Updates from our Cuckoos

From the wooded area north-east of the commune of Saint-Saëns on 20 June, Sussex has continued heading south. By the afternoon of 22 June, signals placed him 300km (190 miles) to the south-east, close to the commune of Saint-Étienne-en-Dévoluy in the Hautes-Alpes region in south-eastern France and to the Plateau de Bure interferometer, the most advanced facility existing today for radio astronomy.  Poor quality signals indicate he may have continued further south another 40km (25 miles) towards the commune of Bayons and into the Provence- Alpes-Cote-d’Azur region, located in the south-east corner of the country.

Cuckoo 128302 has been named Skinner after Norfolk farmer, broadcaster and BTO supporter, Chris Skinner.

From his location close to Loch Katrine, BB has become the second Cuckoo to leave the UK! Interestingly, he has timed it almost exactly as the year before. His last transmission from Scotland was on 18 June, the same day he was tracked crossing the North Sea last year, and the next one, received early on 21 June, showed he had made land at the Friesland Islands in The Netherlands.  As last year, he made a large sea crossing; from the east coast of Scotland straight across to The Netherlands,  not attempting to minimise this by heading south first and crossing at a point where the sea was narrower.  Last year, BB quickly moved on and was in Germany by 20 June.  Transmissions next week will show us whether he has done the same in 2013.   

Sussex hasn’t wasted any time and has continued his journey on to Central France. By the afternoon of 20 June Sussex had moved 350km (220 miles) SE to south-west Burgundy. He is currently south–east of Saint-Germain-Chassenay, between the communes of Decize and Dornes.

115586 has been named Derek by Kate Bradbury, author and freelance wildlife gardening writer for the Guardian, who is supporting the Cuckoo Project.

Sussex was still in Ashdown Forest on the evening of the 15 June but by 18 June he had hopped 167km (104 miles) across the English Channel and was in the Upper Normandy region of France. He is roughly 28km (18 miles) inland of the coast in a wooded area north-east of Saint-Saëns. After Karma became the first of our cuckoos to begin his migration late last week, Sussex has become the first to leave the country this autumn!

During the late evening of the 13 June and the early hours of the 14 June, we received transmissions showing that Karma was moving east, over the Grampian mountains. By 7am on 14 June he was located about 27km (17 miles) west of Aberdeen. Further signals received on the 16 June showed that he continued east a little further and is now close to the town of Durris, no more than 16km (10 miles) from the east coast. Having become the first Cuckoo to begin his southward migration this year, the question is - where will he head to from here?  

Livingstone was caught in the evening of 21 May at Loch Iain Oig, NE of Kyle of Lochalsh and NW of Balmacara. He was the fourth of our tagged cuckoos to be caught that day, a relief to the team as he completed our sample before the weather was due to close in the next day. Since then he has generally remained in the area 2-4km (1.25-2.5 miles) to the NNE of where he was caught. He took quite a while to arrive at the catching location, from that direction, so we may have lured him in from some distance away!

Waller was trapped late morning on 21 May at the Kinloch Hills on the Isle of Skye, close to the road linking the Skye ferry at Kylerhea to the Kyle of Lochalsh - Broadford road. He was caught at the same time as another bird that may have been a female and hence wasn’t tagged. Since then, he as remained mostly very close to the tagging location.