Updates from our Cuckoos

We have now received the results of the post-mortem kindly performed on Victor II by Vets at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Victor II was tagged on 21 May 2021 in Scotland and found dead in a field of Orange trees in Pobla Llarga (Valencia) on 19 April 2023. Fortunately his body was found and quickly recovered so that it could be sent off for a post-mortem.

The post-mortem, carried out by Vet Ignacio Marco Sanchez, reveal that Victor II was very thin. The recorded loss of body condition suggests to us that he wasn't able to recover from the Sahara crossing, likely due to poor conditions in Spain where it had been extremely dry.

Furthermore, the post-mortem also reported that Victor II had haemorrhages on his head and neck, possibly suggesting that he had collided with a tree in the orange grove. One explanation for this may be that in his weakened state he would have been a more likely target for a predator and may have hit a tree in an attempt to escape an attack.

It is very useful to receive such detailed information about the condition of one of our birds at the end of its life and we are grateful to the finder, Juan Carlos Regojo for facilitating these investigations. Victor II contributed data from two almost complete migrations to Africa and back and gave us even more information after his death.     

Having flown 50 km (31 miles) north to Nangis in the Île-de-France region, Jasper has since flown 37 km (23 miles) south again.

He is now close to the town of Vallery in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. 

Cuckoo Michael has finally set off on his migration and has flown 493 km (306 miles) south-east over the Channel. He then flew along the Belgian-Netherlands border to Germany.

Between 06:30 and 09:30 this morning, Wednesday 5 July, he was in the countryside just north of Mogendorf in Westerwaldkreis district, Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. 

New updates received last night show that George has flown 477 km (296 miles) south east from France to northern Italy.

He spent at least a couple of hours yesterday evening in the wooded hills around Varese Ligure, in the Province of La Spezia, in the Italian region of Liguria. 

Since our last update, Jasper has retraced part of his journey south, flying 132 km (82 miles) north to his new location close to La Belliole in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. 

Cuckoo Jasper has left his breeding grounds in the King’s Forest, Suffolk and flown 630 km (391 miles) south, across the English Channel and into France.

By the early hours of this morning (Monday 3 June) Jasper was close to the village of Rouy, in the Nièvre department of central-east France.

New updates received from Cuckoo George’s tag show that by 11 a.m. yesterday morning (Sunday 2 June), George had flown 615 km (382 miles) south, crossing the English Channel and heading into Eastern France.

He is now in an area of mixed farmland and woodland a few miles west of Saint-Loup-sur-Semouse in the Haute-Saône department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.

Over the last few days, Joe has relocated further west – he is now in the hills above the town of Bormes-des-Mimosas in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region of south-eastern France.

He is visiting the area surrounding the tiny restored Church of Notre Dame de Constance, with views down to the coast around La Faviere.

By early Wednesday morning (28 June), KP had crossed the Alps and arrived in northern Italy. He passed over San Pellegrino Terme and moved on south-east towards Lake Garda.

The latest updates from his tag arrived early this morning. They show him in the hills to the east of the town of Nave, in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy.

New updates received from Sayaan’s tag early this morning show that he has flown 378 km (235 miles) south-east through Italy. After a brief stop close to Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, he moved on to his current location in the province of Rieti.

He is now just south-east of the town of Norcia, within the national parks of Mont Sibillini and Gran Sasso, and Monti della Laga. These national parks form one of the largest protected areas in Europe, with mountains, forests, river valleys and abundant biodiversity.