Updates from our Cuckoos

Severn, tagged at the Gwen Finch Wetland Reserve in Worcestershire on 6 June, has swooped southward in the last couple of days, covering around 500 km (310 miles).

He passed over Southampton and the Isle of White, and headed out across the Channel, arriving in France just north of Caen.  He continued on until finally taking a break to the south-east of Le Mans, in the Pays de la Loire region.  

Following Henry’s lead, our other tagged Scottish Cuckoo George 2 has now set off in earnest. Taking a slightly different route, George is making his way down through the centre of the country.  

Initially heading south-eastwards toward Inverness, he then took a turn south and is now on the western shores of Loch Ericht in the Grampians. He has covered a distance of around 135 km (83 miles) in the last couple of days.  

Henry left the Montrose area rather swiftly, and headed straight down into north-east England. From here he continued on to West Sussex, in a journey covering around 680 km (422 miles).   

He is currently just 8 km (5 miles) west of London Gatwick Airport.

The first of our 2024-tagged Scottish Cuckoos has made a move!

Henry has left his summer Highland residency in Ross and Cromarty, and has flown over 200 km (124 miles) south-east to the North Sea coast.

Currently just north of Montrose, it will be interesting to see where he heads from here – will he follow the coastline down through Edinburgh and into the Borders or will he head due south over open water, past the outer Firth of Forth, into north-east England?

KP, the last of our tagged Irish Cuckoos has set off!

He left Ireland on 27 June, passing the South Wales coast before cutting speedily across southern England and crossing the Channel at Kent, before stopping just south of Lille, near the Belgian border - a journey of 936 km (580 miles).

After a brief respite, he set off south-east and covered another 808 km (502 miles), passing the French city of Nancy. KP then cut across south-west Germany and western Austria, before arriving on the shores of Lake Reschen, in northern Italy’s Tyrolean mountains on 29 June!

Cuach Cores appears to have reoriented slightly from his last location in south-eastern France, and has now headed up to an area just north of the Italian city of Turin.

He has been following the River Po, Italy’s longest river; if he continues on this route it will take him eastwards, toward the Adriatic.

Since our last update on 27 June, Sayaan has moved a little way in recent days.

Moving approximately 116 km (72 miles) to the east, he is now in the lush rolling hills of the Province of Parma in the Italian region, Emilia-Romagna.

Cleeve is still in north-east Spain, having flown just over 100 km (62 miles) from his last location just south of Andorra.

He is currently in Huesca province in the Pre-Pyrenees, approximately 40 km (24 miles) north of the city of Lleida.

Cleeve seems to be wasting little time, and since our last update just four days ago, he has flown a remarkable 975 km, (605 miles) from northern France down to the Pyrenees. 

He is now just over the border into Spain, approximately 18 km (11 miles) south-east of Andorra, and close to Cadí-Moixeró Natural Park, in the north of Catalonia.

Earlier this week Cuach Torc crossed the border into Italy from Switzerland.

He stopped for a short while just north of the UNESCO world heritage city of Verona, famously the home of Romeo and Juliet. From here Torc then moved a further 120 km (75 miles) to the coast just south of Venice.

In the next few days he could either continue down through Italy, or follow the route he did last year, via Bosnia and Herzegovina and on into Greece!