Updates from our Cuckoos

Peckham is back in the Yorkshire Dales just to the west of Sedburgh, in the area that he was tagged in May 2015. He is currently spending most of his time close to Lily Mere.

BTO staff have searched the area around Tregaron that David has frequented in previous summers to no avail. Plenty of Cuckoos were seen but non with the tell-tale antenna of a satellite tag that would prove without doubt that the Cuckoo was David. David had been wearing his tag for over five years and the information received suggested that it was beginning to fail. We will never know for sure whether David is alive or not, but we live in hope.

Victor is still ranging quite widely around King's Forest in Suffolk but also occasionally visiting Thetford Forest over the border in Norfolk. Like PJ he has also been in the vicinity of the BTO's Nunnery Lakes. The most recent locations received around lunch on 23 May showed that he was to the east of Thetford on the edge of heathland close to Roudham.

Since arriving back in the New Forest Selborne has explored it pretty thoroughly. The most recent locations recieved from his tag show that he is now spending most of his time in an area northeast of Brockenhurst and to the northwest of Furzey Lodge. He has also visited heath to the southwest of Beaulieu Road Station.

Since arriving back in the King's Forest on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, PJ has ranged quite widely in the area and has visited the BTO's Nunnery Lakes on a few occasions. For the last few days he has been frequenting the area just north of the Elveden Memorial.

Locations received from Peckham's tag on 21 May showed that he was back in the UK and that he was close to the Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border, between Aston Ingham and Little Gorsley. However, we received a series of poor locations on 22 May that showed he was on his way back to the Yorkshire Dales, and when we next hear from his tag we expect him to be back at his tagging location near Sedbergh.

Larry is visiting all parts of the Forest of Bowland but is currently focussing most of his attention on an area between Stocks Reservoir and Botton Head.

We still haven't given up on David. On 24 May a team from BTO Wales will be going out to the area close to Tregaron that David showed great site faithfulness to in a bid to see him. They will be looking for any calling Cuckoos in the area and, if they find any, take a closer look to see if they can see the tell-tale antenna of the satellite tag. 

Signals on May 7 show that Peckham had embarked on his desert crossing and was in the Sahara desert. When the tag switched off he hadn't yet completed the crossing. However, signals received in the last few hours show he has successfully reached Spain and completed his desert crossing. The map should update shortly to show him in the Sierra Morena Mountains.