Updates from our Cuckoos

Dudley is the first of our tagged Cuckoos to make it to Africa this year, transmitting from southern Algeria yesterday, on the evening of 9 July. He has travelled over 1870km (1160 miles) from his location in Spain on 3 July. 

Last year the first Cuckoo in Africa was Meavy, transmitting on the very same date and followed a few days later by Dudley and Whortle who transmitted on the 12 July.  In previous years the earliest transmission dates from Africa have been a bit later on13 July 2011, 16 July 2012 and 18 of July 2013.

From Central France, Charlie has travelled a further 350km (220 miles) and is just inside Italy's border with France, in the Alps. 

From Switzerland, David Peckham continued south-east and onto the Lombardy region of Italyby the 4 July.

A series of poor signals on the 5 July suggested Derek had crossed the Channel and was in northern France. Signals recieved during the early hours of 7 July confirmed that he had indeed left Britain. However, he wasn't in northern France. He is currently in southern France just north of Pau and close to the northern edge of the Pyrenees.

A signal received during the early hours of the 6 July showed that Larry had left Hungary and was on the Croatian coast, just west of Vodice, 387km (240 miles) from his previous location.

Chris's stay in the Netherlands was quite short this year. A signal during the early evening on 7 July showed that he was in Bavaria, just outside of the town of Langenthonhausen. This is the furthest east he has ventured since being fitted with his satellite tag.

The last signal received from Chester was on 4 June from Ashdown Forest but nothing has been received since. In 2014 he left the UK on 19 June and by the 7 July was in Spain. Without signals we do not know whether he is still in the UK or has already begun his journey. Hopefully further signals in the future will reveal his location. 

Having been settled for almost a month in central western France, Fred is now on the move once again. A signal from him around 6.00pm on 6 July showed that he was 367km (228 miles) southwest of his previous location, and that he is north of Bayonne close to Saint-Martin-de-Seignanx. How long will he stay here before crossing the Pyrenees?

146760 is the final Cuckoo to have been named and has been called Disco Tony. The Welsh bog in which he was tagged was a particularly challenging environment to work in, being characterised by high tussocky grass. Tony Cross has been part of the team in Wales since the first bird was tagged there in 2012. On capturing this Cuckoo, Tony had to do a hopping, balancing, disco dance of a run to retrieve it. To honour Tony’s commitment to the project, and of course his disco antics, Disco Tony seemed appropriate.

On the 4 July good signals were received from Chris' tag which revealed he was in the Netherlands,close to Rotterdam. Low quality signals received a few days before this show he may well have arrived in mainland Europe earlier than this, before moving north-east to his current location. This location is further north than the locations in Belgium we have seen him use in previous years.