Updates from our Cuckoos

Nussey, tagged at the end of May, was the first of the 2019 Cuckoos to leave the country, transmitting from northern France on 11 June. He has spent the last two weeks in the area of Brionne, 55km (35 miles) southeast of the port of La Havre.

The first male to be tagged this year, in mid-may, Tennyson was happily transmitting from the Mundford area, not far from his tagging site at Cranwich Heath until the 18 June. However, signals received on the evening of the 24 June show that he had begun his journey, travelling  765km (475 miles) to reach central France. He is currently 30km (19 miles) to the west of Limoges, north of the commune of  Oradour-sur-Vayres and within the area of the Périgord-Limousin Regional Nature Park.

One of two birds tagged on the BTO reserve in early June, Senan has yet to move far from his breeding site.

Blazing into the lead at this early stage of the journey is the third Knepp Cuckoo, Raymond. From the island Île d'Oléron, south west of La Rochelle, Raymond continued down the coast. Signals received on the morning of 22 June revealed that he had covered a further 525km (325 miles) and was close to Sigüenza, a city in Guadalajara, central Spain. 

We thought that Raymond could leave the UK any day now and he has. A series of locations received from his tag during the evening of 20 June showed that he was on the west coast of France, just to the north of Bordeaux. From the information received he seems to have spent around three hours on the Ile de Oleron before continuing south over the Atlantic parallel with the coast.

The last location we received, at around 10:30 on the evening of 20 June, showed that he was still heading south 24km (15 miles) offshore of the French coast. It will be interesting to see where he next makes landfall. He is already 654km (406 miles) from the Knepp Estate, Sussex.