Updates from our Cuckoos

We are sad to report that Robinson's journey has come to an abrupt end. We’ve recently been informed by a member of the public that his body has been found in a garden on some farmland in Kent. It would appear that he had started his migration south, but unfortunately struck a window. He was extremely unlucky to have found and collided with this window as it was in Denge Marsh, an open area where there are very few buildings. The area is very close to Dungeness - a well-known migration site.

Robinson was one of nine birds tagged in Sherwood Forest since the start of the project. We’ve been able to follow his journey since he was tagged in May 2018. Last year he was on his way, transmitting from France on 22 June. From here we saw him travel to Lake Geneva in Switzerland and on to northern Italy, before crossing the Sahara towards the end of July. He spent the winter months, from November through to March, in Gabon, before heading to Ivory Coast in early March and embarking on the return Sahara crossing around 11 April. He arrived back in the UK around 26 April 2019.

While this is upsetting news, it does provide us with more evidence about the variety of problems Cuckoos face. We are grateful to everyone who sponsored Robinson.

New signals received on 29 June show Nussey had journeyed south-west 275km (172 miles) within France and was just south-east of Nantes near the commune of Cholet. He continued a further 335km (210 miles) down the west coast and by 1 July was close to Morcenx, about 30km (20 miles) inland.  Poor quality signals received after this indicate he carried on and is heading  towards the Spanish border.

During the late afternoon of 30 June we received transmissions showing that Senan had left the UK and completed his crossing of the English Channel.  Locations revealed that he was in northern France,  just south of Wierre-Effroy and around 10km (6 miles) inland from the west coast, 190km (116 miles) from Norfolk. Further locations yesterday show that he is now 790km (490 miles) further south, near Marmande, to the south-east of Bordeaux.

We’re delighted to introduce some new faces to the project! Catching the birds has been challenging this year with seemingly less competition for females and so less interest in the female lure used, but thanks to the persistence of our super tagging team, we do have four new male Cuckoos to introduce to you.

Three of these newly-tagged birds are already on the way, crossing the Channel and moving into France within the last few days. Take a look at the individual blogs to find out more.

One of two birds tagged on the BTO reserve in early June, Valentine has also set off on his southward migration. By the early evening of 23 June, Valentine was northeast of Canterbury. A couple of further poor quality transmissions indicate he carried on and embarked on crossing the English channel, just south of Folkestone, but we will have to wait for the next cycle of transmissions later today to reveal how far south he has travelled. He is the 7th of our tagged Cuckoos to start their migration. 

We didn’t have to wait long to find out as, by the 20 June, Thetford Cuckoo Thomas was on his way south! Late that evening he was flying over the English Channel, at least 110 Km (65 miles) from his tagging location. The next set of transmissions on 22 June, show he had journeyed another 695km (430 miles) and was located north of Auvergne in the Livradois-Forez Regional Nature Park. Not yet finished he appears to have continued southwards and by the 23 June he was close to Ales.  All-in-all he had taken a huge trip of 950km (590 miles) since the evening of the 20 June.