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Updates from our Cuckoos

Read the latest updates from our Cuckoos on their epic migration between the UK and tropical Africa, or track their movements in real-time on our Cuckoo migration map.

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Clement surprises us in Spain

11 Jul 2011
After receiving only two messages from Clement’s tag this month and no accurate fixes, it was a relief and a surprise when his tag began transmitting yesterday afternoon. Even more surprising was the fact that he was in Spain, having moved 640km (400 miles) WSW from his previous position! 
 
To date there have been only two ringing recoveries from Spain, one of which was in the Valencia region, slightly further south than Clement’s current position. Until now we thought he would continue his migration in a south-easterly direction, as we expect Kasper, Martin and Chris to do once they leave northern Italy, so to find him here, 100km (62 miles) north of Valencia itself and 45km (28 miles) inland from the Mediterranean coast was a big shock! 
 
Having initially moved in a south-easterly direction out of the UK and through France, as expected, this movement in to Spain has left us intrigued to see what he will do next! – will he continue moving towards the south-west and enter West Africa, or will he resume a south-easterly heading and move into Algeria or Tunisia before crossing the Sahara?
 
 

Chris getting a move on

08 Jul 2011
Chris has continued his migration south – on Wednesday afternoon (6 July) he turned up a few km’s north of Florence, having moved 600km (375 miles) SSE since Monday morning (4 July). He was still close to here at 2000hrs that evening but then surprised us with a twilight sprint 85km (53 miles) NE over the next hour and a half! Unfortunately the ‘on’ period of Chris’ tag ended then – could this have been the start of an unexpected north-eastwards migratory movement? We await the next transmissions, due Friday night, with great interest…..

Kasper unmoved

08 Jul 2011
Kasper’s tag is still not charging well but we received good quality fixes for him on Monday evening (4 July) and yesterday morning (7 July) which place him in the same area, near Serramazzoni 50km (30 miles) west of Bologna.

Lyster still on breeding territory

08 Jul 2011
As of the evening of Tuesday (5 July) Lyster was still in the Reedham area, several fixes putting him very close to Reedham village itself. His tag has just started transmitting this morning (8 July) and the first positions suggest he is still in the same area. Dave Leech (BTO staff member) found a freshly laid Cuckoo’s egg in a Reed Warbler’s nest earlier this week, so there may still be some mating opportunities for Lyster – we would expect him to set off on migration within the next week or so though.

Martin moves east

08 Jul 2011
Fixes were received for Martin on both Monday evening (4 July) and yesterday morning (7 July) that placed him in the same area - 50km SSW of Milan, 75km NE of his previous position on the border between Piedmont and Liguria. This north-easterly movement after arrival in Italy mirrors a similar movement by Chris on Wednesday evening - see his blog for further details.

Clement not transmitting

08 Jul 2011

We have received no further positions for Clement since last Sunday (3 July), and have now had two ‘on’ periods for his tag in which no transmissions have been received. Given our recent experience with Chris we are not unduly worried but it will be a relief when we do receive some new positions for him. The charge on his tag had dropped to a very low level when we last heard from him on 3 July.

Chris comes back to life!

04 Jul 2011

Despite, in our last blog, trying to gently prepare people for a possible death in our Cuckoo family, Chris has come alive again! A series of fixes have shown his tag is charging and that he is in the Moselle region of France. He has moved southwards 280km to an area of woods, 40km west of Strasbourg. This area is a popular tourist destination with some spectacular views (try googling the "Pays du Dabo"), so hopefully he is enjoying the views!

Martin speeds south

04 Jul 2011

Martin, along with Chris, has been the star of the show this past weekend. He surprised us last week by rapidly moving into France on the 30 June, and when we received the next signal, he had joined Clement and Kasper on the edge of the Mediterranean. He turned up in northern Italy in the Ligurian region, 50km west of Genoa, moving approx 430km in the 2 days.

Lyster's last fling?

04 Jul 2011

Lyster remains in Broadland and a good quality fix on 2 July put him just to the north of Raveningham. He is the last remaining tagged Cuckoo left in the UK.

Clement stays put?

04 Jul 2011

Clement is another cuckoo where we are having battery charging issues. We received a good series of high-quality fixes on 30 June but only one low accuracy fix on 3 July. We suspect he has not moved as this was in exactly the same place as the fixes a few days before.

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