Updates from our Cuckoos

By the 2 August, Patch had moved across the border and into Austria. Signals placed him 17km (11 miles) east of Schwaz, a city in Tyrol in the Austrian Alps. He is the only Cuckoo to have stopped in Austria this year and only Chance the Cuckoo is currently further north than Patch's current position. 

Signals on 27 July show that Sussex was still in Corsica but by the 30 July he was on his way. Poor locations early that morning show Sussex over the sea, between Sardinia and Sicily, heading south. By mid-morning of the 1 August, transmissions revealed that he had indeed been in active migration and had completed the 3300km (2000 miles) journey to a location in Chad! He joins Chris and BB there. The last good signal located him 75km (45 miles) north-west of Lake Chad. Tor is also close by, in Nigeria. 

From his last position, Patch has headed south. The latest signals, received yesterday evening, show that he had covered 190km (118 miles) and was north of Mainburg, in the region of Bavaria. We continued to receive transmissions until the early hours of 1 August, which although of poor quality, indicate that he continued south, past Munich and was around the German border with Austria.

Signals received on the afternoon of 31 July show that Waller was still in Italy but had moved into Tuscany, to a location 30km (18 miles) south-west of Siena. Having left his position in northern Italy sometime after the morning of 29 July he has travelled 345km (215 miles) in a southerly direction. Further poor quality signals received after this, throughout the evening of 31 July, indicate he then continued south along the coast and was as far as Rome when the tag transmission period ended. 

On 23 July, Whortle revealed which route he had chosen to follow by heading from his location in France to Spain. He is the second of our Devon Cuckoos to take this route  This is really interesting as before this, only East Anglian birds had been found to take this route. The other two Devon Cuckoos, Dart and Tor, have visited the islands Mallorca and Corsica on their way south. 

Transmissions on 26 July still place Skinner in Spain, to the east of Checa in the Guadalajara region. 

From his last position, Nick appears to have changed direction and headed in a south-westerly direction to finish his desert crossing in the south-west corner of Mali on the evening of 25 July and early hours of 26 July. He is now 190km (120 miles) north-west of Bamako, the capital and largest city of Mali.

Nick and Ken, two of our East Anglian Cuckoos, are currently separated by around 380km (235 miles).    

The last good signal for Nelson was received on 16 July but poor quality transmissions on 29 July indicate he is still in the same area of south France. 

No further signals were received to confirm Tor’s position in Corsica but further poor quality signals indicate that by the afternoon of 25 July, Tor was crossing the Tibesti Mountain area in northern Chad. By the evening of the 27 July he had finished his desert crossing and was in Nigeria, 195km (120 miles) south of Lake Chad. He is the sixth tagged Cuckoo to transmit from Africa. He has taken an almost parallel route to BB, who transmitted from Africa on the same day, through Libya and Chad, with BB's route being slightly further to the east.

From south of the Lake, Tor’s next movement took him 208km (125 miles) south-west and further into Nigeria. Since the last transmission on Corsica, he had covered at least 3450km (2140 miles).