Updates from our Cuckoos

By early Saturday evening Charles had flown 357km (222 miles) south from his last location and had reached the town of Tourbes in the Occitanie region of southern France. Subsequent signals showed him pushing on south and the last update, received at 22:12 on Saturday night showed him nearing Riversaltes, just to the north of Perpignan. If he keeps going he could well overtake JD as our most southerly Cuckoo.  

After making landfall on the Dutch coast just south of Rotterdam, Ellis took to the skies again over the weekend, flying 204km (127 miles) north east to Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. He is now on some farmland just north of the city of Leeuwarden, an area that looks as if it could offer some very good feeding opportunities for a Cuckoo. 

JD has flown 43km (27 miles) north east from his last location in the hills above Zuera in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon in north eastern Spain to a new location on some farmland 6km north west of the city of Huesca in Aragon. 

After what appears to be quite a long sea crossing, Ellis made landfall last night in the Netherlands. By 9pm he was on the De Kwade Hoek Nature Reserve - translated as "Evil Corner" due to the treacherous currents and sandbanks in this area. The reserve is part of the larger Dunes of Goeree nature reserve on Goeree-Overflakkee in South Holland - he has picked a beautiful spot to stop! Ellis also stopped off in the Netherlands on his way south last year albeit a little further north than his current location. In 2021 he remained in the Netherlands until 4 July when he moved swiftly south through Germany and Italy, arriving in Libya by 8 July and sub-saharan Niger by 10 July. 

Since our last update JAC has reached Havant on the south coast of England. The last transmission showed him between Nevill's Park and the Fat Face distribution centre. We are due another transmission soon, will he still be touring Havant or will he be in France? Last year he arrived in northern France on 24 June and remained here for approximately a month.

Victor II has flown 338km (210 miles) south from his last location in the Pas-de-Callais department of northern France to a forest outside Dampierre-en-Burly in the Loiret department of northern central France. Last year he flew straight from northern France to the French Riviera but didn't make this journey until 18th July.  

New updates received at around lunchtime today show that JD has crossed the Pyrenees and is now in northern Spain. He is in the Castejón Mountains in the Cinco Villas comarca, Aragon, Spain, approximately 30 km (19 mi) north of Zaragoza.

New updates from Bluey's tag show that he has flown 305km (189 miles) south across the Channel and into France. At lunchtime yesterday he was 58km (36 miles) north-north east of Le Mans. 

Over the last couple of days Victor II has departed from his breeding grounds in Scotland and flown 250 km (156 miles) south to his current location approximately 6 miles east of Barnard Castle. Last year he made this first move on 14th June so he is being very consistent with his timings. 

Cuckoo Charles exploded out of the starting blocks and updates received on 1st June showed that he had already flown 280 km (174 miles) south across the Channel and into France. He has subsequently moved another 30 miles south and is now on some farmland between the towns of Dourdan and Etampes in the Metropolitan area of Paris.