 2013

Trapped and tagged at Holne very early on the morning of 16 May, Ryder has subsequently spent most of his time in the area within 2km (1.25 miles) to the south and east of Venford Reservoir.  Both Dart and Ryder were still in the area close to where they were tagged on 11 June.  

An apt name for this Cuckoo

12 Jun 2013

Dart was tagged on the morning of 16 May at Holne, Dartmoor. From the locations received since tagging him, it appears that we lured him from the moors east of Dartmeet, across the River Dart to the trapping location - this fits in with him being seen flying into the nets from low in that direction by Dave Scott, who was assisting the team that morning. Since then, he has split his time between this area and another about 3.5km (2 miles) to the south, about 1.5km (1 mile) south of Vernford Reservoir, with occasional visits to the woods about 1.5km (1 mile) to the east, possibly to roost.

Whortle remains close to tagging area

12 Jun 2013

Whortle was caught very early on the 14 May at Cold East Cross, between Widdecombe-in-the-Moor and Ashburton, East Dartmoor, and was filmed by BBC Inside Out SW (due to be shown in September). He has spent most of his time since being tagged in the same area and the latest locations received this morning (12 June) place him very close to where he was trapped. 

Tor remains in Dartmoor

12 Jun 2013

Since being tagged as the weather closed-in, prior to some unseasonal snow fall at Haytor late-morning on 14 May, Tor has remained in East Dartmoor, primarily in the Becky Falls area, until 11 June at least. A signal received on the latter date suggested that he might have moved around 20km north-west to a location close to Okehampton during early morning of that day but due to the potential error on that location, further locations will be required to confirm this. 

Catching Nick

11 Jun 2013
At 03.15 on the 31 May, Chris Hewson and a small band of helpers gathered in the gloom of a cold and misty morning at Natural England’s Cavenham Heath, Suffolk, with the aim of catching and fitting a satellite tag to one of the last cuckoos to join the class of 2013. The whole process was projected to take around two hours and the intrepid Cuckoo catchers would be back home in plenty of time for breakfast.
 
Five hours later in misty and windy conditions and with not a single one of the five or six cuckoos responding to their lures having been caught, catching operations were moved to a less misty patch of the heath and within twenty-minutes Nick the Cuckoo was caught – he wasn’t known as Nick at the time but this was chosen for him in honour of Professor Nick Davies (Department of Zoology, Cambridge University), an expert in the behavioural ecology of cuckoos.
 
After arriving on the heath at 03.15 the Cuckoo team left it at 09.15, happy in the knowledge that another Cuckoo would provide scientists at the BTO with more vital information.
 
On the 4 June, Nick left Cavenham Heath and moved to an area of farmland with patches of woodland just north of Newmarket and around 20km (13 miles) west of his previous location.  
 
 

128301 named Nelson

10 Jun 2013

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. 

128296 named Ken

10 Jun 2013

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

24 May 2013
We've received tag transmissions from Chris on 24 May, from David and Chance on 23 May and from BB on 22 May which show that they all remain on their respective breeding grounds. 
 
Meanwhile, the Cuckoo Team have been travelling all over the place, visiting sites to tag new Cuckoos. So far they have tagged birds in Devon, Sussex and the Highlands of Scotland and they now have a few more birds to tag in Norfolk to complete the complement for this year. The team found that cuckoos were surprisingly abundant around Skye and adjacent parts of the mainland and managed to catch six birds - and tag four - in just one day before the weather closed in. These new birds will appear on the website and will be available for sponsorship in the next few weeks! Watch this space!

Finding Chris

16 May 2013
That was the task set by a team from Anglia News, and so, the morning of Tuesday 14 May saw the BTO’s Paul Stancliffe on Natural England’s Cavenham Heath, Suffolk in search of a bird that the BTO tagging team last saw two years previously.  There was only a short wait before the first Cuckoo appeared and as Chris had been in the spot the team were now standing on only a few hours earlier, there was a good chance that it could be him – it wasn’t.
 
Another bird appeared and began to chase the first – this wasn’t Chris either – but then a third cuckoo joined them - this had to be Chris; it wasn’t.  After a short wait another bird appeared from nowhere sporting the aerial of a satellite tag – we had found him! After two years and 40,000+ miles since he was last seen, he looked good and full of energy, joining in with the other male cuckoos on the heath in chasing a female. What an amazing bird! Watch the ITV Anglia photage on our YouTube channel here.

The end of the journey for Lloyd

13 May 2013

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. 

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