Updates from our Cuckoos

Since our last update, Cuach Torc has moved from the south of Bayeux and flown around 355 km (220 miles) to an area close to the River Seine, and the medieval town of Troyes, in the Champagne region.

By this time last year Torc had already travelled as far as northern Italy – when might he be saying ‘Au revoir’ to France and ‘Ciao’ to Italy this year?

Cuach Torc didn’t linger in Cornwall for long, and as we expected, soon headed for France, passing between Guernsey and Alderney on the way.

A flight of 325 km (200 miles) saw him heading into north-west Normandy, where he is currently exploring the sprawling agricultural region just to the south of Bayeux.

Having made a move to the County Waterford coast from Killarney National Park several days ago, Torc has now finally set off from Ireland, after a stay of 45 days.  

He flew a relatively short distance of 276 km (171 miles) to Cornwall, where he is currently just to the east of Falmouth. The second of our tagged birds to head south after the breeding season, his next move should see him making the 180 or kilometres (110 miles) to France in the coming days.

Since leaving Ireland and arriving in north-west France a week ago, Cuach Cores has been taking it relatively easy, moving slowly south-eastwards into the Loire-Atlantique region.

Currently just north of the medieval town of Châteaubriant, he will likely head towards Italy and head down to Africa via an eastern route.

With no updates since April, we have to conclude that, very sadly, we've probably heard the last from Bluey. We had already lost him once, but against the odds we were able to recatch him on his breeding grounds and so, his has been a particularly exciting journey to follow. We can't be sure why we have lost contact with him this time, so who knows, perhaps we'll encounter him again in future. 

Cuach Cores was the last of our tagged Cuckoos to arrive back in the breeding grounds, and he is also the first to start heading back to Africa!

After spending just 28 days in Ireland, he took off south overnight and made landfall on the Brittany coast this morning (6 June) after a flight of 539km (335 miles).

Cuach Torc is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to show signs of leaving his breeding grounds in Killarney National Park, having moved 110km (68 miles) east to the Cork / Waterford border. 

He appears to be primed, ready to make a sea crossing any day now! Having arrived back in Ireland on 2 May, Torc may well be on French soil by the weekend.

Cuach Cores wasted no time after he left France, taking a direct route of around 560km (347 miles) back to Killarney National Park, where he was originally tagged on 17 May, 2023.

The majority of his flight was over open water, though he did pass briefly over the tip of Cornwall near Land's End!

He is the last of our still-active tagged Cuckoos to have returned to the breeding grounds this spring.

We enjoyed following Cuckoo George from Norfolk down through northern Italy and across the Sahara to Chad. From there he progressed via Central African Republic to the Congo Basin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We lost contact with him in November while he was progressing south in the Mai-Ndombe province of DRC.

The tag's battery was very low when we last received a signal and we know he had recently moved, so it seems the low charge is likely the reason we lost contact with the tag. What happened after that - continued degradation of the battery / tag or a problem for George, we don't know, and will now never know, unless he is seen or caught again, or his ring or tag are recovered.

Cuach Cores has finally left France! After spending several days south of the city of Bourges, he has headed approximately 553km (343 miles) north-west to the Brittany coast.

From here, he seems to be heading towards Cornwall, where he could make brief landfall before continuing his journey - or will he veer off to the west and take a more direct route across the Celtic Sea to Ireland?