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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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Meavy crossing the desert

10 Jul 2014
And our first Cuckoo is in Africa! Meavy was in Spain on 7 July but by yesterday lunchtime he was flying over the Sahara desert. It looks like he was grounded for several hours early this morning in the Ahaggar Mountains in Algeria - we are not sure why this is as the cuckoos usually make good headway over the desert during the cool night time hours, although he may have encountered headwinds.
 
This is the first time we have observed a Cuckoo that has taken the south-western route via Spain attempt to cross the Sahara in an easterly direction, effectively making their journey over the large expanse of desert even longer.
 
It's also the earliest date since the start of the project that we have received signals from a tagged Cuckoo within Africa. The earliest date previous to this was 13 July. It's the first year we've followed Meavy so we will have to wait and see whether any of the birds tagged in previous years also reach Africa earlier than in previous years. 

Cuckoo 134957 in Netherlands

08 Jul 2014

Sherwood bird 134957 appears to have moved around within Germany before settling in the most southern area of the Netherlands. The signals from Germany were all of poor quality so do not show on the map but you can see his location to the north-east of  Maastricht in the Netherlands.

Tour de France yet to start

07 Jul 2014

While we have three Cuckoos currently touring in France (Walpole, Emsworthy and 134955) there are now just two tagged birds which remain in the UK; Derek and Gowk. While the actual Tour De France will have departed the country soon, it could be a while before we see these Cuckoos move on. Last year Derek didn't leave the UK until 17 July but the latest departure we have seen since the beginning of the project was Scottish Cuckoo Patch, who left on 26 July last year. 

Five opt for Spain so far

07 Jul 2014

Skinner has left France and continued south to Spain where Meavy, Gilbert, Dudley and Chester are currently located. In previous years we have only seen East Anglian and Devon Cuckoos take this route but this year we also have Chester, one of the birds tagged in Sussex, Dudley, one of the Nottinghamshire birds and Gilbert, a New Forest bird, heading this way. 

The three Cuckoos which took this route in 2012/13 all perished but in 2013/14 5 of the 6 birds which took this route successfully made it to their wintering grounds. 

Taking the Italian route

07 Jul 2014

From France, via Corsica, Ash appears to now be in Italy. He joins Hennah, who had also been in France and perched in the Pyrenees close to the France/Spain border but who also recently changed direction and headed to Italy to take this more easterly route. Whortle, Peter, Waller, and Livingstone are all also currently in Italy. 

 

David heads to Montenegro again

07 Jul 2014
Once again David has travelled to Montenegro, from where he will make his crossing to Africa. This is the third migration we have followed and each time he has headed for Montengro, a country we have seen only a handful of other Cuckoo visit since the start of the project. 
 

Five Cuckoos leave over the weekend

07 Jul 2014
Over the weekend, five more of our tagged Cuckoos left the UK. East Anglian Cuckoos Walpole, Maji and Chris have moved off, as have Scottish Cuckoo BB, who had been in Suffolk, and Sherwood Cuckoo 134957. All of these, except Walpole, have journeyed south-east to Germany, while Walpole is currently in northern France close to the border with Belgium.  These easterly movements may have been encouraged by the westerley airflows over the last few days. 
 
This will be the fourth year we follow Chris, and the third year we follow BB, both of whom have left later this year.  

Welsh Cuckoo David on his way

02 Jul 2014

The last signal David's tag sent from Wales was on the 28 June and by the evening of 30 June he was in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. This is spot on with the timing of last year when he transmitted outside of the UK on 30 June but from Central, rather than northern, France. Interestingly, in the first year we tagged David he left much earlier and headed to Germany. Despite this, both years so far he has then headed across to Montenegro to make his crossing to Africa. 

134952 receives a name

02 Jul 2014

Dudley is the chosen name given to Cuckoo 134952 by Joanna Harris who won the prize draw. Joanna was randomly selected from all the project supporters and cuckoo sponsors who have helped to fund the project so far this spring. 

Skinner leaves for France

30 Jun 2014

Over the weekend Skinner left the UK and yesterday turned up in France, just inside the French border with Belgium. Last year was the first year we started tracking Skinner and he headed much further north-east when he left the UK, first transmitting from a location just within the Netherlands, before then heading down through France.  

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