Updates from our Cuckoos

On the 19 June Chance the Cuckoo was still at Flanders Moss NNR but on the morning of 22 June we received locations indicating that he was probably heading across the North Sea towards Germany – watch this space for more information!

One of six cuckoos to leave the UK in the last few days, Mungo has travelled the furthest from his tagging location. Tagged on the shores of Loch Katrine, Stirling, Mungo has travelled 1,163km (720 miles) and is now just north of Polaincourt-et-Clairefontaine in eastern central France. The race to Africa is on.

On 20 June, Reacher, one of two new East Anglian cuckoos tagged in 2012, was 500 metres north east of the village of Crowgate Street, Norfolk. He is currently 20km (14 miles) from his tagging location.

A poor location received for Cuckoo 115589 at 12.40 showed him to be in the area south of Lowestoft, Suffolk, approximately 10km (6miles) from his original tagging location.

Since arriving back in the UK, Lyster has been faithful to the Norfolk Broads area. A location received yesterday showed this still to be the case. He was on the outskirts of Hales, Norfolk. He is currently 20km (14miles) from his 2011 tagging location. He was the last bird to leave the UK in 2011. Will that also be the case this year? Only time will tell.

Since leaving the UK on 11 June, Chris has been on a mini European tour, taking in eastern Belgium, including a short break in the Ardennes Mountains in southern Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. He is now back in northern Belgium on the edge of Antwerp Docks, 31km (20miles) from where he first settled ten days ago, having completed a round trip of 700km (435miles). This is the same area where Kasper first stopped after leaving the UK in 2011.

On 12 June Wallace was still close to his tagging location. By 14 June, however, he had moved 154km (95 miles) due S to a location east of Stranraer. He didn’t stay there though and by that evening he had moved north again, to a location between Troon and Irvine, 80km (50 miles) to the north. He was still there when we last heard from his tag in the evening of 18 June.

On 16 June Mungo was still at Flanders Moss NNR but by the 18 June he was in the North Yorks Moors National Park – this is a movement of 280km (175 miles) in a south-easterly direction. It is interesting that he has chosen to move to another upland area – there should be plenty of large hairy caterpillars for him here in the rough grassland adjacent to the heather moorland.

On Monday morning (18 June) Roy was still close to his tagging location, having returned there briefly from Flanders Moss. Locations received this morning (20 June) show that he has moved south to an area of forestry immediately to the south-east of Dumfries.